Cicero, N.Y. — Sometimes, track and field athletes have a unique pre-competition ritual that stands out.
At syracuse.com’s 2026 spring high school sports media days, we asked track athletes which one of their teammates has the strangest pre-race ritual and why.
Here is what they said:
Boys
Noah Spencer, Altmar-Parish-Williamstown
“He likes to eat a lot (at meets).” – Sawyer Oakes
Jordan Parker, Auburn
“He doesn’t do any stretching. He just listens to music and gets out there and gets it done.” – Atticus Garland
Marcus Relyea, Canastota
“He just has to sleep in some awkward position on the bus every time. He’s got his head all the way to the left and back with his mouth wide open. He’s got his legs down the aisle. He just does whatever.” – Kole Otts
Alex Neis, Cazenovia
“He doesn’t really lock in much. He’s pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. I think it helps him to be a little bit more relaxed. Before the race, we’re like, Alex, we’ve got to get over to the line. And he’s like ‘I’ll be right there, bro. chill.’” – Caleb Gilmore
Charles Raymond, Central Square
“He’s got these big inflatable leg things that he puts on himself before every single (meet). He’s lying there with his legs straight up and walks around with it.” – Preston Lacey
Anthony Colone, Central Valley Academy
“He does a lot of weird stuff. He’s wacky and he’s crazy. Typically, before he’s racing, he just sits around and just talks to girls. He’s a pretty weird guy.” – Liam Maxson
Nathan Philo, Chittenango
“He doesn’t really warm up. He doesn’t really stretch, but he does fantastic. It’s weird.” – Joshua Lin
Daniel Abbe, Christian Brothers Academy
“He doesn’t stretch a lot pre-race. It’s kind of odd. He just kind of goes with the flow of the race. There’s not much that comes into it beforehand.” – James Cass
Camron Ingram, Cicero-North Syracuse
“He is always jumping around. He always gets himself fired up and ready to go.” – Matthew Freeman
Chase Croop, Corcoran
“He doesn’t really do anything. He stands there and just gets ready. He just gets ready to race and does pretty well for not having an actual ritual.” – Jianni Berguer
William Beecher, Fayetteville-Manlius
“He’s kind of an oddball. He likes to jump around, goof around and do a bunch of silly stuff. I feel like we’ve gotten used to it.” – Nikita Domashenko
Brogan Quirk, Fulton
“He just eats a bunch of random junk food and eats it right before he runs. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it does.” – Thomas Wood
Branden Wiggins, Hannibal
“He wears weird socks. They come up to his knees and they look really goofy.” – Nicholas Kaufman
Austin Arnold, Henninger
“He would always listen to the most random playlist before a race. He would always talk about this whole thing about chewing gum before a race because it opened his airways. It was very interesting.” – Colden Vitale
David Voorhees, Homer
“The day before he eats seafood, like clams and stuff.” – Liam O’Brien
Shukri Hassan, Institute of Technology Central
“It mostly consists of him eating a bunch of food and then getting scared that he’s going to cramp up. He drinks a bunch of water, goes to the bathroom, and then gets super paranoid before a race.” – Sean Darmody-Latham
William Hunter Jr., Jamesville-DeWitt
“He sleeps for about five minutes before he has to race.” – Amar Lopez
Rylan Streeter, Jordan-Elbridge
“He apparently runs barefoot laps before each race. He’s just kind of weird.” – Gabriel Jones
Gabriel Prosser, Living Word Academy
“He tends to tackle people. He just goes around and tackles people to the ground.” – Jeremiah Plewak
Michael Aldrich, Marcellus
“Before every race, he watches Rocky IV, specifically the Ivan Drago versus Rocky Balboa fight. It locks him in. I guess it works.” – Andrew Mitchell
Brycen Gaiser, New Hartford
“He goes all the way to the back of the runway when he jumps. He does a couple of leaps before he jumps or before he starts running.” – Nitesh Constantine
Vincent Pace, New York Mills
“He does a really weird warm-up with a lot of exercise bands, but then he just disappears and then comes back. Honestly, I don’t know what he does, but it gets him ready (for competition), so I guess that works.” – Mason St. James
Ryan Cashman, Oneida
“His warm-ups and stuff are unique. He listens to the most hyped up music, like country music or something.” – Kaiden Miller
Reed Luton, Onondaga
“He always ties his shoes like 20 times before his race. He is never ready. They have to be tighter and tighter. He’s always really nervous right before the race and fidgeting, and then after the race, he is just completely fun.” – Jadon Buchanan
Daylen Rose, Oswego
“Daylen has a lot of Monster Energy drinks before races or before his events. It’s very, very strange. He always has a Monster in his hand.” – Colin Wallace
