Syracuse.com’s 2025-26 winter media day indoor track athlete poll: Blindfolded sprinter?

Syracuse, N.Y. — Track athletes provide a special talent while racing.

At Syracuse.com’s 2025-26 winter sports media day, we asked track athletes which of their teammates could pull off running a relay blindfolded.

Here are their responses:

Boys

Aiden Weaver, Auburn

“He’s quick on his feet and he knows the direction.” — Atticus Garland

Liam McOmber, Baldwinsville

“He’s very motivated, and he’s very determined. But he also has that funny side to him. He’s unironically funny, and I think he’s such a really good guy. I just think he would really pull that off.” — Logan Bolton

Ryan Sanderson, Canastota

“He just never lets anyone down.” — Kole Otts

Caleb Gilmore, Cazenovia

“He’s got a lot of experience on the track. I think he’d be able to pull it off.” — Eliot Comeau

Gabriel Powell, Central Square

“He definitely has the form to pull it off. He’d be our best candidate because during practices, his form is amazing and he’d do the best job.” — Rocco Brancaccio

Liam Maxson, Central Valley Academy

“I trust him a lot. He trains and is very athletic. He runs cross country and indoor and outdoor track.” — Anthony Colone

William Kimball, Chittenango

“He’s fast. He’s done so many 400-meter runs. at this point. If he’s our main 400 relay runner or anything, he knows the track better than anyone else.” — Zach Driscoll

Xavier Caesar, Christian Brothers Academy

“He’s an up-and-coming junior, and he’s really fast.” — Jaden Bowen Henry

Angel Cuencas Jr., Cicero-North Syracuse

“He loves relays. The 4x200 relay is his favorite. He’s always trying to get me to do it.” — Camron Ingram

Chase Croop, Corcoran

“He’ll run any race if we need him to.” — Pablo Joseph

Chace Shepard, Fulton

“He’s a baseball player, so he’s pretty good at running those short sprints. I think he could hold his own in a blindfolded race.” — Mason Kinney

Miles McCraw-Howland, Hannibal

“He’s really fast and he’s pretty coordinated. I think he could figure it out.” — Austin Sauve

David Voorhees, Homer

“He has a good feel for the track, so I think he’d do well.” — Garrett Berthelot

Aiden Griffin, Institute of Technology Central

“He’s definitely one of the faster kids on the team. He’s very coordinated, and I feel like he could find his way to the finish line without slamming into somebody or something.” — Sheldon Birthwright

Brian Juston, Liverpool

“Last year, he came into the 4x400 as a distance runner, so I think he could do it blindfolded.” — Brayden Smith

Jamison Palen, Marcellus

“He’s been running his whole life. I would rely on him.” — Brody Mitchell

Julian Pacheco, New Hartford

“He’s got the build for it. He’s a fast runner, and he knows the track, so he’d be able to get around that.” — Nitesh Constantine

Alexander Perrotta, New York Mills

“He’s very coordinated and tall. I feel like he could probably run it.” — Vincent Paiz

Joseph Wall Jr., Oswego

“He stays down and just kind of runs. He’s not all over the place. He just kind of follows the track really well. I just think that I could see him having a good time with (blindfolded racing).“ — Aaron O’Brien

Joshua Brown, Phoenix

“He can just do crazy things like that and just does stuff out of nowhere. He has the wow factor, so I can definitely see him doing that kind of race.” — Duncan Mackridge

Braydon Mayer, Skaneateles

“He’s always running on the track, so he probably knows the layout pretty well.” — Ryan McCrone

Antwan Hicks, Solvay

“He’s probably the fastest, so I’d trust him. He’s also coordinated and athletic.” — Giovanni Cilani

Fraz Syed, Vernon Verona Sherrill

“I just have the most trust in him going around the track. He’s just used to it the most.” — Nathan Geroux

Pablo Maya Sua, Watertown

“He is in two of our three relays. All he does is take handoffs all day. I guarantee you he can do it eyes closed.” — Maddox Corey

Logan Scott, West Genesee

“I think he has good balance and he’s fast. I think he’s got it.” — Dylan Frost

Gage Talucci, Westhill

“He’s a great sprinter. He mostly does the 4x200, so I feel like it wouldn’t be that bad to get one lap. It shouldn’t be the end of the world.” — Alex Tyszka

Girls

Jane VanVranken, Altmar-Parish-Williamstown

“She has a lot of weird skills, and she’s good at a lot of random things.” — Leah Tanner

