During the holidays, Catholics are reminded of Gabriel the Archangel, who appeared to the Virgin Mary telling her that God has chosen her to give birth to Jesus.
Just as Gabriel the Archangel soared through the Heavens, St. John’s Prep, Astoria, has its own version of “Gabriel” soaring around the track.
Senior Gabriel Vazquez, 17, has enjoyed a record-setting career for the Red Storm. He’s in the midst of his 10th track season at the school and has been a team captain his junior and senior years.
The South Ozone Park native began running competitively in eighth grade when his father, Marcelo, formed a CYO track team at Gabriel’s grammar school, St. Mary Gate of Heaven, Ozone Park.
Though Vazquez loved playing basketball, he blossomed as a track athlete right away. Marcelo’s favorite sport is track, so he encouraged his son to stick with it. Sure enough, Gabriel developed a lasting passion for track and attributes his success to his father.
Upon arriving at St. John’s Prep, Vazquez was immediately pulled up to the varsity cross-country team. He played freshman basketball as well, but he was still eligible for the track championships that year.
“The physical talent was there, but also he (Vazquez) was a natural leader from the beginning,” said St. John’s head track coach Patrick Turano. “He was not only good working with runners his own age but also communicated very well with the upperclassmen.”
Turano is in his first year as varsity track head coach, but he served as an assistant coach the previous four years. He has witnessed Vazquez’s progression since freshman year.
Vazquez was appointed the team’s distance captain his freshman year, which he said has been his most successful year so far. In his first-ever high school cross-country meet, he finished in first place.
“When anyone asks me what is my most memorable win, it’s always freshman city championships,” said Vazquez. “It was my first, real fight-to-finish victory that I’ll never forget.”
In addition to the victory in the city championships, he placed first in the freshman indoor mile, the freshman outdoor city and sectional mile and the freshman sectional 400-meter race. He holds the St. John’s Prep record in the freshman mile at 4:39.
As a sophomore, he finished second in the city championships by just two seconds, but he rebounded to win varsity sectionals and the outdoor steeplechase. He repeated at varsity sectionals as a junior and also took home the gold in the junior outdoor two-mile race.
Vazquez’s best-ever mile time of 4:34 came as the first leg of a 4-by-1600 meter relay at the CHSAA Indoor Relay Carnival in April 2011. His personal record on Van Cortlandt Park’s, the Bronx, 2.5-mile course is 13:20.
Though a second seems like such an insignificant amount of time, Vazquez has perfected the art of knowing his exact pace as he’s running a race. Although every race is different based on certain conditions, he said that runners must prepare for a race as if they know what their final time will be.
“As you improve, it’s as if every second is longer,” Vazquez said.
Emphasis on Academics
While Vazquez takes pride in his athletic career, his dedication towards his academics supersedes his accomplishments on the track. He is one of St. John’s Prep’s top academic students.
“My parents always told me from day one, it’s student-athlete…student always comes first,” said Vazquez.
Though some student-athletes are criticized for only concentrating on sports, Vazquez uses his time wisely in making sure he completes his studies each day.
“He’s definitely a scholar-athlete,” Turano said. “The word seems to be designed for someone like Gabriel.”
Between track and studying, Vazquez’s schedule is pretty packed. However, he also is involved with St. John’s speech and debate team, campus life team and the New York Knicks Poetry slam, in which young men and women showcase their poetic skills on MSG’s television network.
His strong time management skills help him create a necessary balance in his life. He devotes time to study before school as well as on his commute home from school, which includes three trains and a bus.
“When people first see Gabriel, they see him as the leader of the track team, but there’s so much more to him,” said Turano. “That’s something that more people should realize about him as they get to know him better.”
Vazquez plans on continuing his athletic career at a Division I institution, though he’s undecided of exactly which college. He said he’d like to keep his options open for now but longs to be part of a team where everyone is hungry to succeed.
As his high school career comes to an end, the well-rounded Vazquez will strive to live out St. John’s Prep’s motto from the Gospel of John: “To have life more abundantly.”
“Gabe symbolizes that idea in so many ways,” Turano said. “Not only has he made a tremendous impact here, but he’s also made a tremendous impact outside of the school as well.”
Mark Jackson Leading Golden State Warriors
Former Bishop Loughlin M.H.S, Clinton Hill, and St. John’s University, Jamaica, point guard Mark Jackson is off and running as an NBA head coach.
The young Golden State Warriors are 2-6 under Jackson. This is Jackson’s first head coaching job after a 17-year NBA career and several years in the broadcast booth.
The New York Knicks drafted Jackson in 1987. It must have been an emotional victory Dec. 28 when his Warriors defeated the Knicks 92-78 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, Calif.
Jackson played his CYO basketball at St. Pascal Baylon parish, St. Albans.
Shootout in Middle Village
Christ the King’s six-six junior Jordan Fuchs shoots over Xaverian’s Shawn Kemp during the Royals’ 79-67 victory Jan. 8 over the Bay Ridge school in a battle of two of the city’s top ranked Catholic high schools.