Delaware Valley senior Brooke Acoveno set three school records, in the long jump (18-1½), the triple jump (36-2¼) and the high jump (5-6) in a meet against Wallenpaupack.
When did you start track? I started in seventh grade and I just loved it ever since.
Other sports you play. Volleyball and basketball.
Which of those is your favorite sport? Track. I’ve played basketball my whole life, and volleyball I started in middle school, but I saw my brothers doing track and I would go to their meets and see them breaking records and stuff like that and it really just caught my interest.
Do you have any superstitions or rituals before a meet? I always just visualize my jumps when I’m on the bus. I’m just visualizing everything and just making sure I know what I’m going to be doing. That’s pretty much it. I don’t really have any superstitions.
Do you have a favorite athlete you admire? There is a multi-event, track and field athlete at the University of Georgia, Anna Hall. I’m always following her, looking at how she does her progression. She’s a really good high jumper as well, so I really look up to her.
Do you follow any sports teams? To be honest, I don’t really. I kind of just follow a lot of the track teams like again, University of Georgia, University of Texas. I’m always seeing how their athletes are doing.
What’s the biggest area of improvement for you this season? Definitely my long jump has improved tremendously because my mark before I got 18 feet was at 16 feet.
That’s a really big difference. Why? I think continuing my speed on the runway was definitely a big part.
One meal in your house that you can’t live without. The meal I have the most would be steak, rice and roasted vegetables. That’s what I have all the time.
One thing in your lifetime that you would like to learn to do. I’ve always wanted to learn how to speak Italian fluently, because I’m half Italian and my dad lived there for a couple of years. It’s just always something that seems so interesting to me and I think it’s a beautiful language.
One teammate who always lightens the mood. Mackenzie Olsommer. I played basketball with her and now we’re on the track team together and we just have a great time.
What’s been the hardest thing to overcome this past year? Just the inconsistency. With COVID going on, having limited practices, stuff like that. We had two weeks off of practice and had our meet at Western Wayne.
How important has been having sports as a salve for what’s happened, losing a year of participation and everything else? Sports is always something you can kind of fall back on and focus away from the pandemic. I’ve always looked to just go work out and make myself better and just focus, and that has helped me a lot.
Three people you would like to have dinner with. Billie Eilish, the singer. Definitely her. I love her music, love everything about her. Tara Davis from University of Texas, she’s a long jumper. The other one would be my grandpa, Michael Garammone, because he passed away when I was like 3 years old. I didn’t get to spend that much time with him.
What plans do you have after high school? After high school, I’m going to Lehigh University in the fall, and I’m going to do track and field there as well. I’m going to be doing the high jump and long jump, and then hopefully another event or two.
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Marty Myers began his career as a sports writer at The Wayne Independent in Honesdale, where he served as sports editor and later managing editor. After 10 years there, he joined The Times-Tribune in 1994 and has spent the ensuing years reporting on high school sports, local and professional golf. An award-winning journalist, he also enjoys his duties as a copy editor for The Times-Tribune, editing stories and designing pages. A native of Williamsport, Marty resides in Clarks Summit. Reach him at mmyers@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100 x5437 or @mmyersTT.
