Talented freshman class helps drive Scarlet Hawks

By Chris Villani

From sprints to throws to jumps to relays, the Milford girls’ track and field team is, literally, leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a season ago.

“It’s a complete turnaround from last year,” said Head Coach Dan Gordon. “We have had such growth in all of the event groups. Across the board, this is a better team in every phase.”

The Scarlet Hawks’ improvement has been largely led by its underclassmen, including several standout freshmen. With only about 30 athletes on the team in total, Gordon has had to put his younger athletes right into the mix, and they have responded.

“We have a lot of talent and a lot of freshmen who came in ready to compete at a high level,” he said.

Milford coach Dan Gordon calls Julianys Rentas, above, "a joy to coach" and the team's top athlete. Courtesy photo

 There are older athletes who are playing a big role for MHS this spring, and none bigger than Julianys Rentas, who qualified for states in both the low hurdles and the long jump.

“She is a special athlete; for the past two years, she has been our best athlete,” Gordon said. “She is a joy to coach, and she will do any event.”

The team captain, Rentas started competing in long jump more consistently this spring and has already established herself as one of the top 400-meter hurdlers in the state. Her leadership has also been crucial with so many younger athletes. 

Kiera Murphy is one of the top 800-meter runners in the state, despite being a freshman. 

Iyanna Correa, another freshman, qualified for states in both the high jump and as a member of the 4x100 relay team. The rest of that quartet includes freshman Juliana Senna, junior Madison Ataewung, and Rentas. Ataewung is also the top runner for MHS in both the 100-meter and 400-meter events.

Freshman Amelia Hough is another skilled hurdler in her first season, and Amaia Brown has competed well in the open 400.

“If you look at our top performers, we have about six girls who are responsible for the majority of the points we have scored,” Gordon said. “It’s incredible to see all those points come from so few people and from such new competitors. They are competing against girls who are seniors in high school. It’s been great to see.”

Milford’s depth has shown through in the sprints and middle distance events, where Gordon describes his team as a “heavy hitter.”

“They work well together, they came up through the middle school program, so they have been seeing varsity track from afar,” he said. “It’s been fun to watch them.”