Belen’s Arrieta, Doral’s Maisonet are Dade Track and Field Coaches of the Year
Victor Arrieta has been one of the architects of Belen Jesuit’s tradition of excellence for years in track and field.
Meanwhile at Doral Academy, Raviel Maisonet is laying the foundation in the hopes of similar sustained success.
This season, each saw their respective teams add to their program’s accomplishments, which makes Arrieta and Maisonet the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Track and Field Coaches of the Year.
Maisonet is the winner on the girls’ side after finishing up his fourth season coaching the Firebirds. Doral went from placing 15th in last year’s state meet to a Dade-best in Class 4A seventh place.
The Firebirds had several top performances individually, including Ana Echevarria posting the top distances in the county at state in the long jump (5.62 meters) and triple jump (12.23 meters), Sophia Florik running the fastest time at state in the 400 meters (57.02 seconds), Nicole Lewis running the fastest in the 3,200 (11:00.06), and Meghan McGuinn throwing the farthest in the shot put (12.34 meters).
McGuinn graduated, but Florik, Lewis and Echevarria were all underclassmen this past season, giving Doral a strong core to continue building around next season.
Arrieta guided Belen to a state runner-up finish, which was the best for any boys’ team from Miami-Dade regardless of classification.
Only a dominant performance by Niceville held back the Wolverines from collecting another team state title. But led by Boys’ Track Athlete of the Year and University of North Carolina commit Marcelo Mantecon, Belen did not leave the state meet without gold.
Mantecon won three individual events and helped the Wolverines’ 3,200 relay secure a state title.
Other top performances included the 1,600-meter relay finishing fourth and senior Aleksandr Jurado finishing second in the javelin.
