Zachary Jelinek knew he was receiving an award when he was invited to attend Greenwich High School’s Senior Awards night recently, but he wasn’t sure what it would be.

He was pleasantly surprised when he was presented with the Greenwich’s Male Athlete of the Year Award.

A senior, Jelinek received the Athlete of the Year Award for excelling on the Cardinals’ outdoor and indoor track and field team. He was also a key contributor on Greenwich’s cross country team.

“It was a very cool ceremony, a nice, sweet ceremony,” Jelinek said. “My heart was beating fast when I got it, I was in shock and didn’t know how to process it. It was such an honor to receive the award out of everyone in the school’s entire athletic program. I brought my parents and girlfriend to the event and all of us were shocked after the fact.”

Jelinek, who received a plaque for being the recipient of the Male Athlete of the Year Award is currently competing in the New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Philadelphia.

He was part of Greenwich’s 1600-meter sprint medley relay team, which placed fifth in the Championship division at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor. The Cardinals’ 1600-meter sprint medley relay was comprised of freshman Cameron Williams, sophomore Harrison Goldenberg, junior Gianluca Bianchi and Jelinek, who anchored the relay. The foursome placed fifth in the race, earning All-America honors with a time 3:30.72.

During Greenwich’s outdoor track and field season, Jelinek won the 1600-meter run (mile run) at the FCIAC Championships with a time of 4:18.95 and finished second at the CIAC Class LL Championships, clocking in at 1:55.07. He ran on Greenwich’s 4×400-meter relay, which won the FCIAC title in 3:25.42, then captured the Class LL championship, improving their time to 3:22.50 (Goldenberg, Bianchi, Jelinek, senior Andrew O’Donnell).

Also at the Class LL state championship meet, Jelinek posted a second-place finish in the 800-meter run, registering a time of 1:55.07. He broke school records in the 800-meter event, the 1600 and was part of the squad’s 4×800, 4×400, distance medley relay and sprint medley relays that also set school records. Jelinek qualified for nationals in the 1600, 800, sprint medley relay, distance medley relay 4×800 and 4×400.

“My senior year on the team has been very fun,” Jelinek said. “It has been a great season. We had a 9-1 record in the regular season (spring outdoor track) and we ended up winning FCIAC title for the first time since 1976.”

During the indoor winter track season, Jelinek, Bianchi, Jack Sias and Thomas Foster teamed up to finish fourth in the 1600-meter sprint relay race in an All-America/school record time of 3:33.08 at the New Balance Nationals Indoor Championships. Jelinek also broke the school record in the one-mile event, 800-meter run and was part of the Cards’ winning sprint medley relay at the Class LL and State Open meets. He was a First Team All-FCIAC and All-State selection, earned All-New England honors and was named the Cardinals’ MVP.

“All of the success we had during the outdoor season was a continuation of what we did at indoor,” said Jelinek, who will soon be competing on the track and field team at Bucknell University. “This is the best team that Greenwich has ever had and it has been a lot of fun to be part of such a great team. Any athlete will tell you they want to be on the best team the program has ever had, especially as a captain. This is such a nice group of guys.”

As for being chosen as Greenwich’s Male Athlete of the Year?
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches,” Jelinek said. “We put in so much hard work together and it’s been so much fun to be a member of such a great team.”