The Sachem North’s girls cross country team earned a Top 20 NYS Class A ranking off of its strong showing at the Suffern XC Invitational last week.
The team traveled to Wappinger’s Falls to take on some of the top teams in the New York and Mid-Atlantic region in the sixth annual Bowdoin XC Classic.
The early-season meet attracts many quality teams seeking to learn about the course that hosts both the NYS Federation XC Championship Meet and the Nike NXN New York Regional Qualifier Meet in November. The meet was a test for the North Arrows to measure itself against teams it will not see again until mid-October meets at Manhattan College Invitational in NYC and at the Brown University NE Regional XC Championships in Warwick, RI. Sachem passed the test.
Sachem placed fifth in the varsity race behind race winner Miller Place, Weston (NJ), Guilderland (Albany region) and St. Anthony’s. Sachem closed the gap on St. Anthony’s – a race rival from last week’s Suffern Invitational and edged out Sachem East and Ridgewood (NJ). Places. 40 points separated the top 7 teams (very close in XC invitational scoring) and team averages of Top 5 runners was separated by a razor-thin 9 seconds between places 2 and 7. In fact the North Arrows’ team average was faster than 2nd place Weston and 4th place St. Anthony’s, showing how each place scored by runners in critical.
Kelly Lavan continued her outstanding early season with a sub-20 minute (19:56) 5K on a tough course against strong competition. Eighth place finisher Kelly was followed by rookie teammate and All-County contender sophomore Elise Ramirez (20:33) as Elise finished in 13th place. Only race winner team Miller Place got two runners in before Sachem North. Katie Michta, Dowon Hwang and Oriana Howell rounded out Top 5 scoring for North with Patricia Romano and Monica Abrams close behind.
The JV squad used a strong start to get all seven runners in and near the lead pack on the North Arrows way to a second place team finish. Jenn Weiss (23:38) led the way for Sachem with an 8th place finish. Jenn’s teammates were close behind throughout the race with only 55 seconds between North’s second finisher Marysa Mullen and seventh finisher Natalie DeQuarto. All seven JV race harriers finished in the top 30 in a crowded field. The JV race team average of 24:26 bested nine teams in the Varsity race.
Mackenzie Coleman found herself in a lead pack of four runners in an exciting Frosh race that included Sachem East’s Ciara Murphy. Ciara (11:48) won the 3K race with Mackenzie (11:58) close behind in 2nd place. Julia Reilly (14:19) joined Mackenzie in earning a top 25 medal with her 13th place finish. The Frosh squad finished a strong team scoring day with a 4th place team finish.
North began the season as an “under the radar” team. In fact, the team was so far under the radar, there was little belief away from Sachem North’s home 5K course that the team was little more than Kelly Lavan + 6. Kelly Lavan, Elise Ramirez, Katie Michta and a strong veteran and rookie squad have made others take notice in early season action that includes a League 2 season-opener win against Commack and strong team showings in two invitationals.
“Bigger tests and challenges await the North girls cross country squad,” said Sachem coach Alex Young. “Tough workouts and tough competition lie ahead for the team.”
North resumes its League II season at Sachem East on Tuesday and will compete at the Suffolk Coaches Invitational at Sunken Meadow State Park next Saturday.
FOOTNOTES
- Ashley Miskovsky is our Runner of the Meet with her career-best race on a tough course in a big meet.
- Brianna Corallo is our Frosh Runner of the Meet with her strongest race of the young season that featured gutsy racing as she passed many rival runners in the second half of the race.