First day of Rockland track championships whet appetite for Day 2

TL;DR

The Rockland County outdoor track and field championships began at Nyack High School, showcasing a few events that set the stage for an exciting Day 2. The initial competitions were closely contested, building anticipation for the upcoming events.

Key points

Rockland County outdoor track and field championships began
Event held at Nyack High School
Only a handful of events were conducted
First day featured closely contested competitions
Anticipation builds for Day 2

Mentioned in this story

Nyack High School

Rockland County outdoor track and field championships

NYACK — Consider Wednesday the appetizer.

And if that was the appetizer, there will be a lot of anticipation about Thursday — the main course.

Only a handful of events were held as the Rockland County outdoor track and field championships opened at Nyack High School.

But, boy, did they deliver.

Competition in most events was super close.

Three girls, for instance, went more than 37 feet in the triple jump with another just three inches shy of 37 and another eight shy.

All, in unique track fashion, cheered for and were cheered by their competition.

Tappan Zee’s Tosia Bednarz on her way to winning the girls triple jump during the Rockland County Track & Field Championships at Nyack High School May 13, 2026.

Tappan Zee junior Tosia Bednarz got the win at 37-10, a big season best and just 1.5 inches off her personal, all-time best from last year's Section 1 state qualifier.

She noted jumpers were fueling other jumpers. Fourteen jumpers hit personal-best marks and five, including Bednarz, had season bests.

"It was so cool to see. ...Usually, I feel like we don't see that many girls jumping over 37 feet but today everybody was hitting such massive PBs and it was really cool to see everybody just cheering each other on and we were really all just having a good time, all just trying to jump our best ... so it was really fun," Bednarz said.

Counties is just the beginning of a long championship season in track.

But Bednarz, who said she could tell while in the air that she'd hit a good jump on her 37-10 leap, let herself look ahead. She wants to return to the state championships, where, last year, she was hampered by being badly spiked by another competitor after her first jump and finished almost two-and-a-half feet short of what she'd jumped in the state qualifier.

This year, she's looking for better and healthier results.

"It was definitely a bit rough at states last year, since I got spiked after my first jump. But I really want to come back into states this year just feeling a lot better and not getting spiked and doing a lot better than I did last year," she said with a smile.