Muriel Piluso Nestoros - North Rockland 1978
Muriel Piluso was a ground-breaking sprinter in the early days of girls’ track in the mid-1970s. She burst upon the scene winning the Section 9 100-yard dash as a freshman in 1975 and proceeded to carve out a brilliant four-year career for the Red Raiders. By the time she was done, Muriel was inspiring newspaper headlines such as “The Girl the Boys Fear” and tempting Coach Gene Dall to use her on the boys’ team’s sprint relays.
All Muriel did was sweep the 100- and 220-yard dashes three straight years at the Rockland County outdoor championships and collect 10 County titles all together, including the indoor 60- and 300-yard dashes in 1978, the 440 relay in 1976 and 880 relay in 1978.
She also gathered in eight Section 9 gold medals, and established and re-established numerous County records: in the 100 yards outdoors (11.3 seconds) and indoors (11.4), 100 meters (12.0), 220 yards (25.5), indoor 60 (7.2) and 300 yards (37.7), and 880 relay(1:48.1).
Although nearly all of her records have been eclipsed – after all, it’s been 35 years since she competed – she still ranks No. 2 on the all-time Rockland list at 100 yards outdoors, No. 1 in the indoor 100 yards, which is no longer contested, and in the top 10 for 100 meters. She won the indoor 100 two straight years at the Bishop Loughlin Games in New York City’s Armory and set the meet and County record of 11.8 there in 1976. The following year she shattered her County mark by four-tenths of a second, clocking 11.4 en route to victory at the 1977 St. Francis Prep Games at the Armory.
Muriel was undefeated in the 300-yard dash in the County and Section 9 for three years, 1976-78, and lost just once in the 60 during that period. At the New York State meet, she had one third place (60) and two fourth-place finishes (220, indoor 300) to her credit. Among her most memorable outings was the 1978 spring County meet, when she equaled her County record in the 100, set a meet record in the 220, and blazed a come-from-behind,
24.8-second anchor leg to salt away victory for 880-yard relay teammates Tracy
Keller, Giulia Adler and Tracey Drexler in a meet-record 1:48.1.
In the fall, Muriel wielded a mean field hockey stick and was proficient enough to make second team All-County as the fifth-leading scorer in Rockland.
Scholastic girls’ track in Rockland County was charting its maiden voyage when Muriel laced up her track sneakers for the first time in ’75. A non-factor at the County championships that year, she rebounded at the Section 9 meet to soundly defeat favored Nancy Deacon of Suffern in the 100 and usher in the Piluso Era. “My freshman year, I did not have a lot of confidence,” says Muriel, a short, compact sprinter with super-quick leg turnover. “But I just thought I could win that race and I did. No matter what race it was, I would still be a nervous wreck. I needed someone there to push me. If someone is not pushing me, I can’t do as well.”
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Muriel blossomed into a high-caliber athlete. She was
related on her mother’s side to Jean Shiley, the 1932 Olympic champion, world-record holder and four-time national titlist in the high jump. “I guess it’s in the genes,” she says. “God gives us the raw talent, but you have to work on that talent, and you need someone to guide you.” Muriel’s coaches, Mary Levy, Dall, Jerry Wilson and Joy Coviello, provided that guidance during the spring and winter seasons. Levy was quoted in a 1975 All-County article in The Journal-News as saying, “When Muriel says, ‘Yes, I can!’ she does. If we can
continue to get her to say ‘Yes, I can!’ then we’ll get bigger and better performances from her in years to come.” Levy’s words proved prophetic as Muriel developed the confidence to mow down one rival after another and start the carousel of breaking records and attaining milestones.
Muriel enrolled at SUNY Plattsburgh but a case of homesickness prompted her return to
the county and to Rockland Community College. For the past 31 years she has been employed at Chromalloy in Orangeburg, where she refurbishes jet engines. Muriel, 53, is
one of six children, two of whom have passed away. She lives in Pomona with her husband of 14 years, Mario. Muriel has a son, James Mpasiakos, who’s 32.
Muriel was inducted in the North Rockland Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
All Muriel did was sweep the 100- and 220-yard dashes three straight years at the Rockland County outdoor championships and collect 10 County titles all together, including the indoor 60- and 300-yard dashes in 1978, the 440 relay in 1976 and 880 relay in 1978.
She also gathered in eight Section 9 gold medals, and established and re-established numerous County records: in the 100 yards outdoors (11.3 seconds) and indoors (11.4), 100 meters (12.0), 220 yards (25.5), indoor 60 (7.2) and 300 yards (37.7), and 880 relay(1:48.1).
Although nearly all of her records have been eclipsed – after all, it’s been 35 years since she competed – she still ranks No. 2 on the all-time Rockland list at 100 yards outdoors, No. 1 in the indoor 100 yards, which is no longer contested, and in the top 10 for 100 meters. She won the indoor 100 two straight years at the Bishop Loughlin Games in New York City’s Armory and set the meet and County record of 11.8 there in 1976. The following year she shattered her County mark by four-tenths of a second, clocking 11.4 en route to victory at the 1977 St. Francis Prep Games at the Armory.
Muriel was undefeated in the 300-yard dash in the County and Section 9 for three years, 1976-78, and lost just once in the 60 during that period. At the New York State meet, she had one third place (60) and two fourth-place finishes (220, indoor 300) to her credit. Among her most memorable outings was the 1978 spring County meet, when she equaled her County record in the 100, set a meet record in the 220, and blazed a come-from-behind,
24.8-second anchor leg to salt away victory for 880-yard relay teammates Tracy
Keller, Giulia Adler and Tracey Drexler in a meet-record 1:48.1.
In the fall, Muriel wielded a mean field hockey stick and was proficient enough to make second team All-County as the fifth-leading scorer in Rockland.
Scholastic girls’ track in Rockland County was charting its maiden voyage when Muriel laced up her track sneakers for the first time in ’75. A non-factor at the County championships that year, she rebounded at the Section 9 meet to soundly defeat favored Nancy Deacon of Suffern in the 100 and usher in the Piluso Era. “My freshman year, I did not have a lot of confidence,” says Muriel, a short, compact sprinter with super-quick leg turnover. “But I just thought I could win that race and I did. No matter what race it was, I would still be a nervous wreck. I needed someone there to push me. If someone is not pushing me, I can’t do as well.”
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Muriel blossomed into a high-caliber athlete. She was
related on her mother’s side to Jean Shiley, the 1932 Olympic champion, world-record holder and four-time national titlist in the high jump. “I guess it’s in the genes,” she says. “God gives us the raw talent, but you have to work on that talent, and you need someone to guide you.” Muriel’s coaches, Mary Levy, Dall, Jerry Wilson and Joy Coviello, provided that guidance during the spring and winter seasons. Levy was quoted in a 1975 All-County article in The Journal-News as saying, “When Muriel says, ‘Yes, I can!’ she does. If we can
continue to get her to say ‘Yes, I can!’ then we’ll get bigger and better performances from her in years to come.” Levy’s words proved prophetic as Muriel developed the confidence to mow down one rival after another and start the carousel of breaking records and attaining milestones.
Muriel enrolled at SUNY Plattsburgh but a case of homesickness prompted her return to
the county and to Rockland Community College. For the past 31 years she has been employed at Chromalloy in Orangeburg, where she refurbishes jet engines. Muriel, 53, is
one of six children, two of whom have passed away. She lives in Pomona with her husband of 14 years, Mario. Muriel has a son, James Mpasiakos, who’s 32.
Muriel was inducted in the North Rockland Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.