Madelyn Donhauser, Baldwinsville

“She knows what to do and she’s like. She really goes after it. If she really needed to do that, I feel like she could. She’s capable of anything.” — Kamryn Barton

Telhia Hosea, Bishop Ludden-Grimes

“We have chemistry to pass the baton with a blindfold on.” — David Shaw

Mia DeCarlo, Bishop Ludden-Grimes

“She’s really quick on her feet. She could just go and she doesn’t have to think much.” — Telhia Hosea

Lilly Ritenour, Camden

“She’d pick it up naturally because she has this natural speed.” — Izabella Johnson

Maggie Brown, Cato-Meridian

“I think she’d make a really interesting. She’d probably run the wrong direction, but it’d be great to watch.” — Everett Cox

“That girl’s been on the tracks a lot. She won’t get lost.” — Megan Kyle

Nora Berg, Cazenovia

“She’s only a sophomore, but she’s really calm and composed when she runs.” — Alyssa Wardell

Grace Waskiewicz, Central Square

“She knows what she’s doing and can feel out for what’s coming in front of her.” — Stella Brancaccio

Victoria Gerena, Central Valley Academy

“I feel like she’ll do pretty good. She’s got good sprinting control.” — Addison Smithson

Natalie DiGennaro, Chittenango

“She’s probably one of our best distance runners we have.” — Chloe Payton

Monica Fallon, Christian Brothers Academy

“She has a good sense of space.” — Meryl Murphy

Kennedy Jones, Cicero-North Syracuse

“She’s small, but she’s so fast. I think she could find her way around the track.” — Mya Patti

Rachael Burt, East Syracuse Minoa

“She’s got a pretty good running form. She’s pretty steady, so I feel like she’d be able to make her way around the track without having to look at it.” — Jaelyn Jordan

Vita Galini, Fulton

“She’s one of those teammates that you can rely on for anything. You tell her one thing, and she remembers it and is going to do it. And she’s got pretty strong hand-eye coordination.“ — Olivia Hendrickson

Kimberly McIntyre, Hannibal

“She’s got a very good attitude. She doesn’t give up very easily. She’s got a good drive.” — Cecelia Stone

Ingrid Aagaard, Homer

“The track is in her blood.” — Natalie Funk

NyJhaya Lyles, Henninger

“She’s just so confident.” — Maniya McCoy-Plair

Abigail Adams, Jamesville-DeWitt

“She’s socially aware, and she’s a distance runner. I feel like she could handle it. I feel like she would go at the speed like a sprinter would.” — Ellyana Deng

Katherine Velazquez, Little Falls

“Katherine could pull off anything. One time, she ran the 400-meter hurdles...she never ran it before. She kicked butt.” — Addyson Connelly

Nahla Battle-Crenshaw, Liverpool

“We’ve been running relays together for years now, so it’s muscle memory to her.” — Madelyn Devendorf

Dorothy McMahon, Marcellus

“She somehow pulls everything off. She can have a broken leg and still run a (personal record).” — Madison Foy

Delanie Roberts, New Hartford

“Well, last year she was a freshman. She came in and she was able to do a lot of different events with hurdles and a lot of different relays.” — Keira Ciufo

Abbey Calhoun, New York Mills

“She’s run so many relays before. She’s used to it, and she’s used to the motions and stuff.” — Nevaeh Kimble

Olivia Kapuscinski, Oswego

“She always works very hard during practices and always puts in her all. She is a very dedicated teammate.“ — Miley Sorendo

Shaylee Denslow, Phoenix

“She just has really good direction. She knows her way around the track. I think she’s been doing it all four years, so I think she would know her way around pretty well.” — Samantha Hopps

Shaniya Dugar, PSLA @ Fowler

“Her baton pass is out of this world.” — Journey Johnson

Giuliana Giannotti, Pulaski

“I feel like she just has good running form, so that might help her be coordinated for it.” — Grace Carguello

Margaret Girzadas, Skaneateles

“I think she’s good at figuring out where to go. I think if she were blindfolded, she could figure out how to get around the track without running into anything.” — Lucy Fleckenstein

Amie Valentine, Utica Proctor

“She’s one of our fastest runners.” — NyAshia Linen

Leah Maguire, Vernon Verona Sherrill

“She’s just crazy enough to do it.” — Cora Wheeler

Olivia Macutek, Watertown

“She’s just very dedicated and when she’s set on something, she does it. So I believe that she’ll just be able to focus and really do it.” — Kaile Wilcher

Lily Pellegrino, West Genesee

“She always seems to do really well at fun, random things like that, so I think she would do really good.” — Chloe Fietze