December Action Heats Up

The Armory is back at it again this weekend with a full slate of high school events at the New Balance Track & Field Center.

The athletes from Nassau County on Long Island will begin their indoor season on Friday night with the Nassau County Coaches Invitational. Events get underway — both on the infield and the oval — at 4:30 pm.

That meet will focus on relays with 4x2, 4x4, 4x8, distance medley and sprint medley offerings. There will also be a 1,000-meter run and both a 55m dash and hurdle event on the infield. Field events will include the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and shot put.

Some of the top athletes from county won't be in action as Samantha Nadel, Brianna Nerud, Jessica Donohue, Elizabeth Caldwell and the Vikings' cross country squad from North Shore will be competing the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., on Saturday. But Section VIII teams and individuals from the likes of Garden City, Uniondale, Elmont, Manhasset and Massapequa have long provided great performances at this meet.

The PSAL then takes over The Armory for the two-day Jim McKay Games over the weekend. Things get underway earlier each day with the girls taking the stage at 8:45 am followed by the boys at 1 pm.

The Saturday program is designed for teams in development, which are those squads that didn't score at the PSAL indoor city championships the previous year as well as the new programs for 2011-12.

On Sunday, the city's "power-rated" schools will take to The Armory's oval. Many of the teams that battled for city titles last year — like Benjamin Cardozo, Medgar Evers, Sheepshead Bay, Bronx Science, Dewitt Clinton, Port Richmond and Christopher Columbus — will be in action. This affair will provide a number of individual event options, unlike the relay-focused Nassau County Invite.