Dombrowskis are pillars of Molloy track and field (NY)

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http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cf ... 2414&rfi=6

All in the family: Dombrowskis are pillars of Molloy track and field
By Marc Raimondi
04/19/2007
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Archbishop Molloy senior Dylan Dombrowski won the javelin and pole vault at the Mayor's Cup Saturday. Photo by James Messerschmidt
Archbishop Molloy senior Dylan Dombrowski just set a personal best, clear ng 15 feet in the pole vault - good enough to win the Mayor's Cup championship i the event Saturday at Icahn Stadium in Randall's Island. Right there to congratulate him on the infield was his fa

Parents aren't usually allowed to leave the stands to celebrate with their kids, but in this instance, the situation is different: Joe Dombrowki is one of the Molloy track and field team coaches.

"It's a family affair," said the elder Dombrowski, who has coached at the Briarwood school since 1983.

Indeed it is. The Dombrowskis are the only father-son duo to both win CHSAA city championships in track and field. Dylan Dombrowksi has won the indoor triple jump and indoor long jump and Joe Dombrowski won the high jump in 1974 when he was at Molloy.

Brittany Dombrowski, Dylan's sister and a sophomore with the Stanners, won the outdoor city championship in the javelin last year. Dylan set a New York State junior class record last season in the javelin, won the Empire States Games gold medal in the event and is a school-record holding decathlete.

But the biggest challenge for the Breezy Point family is juggling between relative and athlete. Joe Dombrowski is Molloy's jump coach and serves only as an assistant coach in his son's events - a move done by design.

"I did my really best to buffer where there were other people who were coaching him in most of his individual events," Joe Dombrowski said. "[It] just made it a whole lot easier, because I just stood on the side and let them sit down. That was the smartest thing I did."

His father looked on Saturday as Dylan won the pole vault, then the javelin (170") later that afternoon.

"It wasn't a bad day," said Dylan Dombrowski, who will be a decathlete at the University of Connecticut next year. "I don't think it could get any better."

The Dombrowskis aren't the only family connection in Molloy track and field either. Rebecca Power, who won the girls' javelin (110" 8') at the Mayor's Cup, is coached by her father, Austin. The sport -- Molloy has one of the best track programs in the city - is a longstanding tradition at the school.

"It's a program and it's gone generations and generations," Joe Dombrowski said.

With no signs of stopping. Brittany Dombrowski missed Saturday's action on Randall's Island in favor of a bagpipe band commitment. But she already holds the New York State girls' record in the javelin (120" 9') and won that event in the Empire State Games last July in Rochester.

And so it goes.

"It is fun coaching your own," Joe Dombrowski said. "Luckily, we haven't had a lot of bad days."