Fastest ever in Sachem history, that’s the title that Sachem North junior Jonathan Lauer can now use after winning the Manhattan Invitational Varsity A race at the famous Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx this past Saturday.
In a meet that includes the best of the best from all over the country, Lauer won his race by just over 16 seconds and in the process set the Sachem record on a course that has been run by Sachem athletes for nearly 50 years.
His time was 6 seconds better than former Sachem standout and eventual University of Tennessee runner, Patrick Gildea, who ran a 12:48 for the 2.5 mile course back in 1997; the same year that he also went on to win Suffolk County Runner of the Year.
Running on the same course 18 years later, Lauer finished in a time of 12:42. Jonathan currently has the fastest 2.5 mile time and Sunken Meadow 5k time in Suffolk County.
The second place finisher in Lauer’s race was his own teammate, junior Christopher Tibbetts. Tibbetts’ time of 12:58 places him fifth all-time in Sachem history and fourth in the Sachem North record books.
Lauer and Tibbetts were the only pair of teammates to go 1-2 in the seven varsity races contested on Saturday.
Their 1-2 finish also helped lead the team to second place, only one point behind race winners Arlington from upstate New York.
Joseph Varca, Andreas Larsen, Jack McGlinchey, Kyle Heihs and Josh Prentice all ran exceptional races and contributed to the second place team finish.