Sports and academics go hand-in-hand, says Elmsford’s head coach of varsity and winter track at Alexander Hamilton High School. Here Richard MacLeish, who is also a science teacher, talks with Anne-Marie Annunziato of the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

They chatted in his classroom, sitting on high stools at a counter with stream tables, globes of the Earth and lab projects. MacLeish frequently referenced an historical team photo album throughout the interview.

Q – What are the goals and objectives of the Elmsford Union Free School District track team?

A – My goals haven’t changed since we started. They are to build the program, increase the involvement, and get kids motivated. There were 12 kids on the team – boys and girls – when I started in 2001. Over the next couple of years, the team quadrupled in size. This year, there are 68 kids on the team for the indoor season. So, the (main) goal is to use track as a way to help the kids become better students. There are only 200 kids in the whole high school, so it’s a big percentage of kids on the team.

Q – What do you think is the attraction of track as opposed to other sports?

A – It’s a sport that anyone can do. The group of kids is very accepting and friendly. One of the slides I showed at a recent parent meeting said: “Winning is fun, but it’s not the point.” We like to win – we’ve had kids go to the state championship every year for the past six years. Our girls won their first league championship in school history in 2008 – but, if we hadn’t, we would have had just as successful a year. It’s all about doing the best that we can.

Q– Do you find that statistically it has improved the kids’ grades?

A – I don’t have hard data on it, but I know that we really stress it. It is an academic policy of the school as a whole. If you want to be an athlete, you have to (achieve grades of) over 70 percent in every class. To take that a step further, we made one of our goals last year to qualify for the New York State Scholar Athlete Team. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams did that winter and spring.

Q – So, what have been some of the obstacles that you’ve overcome in accomplishing your goals and objectives?

A – We don’t have a track. It’s challenging to run a track program without a track. We have to be really creative. We accept the fact that we’re running in the parking lot and we’re running in the streets. We’re running on the muddy field today. The coaches are out back with the meter wheel measuring off distances.

Q – So how does that factor in when you compete?

A – This Sunday is a first meet for 12 of our kids. Their first time ever being on a track will be their first race, so there’s a steep learning curve. We plan on sitting down with all the freshmen and teaching them about track and field tomorrow during an hour-long class. These kids are participating in a sport that’s not on TV. But then, three, four or five years later, we have juniors and seniors who are leading (the underclassmen). Many of them, (Alexander Hamilton alumni), are competing in college now.

Q – The young woman that you interviewed on the Elmsford track blog, was she an alumnus?

A – Tricia Hawthorne was our big superstar. She graduated in ’07 and got a full ride to U. Conn. Arnold Lane was our captain last year; he is now running for New Haven. And Marcus Bazan, he graduated last year, and he’s running for City College. We’ve had a bunch of kids go on and compete in the NCAA, which is terrific. So, they’re doing really well. I’m still close with some of the kids who graduated five years ago. Brittany Williams just came back – we had an event two or three weeks ago, a Turkey Trot – and Brittany came to visit. She was on my very first team, and I hadn’t seen her in years. That was really fun; you look back and see these old photos.

Q – You have a retrospective now.

A  We went from being a school that showed up at track meets that other schools didn’t really pay attention to, to a school with a track team that’s as good as any other. We walk into track meets now knowing that we can stand on the starting line with anyone. Our girls were fifth out of all the schools in Westchester County in relays. New Rochelle is pulling out of 1,000 kids to find four fast runners. I’m pulling out of 100 kids to find four fast girls. We just have to work harder because I don’t have an endless army of soldiers to pull from. We carry this little binder with us to track meets that has all the best times. They don’t even know the kids (whose numbers are in the binders) anymore. So a girl who’s 14 now can race against Brittany from 10 years ago.

Q – On most track teams, the runners are trying to beat their own time.

A – (We’re) racing some ghosts, right. And if you don’t beat the old time, try again. It’s never a failure.

Q – How is the team spirit?

A – It’s good, it’s fun. We cross every single ethnic group, age group, and social group. They learn to trust their coaches and confide in us to help them work out some problems.

The bell rings and the interview ends. Students trickle in, exchanging insider jokes with MacLeish. “How is our team spirit?” he echoes me. “It’s great,” says one of the girls.

Above: The Alexander Hamilton track team

And Team member Matt Mingo giving other schools a run for their money.