Freshman George Kahi is pulling a fast one on his cross-country teammates.
The enthusiastic 14-year-old on Port Washington’s varsity team, who made the New Balance nationals as an eighth grader, is a character on the track who chooses to practice and work out in dress clothes.
“I just thought maybe it would be something fun to do — or maybe would be funny. Just, like, something to not be normal,” Kahi told The Post.
“I think having fun definitely helps my dedication. There’s some sort of correlation between that.”
He’s run wearing a blazer, tie and khaki pants in the past, but Kahi most prefers a yellow short-sleeve button-down shirt that he often gets sweaty in. Kahi loves the yellow one so much that he’s bought multiple for training.
“My teammates found it funny, and even my coaches decided to roll with it since they saw I was putting in the work while wearing these funny clothes,” said Kahi, who used to ritualistically eat a salami sandwich before any of his meets.
“At this point, I think a normal athletic shirt might be more uncomfortable,” said Kahi, whose team just won a division title.
The Yogi Berra-esque athlete added that initially it was intimidating to be on varsity and prove to older teammates why he belonged with them, but through bonding and laughs, the tension quickly dissipated.
“They’ll help push me in the workouts now,” said Kahi, who has big goals for the rest of his high school tenure.
“My goals are to go to nationals a few more times. Hopefully, I can get some records for my high school, too.”
In football, undefeated juggernaut 4-0 Floyd heads to 3-1 Lindenhurst Friday at 6 p.m., and 2-2 Oceanside hosts 2-2 Syosset at 6:30 p.m. Saturday as both sides battle for a winning record.
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