Mike Napolitano
Sport: Indoor track
School: Hasbrouck Heights
Class: Senior. Age: 17
Accomplishment: Won the Group 1 state championship in the 55 meters with the fastest time in North Jersey this season.
Paul SchwartzWhen he crossed the finish line after winning the Group 1 55-meter state championship on Feb, 28,
Mike Napolitano blacked out.
Not literally, he explained. Just mentally.
“I thought, wow I did it,” said Napolitano, the North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS. “This has been my goal since I started running in high school and when you do it, you sort of black out.”
It also confirmed a tough decision to give up football and run track next year at Marist College.
“I’m a 5-foot-11, 168 pound hybrid running back and wide receiver, and my size has always been an issue in football,” said Napolitano, who still gained more than 3,000 yards rushing and scored more than 40 touchdowns as a three-year starter for the Aviators. “At the end of last year, I was pretty committed to running track in college. I just didn’t want to put on the weight I needed to play football in college.”
A trip to Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. made an early decision easier. “The team was so welcoming and everything about the program and the school made it a no-brainer,” Napolitano said. “The coaching staff really knows how to coach and I’m going to love competing in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) against teams like Iona, Rider and Merrimack.”
It also helps that Marist has an academic program that leads to becoming a doctor of physical therapy, something Napolitano aspires to. “Last year, when I pulled my hamstring and needed PT, I really got into learning about proper recovery and the anatomic side of it. Marist’s program has just what I want.”
When Napolitano crossed the finish line at states, he joined his older sister Megan, now a senior at Montclair State as a state group champion. Megan Napolitano won the 2021 outdoor Group 1 pole vault.
“I remember watching her win that title, but I was a baseball player at the time,” the younger brother said. “But when I got to high school, I decided to become a sprinter because I was always considered to be pretty fast.”
That proved to be a wise decision, as Napolitano qualified for states as a freshman, missing the Group 1 100 final by one place. He hasn’t missed a state medal in the short sprints in the five seasons that followed, and reached the State Meet of Champions in each season as well.
“I trust my coaches and I trust my training,” said Napolitano, who is seeded sixth in the 55 meters at this year’s indoor State Meet of Champions and should earn his first SMOC medal. “I think I can beat anyone and I think if you don’t think that way, you’re selling yourself short.”
Going full-time in track and field means Napolitano will finally get an offseason after the spring season ends.
“I don’t even know how having an offseason will affect me,” he said. “I guess I’ll find out this summer. My plans are to relax and do some training, but not playing football will limit the beating my body takes and I should be way more fresh in the spring. I haven’t had an offseason since eighth grade.”
Napolitano credits Hasbrouck Heights track coach Rob Brady as the person who has helped him most along his journey. “He’s been my main source of motivation and my biggest inspiration.”
Now, Napolitano has become an inspiration to the next generation of Hasbrouck Heights stars.
