It helps to have a training partner in the house. Especially one for all four years of High School. For Brothers Alex and Matthew Rizzo, the duo has grown up in tandem. After watching their sisters Meredith and Hilary compete, then graduate from HS, the set of twins from Bronxville was ready to make a name for themselves. At the Section 1 State Qualifiers, they did just that, setting themselves up for a historic possibility.
At their respective State Qualifier, the twins were entered in both the 600m and 1000m. However, at the meet, they opted to run the event where they owned the 2nd and 3rd best seeds in the field: the 1000m. In one of the most competitive finals in Section 1 history, the Rizzo's finished 1-2 in the event, in turn going NY #25 All-Time and NY #32 All-Time, respectively. They also now own the Top 2 times in the state for the event in 2018, and become co-favorites for the State Title next weekend.
| Boys 1000 Meter Run Finals | All Results | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Athlete | Team | Result | Wind | H# | |||||
| 1 | Matthew Rizzo | 11 | Bronxville | 2:27.81 | 2 | |||||
| 2 | Alexander Rizzo | 11 | Bronxville | 2:28.34 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | Matt Politis | 12 | Pearl River | 2:29.04 | 2 | |||||
| 4 | Mark Scanlon | 11 | Arlington | 2:29.95 | 2 | |||||
They also now become the highest ranked twins in Indoor History, for New York State. But they are not the first set of twins to shine in recent years. Tim and Jack McGowan (Northport) hold the Outdoor honors of fastest twins, as they are NY #13 & 16 in the 3200m in 2014. The Nolan's of Chaminade were triplets who made up 3/4's of their 4x800m in 2015. And even Bronxville is no stranger to twins, as Catha Mullen and Caroline Mullen were very prominent runners for the Bronco's in the early 2000's.
Entered as the top seeds in the State Championships next week, they could do something no team has ever done. No team has ever swept the 1000m, going 1-2. Last year, Suffern was in a similar situation for the boys 600m, but were upset by the slow heat. Can the Rizzo's find redemption for Section 1?
Editor's Note: Can you remember an Indoor State Meet, where a single team went 1-2 in a running event in either gender? Shoot us an email at kbrazeil@milesplit.com, and let us know!