These are the introductions from last year’s Opening Ceremonies, bringing back several of the greats from Loucks history.

Ladies and gentlemen, each year, here at Loucks, we invite back athletes in what amounts to be an anniversary year of one of their wins. Thus, each of our returning former champions won in a year that ends in the number “8”. Last year, at our 50th meet, we had several of the champions from the original year of 8 – 1968.

When you hear the lineup of greats that have returned to White Plains, you will agree with us that “8 was great” at Loucks. Hopefully ten years from now, several of you will be invited back for the first time.

Let’s welcome our former Loucks champions. Kristin Reese – Carmel High School 2008

Ten years have passed since our first guest repeated as the Outstanding Athlete at Loucks, and during those two years she won four Loucks trophies, including one for a sub- 2 minute, ten second, 800 meters. After four outstanding years at Stanford University, she is back on the East Coast working in her third year towards a medical degree. She says to you young runners, “Enjoy yourself! And if you’re not having fun, figure out why and change something up.” Let’s welcome back Carmel High School’s, Kristin Reese.

Keyon Soley – Uniondale High School – 1998

In 1998 this next guest had a terrific Loucks Games, winning the Outstanding Athlete Award for her performance. She won the 100 Meters and then won the Long Jump with a leap of 19 feet 8 inches - a distance which is still the 6th longest in meet history. She then anchored Uniondale’s 4 X 100 to a victory. She is a 3-time Long Jump state champion, 3-time 55 meters state champion, 4- time 100 meter state champion, state record holder for the 100 meters at 11 point 4-0 seconds and a NCAA Long Jump champion while at UCLA. Now a track coach in Florida, let’s hear it for one of the greatest athletes in New York State history, Ms. Keyon Soley.

Kyle Merber – Half Hollow Hills West

In 2008 our next guest, while running for Half Hollow Hills West High School, won the 1600 meter run in 4 minutes, 12 point 8-1 seconds. That year, this versatile athlete, at other meets, ran 1minute, 53 seconds for 800 meters and 9 minutes, 6 seconds for 3200 meters. But his times at Columbia University and the University of Texas are what really made the track community take notice. He has run times of 1 minute 47 point 23 seconds for 800 meters; 3 minutes 52 point 2-2 seconds for the mile and in 2016 he was a finalist in the US Olympic Trials 1500 meters. He also ran a key leg on the US Distance Medley Relay team that set a still-standing world record of 9 minutes, 15 point 5 -0 seconds. He is also a member of two other World Record teams, both indoors, a 4 X 800 and 4 X Mile. He is the proud meet director of the September 5th Long Island Mile. Now running for New Jersey New York Track Club and sponsored by Hoka One One, here is one of the nation’s leading middle distance runners – welcome back – Kyle Merber.

Sanya Owolabi – Sleepy Hollow – 1978

In 1978 our next guest repeated as Loucks Games Champion in the Triple Jump, his third Loucks win. His 52 foot 4.5 inch leap, some 40 years later, is still the meet record! In fact he still has the high school record at the and for New York State. He’s a five-time New York State champion. In 1978 he won seven meets with leaps over 52 feet! He’s a member of the Penn Relays Wall of Fame and a member of the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame. He’s the 1980 NCAA Triple Jump Champion. Recently, in an Armory publication, he was named the top male high school athlete in the history of New York State’s Hudson Valley. Here all the way from Texas, Sleepy Hollow’s Sanya Owolabi!

Derrick Adkins – Malverne High School 1988

Here from his native Long Island, our next guest, in 1988, repeated as 400 meter hurdle champion, this time with a meet record performance which still stands – 51 point 4-0 seconds. At , he was a six- time All American and NCAA Champion. From 2006 until 2011, many of us knew him as the Director of the Armory Center in Manhattan. But it was back in 1996, at the , Georgia , that the entire planet got to know his name. In the 400 intermediate hurdles, his time of 47.54 earned him a gold medal over a tough field of competitors. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the top fans of the Loucks Games, let’s welcome back, the great Olympic Champion, .

Jodi Schlesinger Salesberg – Clarkstown South 1998

Twenty years ago our next guest won her first of three Loucks trophies for jumping. In fact, two of her Triple Jump efforts still rank amongst the Top 10 jumps in meet history. She is one of six jumpers in meet history to go over 40 feet. She is a two-time National Junior Olympics Champion, three-time National Scholastic Champion and seven-time New York State champion. She received the first scholarship awarded to a female track and field athlete at Duke University, where she still holds the triple jump record. She retired as a vice president of Goldman Sachs to raise her three children. Originally representing Clarkstown South High School, and now living in New Jersey, please welcome back one of the greatest jumpers in Loucks history, Jodi Schlesinger Salesberg.

Invited, but unable to attend:

Dalilah Muhammad – Benjamin Cardozo High School 2008

In 2008 our next guest’s time of 59 point 8 – 4 seconds set a Loucks Games record that still stands for 400 hurdles. In 2008 she won the national junior title was the silver medalist at the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. At the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she improved her personal record by half a second with a run of 53 point 8-3 seconds in the final to win her first national title in the 400 meter hurdles. But most of us will better remember her performance in 2016 when she ran the hurdles in 53 point 1-3 seconds, in route to winning the Rio de Janiero Olympic Games. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome back the reigning Olympic Champion, originally from Benjamin Cardozo High School, Dalilah Muhammad!

Joetta Clark Diggs – Columbia High School 1978

Our final guest, in 1978, running for Columbia High School in New Jersey, set the meet record for the Mile at 4 minutes, 53 point 5 seconds. Her career took off afterwards. At the University of Tennessee she won 9 NCAA championships and many consider her to be “America’s most successful middle distance runner,” citing her four Olympic appearances of 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000. In 2013 she was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and today she is president of Joetta Sports and Beyond. Please welcome back, one of the all-time great American athletes, .