photo: MileSplit NY
Joseph Perazzo just completed his senior year at Susan E. Wagner High School on Staten Island. During his senior year in cross country he won PSAL City and Borough championships, finished third at the New York Federation Championships, and 18th at the NXR New York regionals. He entered the indoor track season with bests of 4:14 (1600m) and 9:15 (3200m) from his junior year but during the 2023 indoor season quickly improved on those marks as he ran 4:12 and 9:03. And then during the outdoor season he turned broke the 9-minute and 4:10 barriers as he ran 8:55.10 at the Arcadia Invitational in California and 4:08.03 in the 1 mile (converted to 4:06.59 for 1600m). The mile mark set new Staten Island and PSAL records; both which had stood for more than four decades. The previous Staten Island record of 4:11.40 was set in 1982 by Charles Marsala. The previous PSAL record of 4:09.67 was set in 1967 by James Jackson. For his amazing senior track season he was selected as the boys track & field Gatorade Player of the Year in New York. In the interview below you will learn more about Perazzo, both on and off the track; such as his favorite food and restaurant, his role models, who he would choose to have lunch and dinner with, and why he chose the University of Florida. So let's get to know Joseph Perazzo........
I got into running in the first grade when my parents noticed how much I loved running around the school yard, racing my friends and how fast I was so they signed me up for track. I remember my first time at a track practice refusing to run out of shyness, but I quickly got the hang of it and ended up loving it.
Running 8:55 at the Arcadia invitational and 4:08 at Track Night NYC. These are the times me and Coach Padula have been working towards for multiple years now and they were the performances that got me the Staten Island and PSAL records. It was such a fulfilling experience to get out there and successfully run these times.
I have been eying the Staten Island and PSAL records since I was a freshman. Getting the records was no surprise to us because of the amount of hard work we put in, but it feels extremely good to see the progression of eying the records to now holding the records. More importantly, achieving these goals teaches me a lot about life and running on the big stage. I experienced many bad races, hard workouts and a few setbacks and I now see that the important thing that got me these records is to show up the next day with unshaken confidence that you will get there. And in its own time, I indeed did get to where I wanted to be as a high schooler. As I set higher goals for myself for the beginning of my collegiate career such as the 4 minute mile, the 8 minute 3k and the 14 minute 5k, I now know what it is like to chase and eclipse the goals I had for myself and I will apply this experience and wisdom to greater feats.
History
I am big into personal development, self actualization and mindfulness. I meditate every day and I enjoy exploring my mind to grow myself as much as I can.
I enjoy long distance workouts, especially ones that challenge me. I enjoy tempos, 1 km repeats, 400s with short rest. If I had to pick one, I would go with the classic tempo run with a large group of guys.
Clove Lakes Park
Beef Skewers specifically from Le Sia in Manhattan.
Le Sia in Manhattan. I am convinced that it is the best restaurant on the planet because of the seasoning and flavor of their food.
Narcos and Breaking Bad are my all time favorites. I have recently been watching this stupid show called Beavis and Butthead.
I have been shying away from social media but I still use instagram.
My Mother
My Father. I am very close with both of my parents.
Coach John Padula and Leo Gura from Actualized.org
Joseph Perazzo. I look up to top athletes like Nico Young and Mo Farah, but I am more concerned about getting as good as they are rather than being their fan.
I feel The University of Florida is the perfect fit for me. Off the bat I needed a school with a warmer climate than New York which drew me to the state of Florida. We have vacationed there countless times, so I am familiar with the state and I can see myself living there after college. The campus was beautiful, the academics are stellar, I hit it off with the team and I see they are as motivated to be great as I am. It is an honor to be part of such a successful championship program, who wins NCAA titles pretty much every year. The SEC, being the most competitive conference in the country, will put me back on the bottom of the totem pole which is exactly where I want to be as a freshman in the sense that it will light a fire in me to improve like I've never seen before. Given my highly competitive nature, I thrive the most when I have people to chase, catch and beat for myself. Training in the heat will only make me tougher, I will take it any day over the cold. Some of the other schools I was looking at were the University of North Florida, University of Houston, University of Alabama, University of North Carolina, University of Oklahoma, Wake Forest University, Columbia University, Rutgers University and Binghamton University. I did a lot of research and visited a ton of schools which leaves me very comfortable and confident in my informed decision to go with Florida.
I am still exploring my options of what I want to major in. However I am interested in psychology and exercise science so I may delve into one of those.
In 5 years, I want to be fresh off a highly successful college career, with All American Status in the 5000m, with a PR of around 13:20 and a brand new professional contract for Nike.