\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOne former standout Section VII high school track and field athlete ran his way to the NCAA Division I level.Plattsburgh, NY native Braydon Caraballo is taking his talents to Marist University to compete for the school’s men’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs. “It means a lot to me,” Caraballo said. “I’m just very grateful that I was able to be showcased in the small area that we live in. It’s hard for some athletes around here to just branch out and be showcased … so I’m very grateful that I was able to be given this opportunity.”Caraballo put his name on the map amongst high school athletes in track and field his junior season with Plattsburgh high school’s indoor track and field team. He was a part of the 4x200M relay team which took first place in the 2025 New York state indoor track and field championships.Winning this race fueled a desire in Caraballo to want to compete in track and field at the NCAA level in a variety of ways. “When I was on the podium I was just thinking ‘I have to keep doing this,'” Carballo said. “It’s not even just winning. The team, the community, the work we put in, just the feeling was amazing. I didn’t want that to be done.”Caraballo was weighing his options on what school to pick to continue running track and field for another four years, but Marist stuck out to him based on his relationship with one of the team’s coaches. Alisha Samuel, who is an assistant coach specializing in sprinting with Marist, was someone who stuck out to Caraballo as a great role model based on her willingness to push him to be the best sprinter he could be. “She asked me what time I wanted to get to … and she told me she was going to get me there as long as I put in the work,” Caraballo said. “That statement really stuck with me, and to this day I still think about it because if I look back at my sports career … I always saw something I wanted to get to, and I would do anything I could to get there.”Caraballo also credits the coaches he had at Plattsburgh high school as a key piece to his development as a runner. That includes his assistant coach Alfie Ladue, who specialized in training the 4x200M relay athletes. “He actually saved the (4x200M) program from being cut,” Caraballo said. “He brought us all together. He coached us. He put all of his time and effort into finding out what we needed to do to get better … It was his coaching that really made us excel and really makes future athletes in the program excel.”Carballo turns his attention to a new program with Marist. The Red Foxes are coming off a 2026 campaign which saw them place 6th in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference indoor track and field championships and 6th in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Outdoor track and field championships. “I’m excited to join the program,” Caraballo said. “I just want to take it step by step … work as hard as I can, do what they need for me, and I’m just willing to contribute in any way I can.”He also encourages anyone from Plattsburgh or surrounding towns in upstate New York that they could reach the division one level just like him. All it takes in his mind is a bit of critical personal thinking. “You just have to be stubborn with your goals,” Carballo said. “No matter what people tell you. A lot of people were telling me I couldn’t do Division I. I know that sounds cliche … but at the end of the day I just never let myself accept that as an option to quit.”\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tPLATTSBURGH, N.Y. \u2014<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n One former standout Section VII high school track and field athlete ran his way to the NCAA Division I level.<\/p>\n Plattsburgh, NY native Braydon Caraballo is taking his talents to Marist University to compete for the school’s men’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs. <\/p>\n “It means a lot to me,” Caraballo said. “I’m just very grateful that I was able to be showcased in the small area that we live in. It’s hard for some athletes around here to just branch out and be showcased … so I’m very grateful that I was able to be given this opportunity.”<\/p>\n Caraballo put his name on the map amongst high school athletes in track and field his junior season with Plattsburgh high school’s indoor track and field team. He was a part of the 4x200M relay team which took first place in the 2025 New York state indoor track and field championships.<\/p>\n Winning this race fueled a desire in Caraballo to want to compete in track and field at the NCAA level in a variety of ways. <\/p>\n “When I was on the podium I was just thinking ‘I have to keep doing this,'” Carballo said. “It’s not even just winning. The team, the community, the work we put in, just the feeling was amazing. I didn’t want that to be done.”<\/p>\n Caraballo was weighing his options on what school to pick to continue running track and field for another four years, but Marist stuck out to him based on his relationship with one of the team’s coaches. <\/p>\n Alisha Samuel, who is an assistant coach specializing in sprinting with Marist, was someone who stuck out to Caraballo as a great role model based on her willingness to push him to be the best sprinter he could be. <\/p>\n “She asked me what time I wanted to get to … and she told me she was going to get me there as long as I put in the work,” Caraballo said. “That statement really stuck with me, and to this day I still think about it because if I look back at my sports career … I always saw something I wanted to get to, and I would do anything I could to get there.”<\/p>\n Caraballo also credits the coaches he had at Plattsburgh high school as a key piece to his development as a runner. That includes his assistant coach Alfie Ladue, who specialized in training the 4x200M relay athletes. <\/p>\n “He actually saved the (4x200M) program from being cut,” Caraballo said. “He brought us all together. He coached us. He put all of his time and effort into finding out what we needed to do to get better … It was his coaching that really made us excel and really makes future athletes in the program excel.”<\/p>\n Carballo turns his attention to a new program with Marist. The Red Foxes are coming off a 2026 campaign which saw them place 6th in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference indoor track and field championships and 6th in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Outdoor track and field championships. <\/p>\n “I’m excited to join the program,” Caraballo said. “I just want to take it step by step … work as hard as I can, do what they need for me, and I’m just willing to contribute in any way I can.”<\/p>\n He also encourages anyone from Plattsburgh or surrounding towns in upstate New York that they could reach the division one level just like him. All it takes in his mind is a bit of critical personal thinking. <\/p>\n “You just have to be stubborn with your goals,” Carballo said. “No matter what people tell you. A lot of people were telling me I couldn’t do Division I. I know that sounds cliche … but at the end of the day I just never let myself accept that as an option to quit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One former standout Section VII high school track and field athlete ran his way to the NCAA Division…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":931212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[1444,12086,375503,5229,375504,104791,165149,375505,26251,29672,165151,375506,111405,49770,1317,405,403,165152,5226,5225,5228,5227,8146,47140,165158,336931,154877,375507,19418,67,586,132,5230,4280,68,2969,160387],"class_list":["post-931211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-1444","tag-12086","tag-abc22","tag-america","tag-braydon-caraballo","tag-division-i","tag-eric-kerr","tag-fox44","tag-high-school","tag-indoor","tag-ken-drake","tag-maac","tag-marist","tag-nbc5","tag-ncaa","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news-channel-5","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-outdoor","tag-plattsburgh","tag-section-vii","tag-sprinter","tag-state-champion","tag-the-metro","tag-track-and-field","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-university","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wptz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116910686785168107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}