Karl Desil continues to show progress with decent performances on the track at Baldwin High School in Long Island. He does what is expected of him during the track and field meets, and especially did it during the eighth annual Knight-Time Invitational Track and Field meet at Uniondale High School.
Desil did not have any trouble as he lead most of the way in the 400-meter hurdles. Going into the race, he felt good, confident, and was satisfied with his performance of 57.07. At press time, he is undefeated in three races during this outdoor season Desil is presently ranked second in the hurdles, behind his teammate Jarett Babb. Last year as a junior Desil was ranked first in the 400 hurdles outdoors.
Karl is the son of Volvick Desil, a former soccer player in his native land of Haiti when he attended high school before coming to New York.
Now Karl would like to perform better during the current outdoor season than he did last spring and his performances up another level,
His personal best time in the 400 hurdles is 55.7 set last year on the outdoor State Qualifying Meet.
In the Section Eight meet team standings are kept with points awarded for each event.
Desil and his teammates are practicing for the most important meets on the interscholastic calendar for the upcoming meets the Section Eight or County Championships, the State Qualifier and the State Meet.
“Desil is a great kid, a hard worker, trains every day, and wants to repeat his 400 hurdles performance of last year when he took the individual title, come in the Nassau County Championships (in late May),” Head Coach Joe Mercado said. “He wants to go back upstate for the State Meet and hopefully get up on the medal stand.”
His strategy in a race is to go out fast.
“As a 400 runner, we emphasize going out strong,” Mercado said at a recent practice. “It’s all about that front side 200. I want these kids to get through the first 200 meters in 25 seconds, to take the early lead and hold on.”
It’s still early in the season, according to Mercado.
He and his staff are still trying to figure out the ‘line-up’ and who’se going to fit in where, the team’s efforts to score points and win the team title in the Section Eight or Nassau County Championships. Uniondale and Farmingdale will be the teams to beat for the title.
Baldwin is getting better in the distance events. They also must rely on junior Felix Roario, a 2:05 runner in the 800 meter run, for example.
“It’ll be tough to win it,” added Mercado, whose team so far is having a good season as they lost t Farmingdale by only six points.
“We cover almost every event. We also have a lot of young competitors with a lot of solid ninth and tenth graders (on our team). We’ll be definitely be a contender for the County championships this year.”
This will be the last outdoor season for Desil, who already signed a letter of intent to continue his track and field and education at St. Peter’s College in New Jersey. And teammate Babb will also go to the same college, as well.
