To his athletes, Westbury High track coach Andrew Blanks is the voice of reason.

Blanks currently coaches every age of track athlete from junior high kids to Olympic hopefuls.

Plus he holds this distinction from the 2004 Olympics: "I had two boys at Athens in the 400 (meter) hurdles. And at this time, I'm the only coach in the world to have two athletes from the same high school in the finals of an Olympic event,” said Blanks.

“Biana Comani of Baylor, who ran for Panama and Benny Brazil out of LSU who ran for the U.S.”

And coach blanks and his athletes have had great success despite their training conditions. Check out the track that they train on. The tartan surface is basically gone, in most areas it's down to the bare asphalt"

"I hope that somebody sees this and realizes we need help,” said Blanks.

One of Blanks’ current stars is half-miler Philip Pierot. He's No. 1 in his class with a 4.7 GPA and he's headed to Columbia on a scholarship:

"Not only does he try to get the most out of you athletically, he pretty much tells you how to apply the things you learn out here to everyday life,” Pierot said of his coach.

"With us you're students first and athletes second and if you can't handle that you got to go,” said Blanks.