Maria Fareti (middle) poses with the Vincent Falardeau award and members from her team and WFTFOA.
Photo credit: Adam Tanguay
CHICOPEE — Maria Fareti from Chicopee was awarded the Vincent Falardeau award, which is a scholarship award for the best track athlete in Western Massachusetts.
The Vincent Falardeau scholarship award is awarded to a female athlete in Western Massachusetts who not only excels on the track, but also is an outstanding student and community leader within their school.
Fareti started outdoor track in ninth grade because her friends were doing it, but she said she soon realized the running events were not for her after trying it.
She approached Chicopee High School Girls Track and Field Coach Adam Tanguay to say she didn’t think running was for her and that is when he recommended throwing. Now Fareti throws shot put and discus.
“I did it and from that moment on I fell in love and I started indoor track my sophomore year and I have done it ever since,” Fareti added.
Fareti just graduated from high school in the spring and is committed to attend Williams College where she will continue her track and field career.
She discussed what she enjoys most about throwing.
Fareti said, “I think that I enjoy the individuality of the sport and I love to push myself and I think that throwing is not typically an event showcased when you think of track and field, so I love to be part of a community that is kind of in the shadows before. I was fortunate enough to try and be a part of bringing it back to life and trying to get people interested into throwing and bring people’s attention to it.”
At the start of the track and field season, Fareti had to submit an essay to the Western Massachusetts Track and Field Officials Association about how track and field and community service has impacted her life.
She said one of the reasons she applied for the award was because the season prior, captain and teammate Athena Cusson was the 2023 recipient of the Vincent Falardeau award.
“I had previously applied for it. It was something that the previous captain of our team, Athena Cusson, she had applied, and she had won and I always looked up to her. Whenever we were in school, she was the perfect vision of a student athlete, she was involved in every single thing she could be in and she was a star on the field and in the classroom so I always looked up to her so I ended up applying for the award,” Fareti said.
Fareti received the award during the PVIAC Western MA Track and Field Championships.
Tanguay said, “It is a nice moment where representatives from the Western MA Track & Field Officials Association pause the championship meet before the relay races and present the award in front of the crowd.”
Tanguay added that student-athletes such as Fareti and Cusson have helped shape the track and field program in Chicopee for a long time to come. He added that he though there were plenty of great student athletes who submitted essays but no one was more deserving than Fareti.
“Chicopee High School Girls Track and Field has been rather fortunate the last few seasons. We have had some very good athletes, but more importantly we continue to build a strong team culture. Fareti has been the ultimate team captain, peer mentor and community leader. I’d also like to note that Maria’s success was really the product of her dedication to her events and ability to work with our throws coach and boys head coach Alex Efstratios. Maria and Coach Efstratios put in hours and hours of fine tuning the techniques for her events,” Tanguay added.
Not only does Fareti show off her talent on the field, but she said she also finds herself very involved in the student aspect of student athlete.
“I felt that I was pretty qualified to apply and obviously with the encouragement from my coach, he was there for me since I ever thought about applying for schools and applying for scholarships.”
Fareti also said that another part of her wanting to make such a big impact was the fact that there are so many young athletes that she was constantly surrounded by and wanted to be an example for.
She said, “ I needed to be the one to show initiative so they felt comfortable and they understood that it’s okay to be the first person to do something and not necessarily always have organic messages but its okay to make your own mark that you want to and I wanted to be able to be that marker and show younger athletes that it’s their journey and it’s all of their possibility.”
Some other accolades Fareti won includes winning the PVIAC Western Massachusetts title in the girls shot put and discus three years in a row, winning the shot put and discus title at the MIAA D4 Championship meet and finishing fourth in Massachusetts in the shot put at the MIAA All-State meet.
She also qualified for All New England’s and Nike, New Balance and Adidas Nationals but declined to go to focus on graduation.
