Jamaica native Andrew Lewinson is looking toward the upcoming track and field season at Uniondale High School in Nassau County. Lewinson ran in his first cross country season in high school and turned in a decent job under the coaching of Elijah Blue, an assistant coach at Uniondale. He happened to be one of the school’s top harriers even though he and his teammates failed to qualify for the New York State Meet.
With the addition of some soccer and football players as has been the custom over the past years at the school, Uniondale should be strong in the sprints and become a contender for team honors in Nassau County.
A former football player for only a brief time, Lewinson eventually gave up the sport to concentrate on the running one, whether it be one of long distance runs, like the mile and two miles, or the sprints.
Lewinson completed his first year on its cross country team in his second season of running at Uniondale.
Originally from Jamaica, West Indies, where Lewinson attended high school for a while before coming to Long Island, he is trying to improve on his skills. He and his teammates competed in the Class County ‘A’ championships to end his interscholastic harrier career. He was not a factor as he was timed in 20:27.9 over a 5K course at Bethpage State Park.
Cross country here in Uniondale is different than running on a high school track.
“Running at full speed is really hard,” he added. “Cross country isn’t too bad.”
Another highlight for him this past season was competing on a slightly shorter course at Van Cortland Park in The Bronx. This was one of 2.5 miles and was the Manhattan College Interscholastic meet comprised of schools all over the country in various divisions. He was timed in 17.06 .
“The hills there are easy,” he went on. “They’re not too bad.”
“Running is hard in Jamaica,” added the student athlete, who resided for his initial 15 years in Jamaica, after he completed his race at Bethpage State Park. “Practices and training were really hard. I’ve been running since I was small.”
When asked why running? Lewinson replied, “I’m fast!”
After he came to the United States, he played soccer as well. Then, he gave up soccer because he got injured and later tried football but that did not work out, either.
This past fall season marked his initial time at cross country, and he would like to continue it next fall in college. He would like very much to receive a track scholarship to college, as this is his goal during the winter and spring.