Josh Brown, Phoenix
“He just gets really hyped but in a weird way.” – Jack Kocher
Damereon Gary, PSLA @ Fowler
“He likes to go around before our meets and get to know everybody from other schools. He’ll crack jokes with everybody and have a good time.” – Giovanni Fletcher
Robert Moro, Skaneateles
“He goes to McDonald’s and downs two [quarter-pounder] burgers before every race. His middle name is Burger. He gets mayo and pickles on it.” – Ryan McCrone
Isaac Olivo, Solvay
“He’ll go up to the line and he won’t do a normal box run out. He’ll just sprint out, sprint back, and then do a jump. It’s kind of weird and something I’ve never seen before.” – Antwan Hicks
Sawyer Sweet, Utica Proctor
“He moves around and then he stops moving around, and then he’s just off his covers for a while.” – Micah Jasper
Aden McRae, Vernon Verona Sherrill
“Aiden talks to everyone. That’s just his thing, and that’s what he does for football. I guess that’s where the adrenaline comes from.” – Humd Syed
Owen Mandigo, Watertown
“He runs the whole race before he actually races, which is insane. He still performs pretty well.” – Maddox Corey
Mikey Gomes, West Genesee
“He has this goop before track races. It helps him run faster.” – Dylan Frost
Dylan Gridley, Westhill
“He does a really crazy long workout and warmup. I don’t get it but, you know, I guess whatever it takes to stay healthy. You have to do what you can.” – Alexander Tyszka
Girls
Jane VanVranken, Altmar-Parish-Williamstown
“She always has to be by herself, but we can always see her. She spins around in a circle and is yelling when she does it.” – Leah Tanner
Isabella Wilkins, Cato-Meridian
“She’s very much of a go-around and talk to every person and not a lock in to a race person.” – Morgan Mansfield
Abbie Comeau, Cazenovia
“She eats a cucumber and listens to songs from the movie Sing.” – Lily Kogut
Natalie DiGennaro, Chittenango
“She likes to eat energy gels before she runs, and then warm up for three hours before each event.” – Ava McLean
Meryl Murphy, Christian Brothers Academy
“Because every race, she just doesn’t talk. She tries to get in the zone.” – Katherine Williamson
Kaleigh Ellerton, East Syracuse Minoa
“She’s one of our throwers. She always has to have Chipotle (before meets) and plays a certain song on her headphones. If it’s 80 degrees out, she’s got a raincoat on, no matter what. She’s always worn it, and it’s always been there.” – Madeline Carr
Joslyn Cantine, Fulton
“She can’t talk to anyone. She’s got her headphones on and she just kind of disappears. When she comes back and her headphones are off, she either has an orange or some type of snack. She still refuses to talk to anyone, though.” – Olivia Hendrickson
Jocelyn Taylor, Henninger
“She dances before every meet. She gets nervous and then she makes jokes and stuff. She gets us laughing.” – Maniya McKoy-Plair
Adaya Gunn, Institute of Technology Central
“She’s just a weird person in general. Her ritual will just go with her personality. She jumps around a couple of times and pats herself down.” – Layla Owens
Abigail Adams, Jamesville-DeWitt
“She likes to take a three-hour nap before a meet. She drinks two Starbucks and pickle juice because it keeps you from cramping.” – Ellyana Deng
Maggie Sherlock, Liverpool
“She has to do her hair a certain way, (which is) in a bubble braid. She has to make sure it’s out of her face and then she eats nerd clusters. She has to do a bunch of strides too.” – Paige Baker
Kaira Truax, Lowville
“She always goes around to everybody, trying to cheer everybody up before the races. She’s always running around to see everybody’s races, even while hers is right after theirs.” – Paige Zehr
Harmony Frost, Marcellus
“She overdoses on caffeine. It works out well for her.” – Madison Foy
Nevaeh Kimble, New York Mills
“She eats a lot of applesauce. It’s very strange. She always has some in her pocket. She pulls it out and she just gulps it all down. I love it.” – Abbey Calhoun
Molly Humphrey, Onondaga/LaFayette
“She will eat an entire meal before she goes and competes.” – Iley Humphrey
Makenzie VanPatten, Oswego
“Since she’s a thrower, she is always really locked in with her music, and she always has a great meal with her. She’s very quiet in the beginning before she throws.” – Sophia Otokiti
Camryn Harkness, Port Byron
“She has to do at least one TikTok dance before a track meet.” – Chloe Burt
Taylor Harvey, Skaneateles
“She has a big meal before every race. She’ll eat rice and just a bunch of random snacks, sometimes cookies.” – Margaret Girzadas
Ella Oleson, Solvay
“She just eats a lot of snacks before a meet.” – Jernessa Donaldson
Gianna Augiliano, Westmoreland
“She is always running around in circles because of nerves and excitement.” – Ella Getz
***…