Sachem North opened its League II dual meet season with a 28-29 win over Sachem East on Tuesday afternoon.
Junior Elise Ramirez set a Sachem North home course record with her 19:36 time. Elise bested the old course record (19:43) set a year ago by former teammate and current Stony Brook University Seawolves harrier Kelly Lavan.
Sachem stuck to its race plan to run strong in the second mile of the race. Efforts by top seven North harriers resulted in an ever-so-close team victory, a course record by Elise, an eighth grade course record by Gabriella Mott and career-bests on North’s home course by seniors Dowon Hwang, Oriana Howell and Monica Abrams.
Can a meet be even closer than a 28-29 score? This one was. East’s Shannon O’Herir ran a No. 9 all-time best time on the 5K course to place second and Karli Murphy overtook North’s Mackenzie Coleman in the last half mile of the course to place third overall. North’s Mackenzie, Dowon Hwang and Katie Michta took the next three places as the East pack followed close behind.
East took places seven through eleven, putting five straight runners across the finish line before North’s No. 5 runner, rookie Gabriella Mott. Gabriella was followed across the finish line by teammate Oriana Howell. Had any of the first seven East runners passed one more North rival during the race, the meet’s outcome would have been different. There was a lot of jockeying for position in the battle of the lead packs throughout the race.
Dowon and Katie’s charge through the course in the last 1000 meters would clinch the meet for North as Katie’s sixth place finish (as North’s #4 finisher) clinched the team victory for North. Even though East displaced North’s #5 (Mott) finisher with its #6 and #7 runners, North could not score more than 28 points (remember – low score wins in XC!) and East could not score better than 29 points after Katie crossed the finish line.
Sachem North and East travel to Queensbury for the Adirondack Invitational this weekend to take on some of NYS’s top teams in the meet’s championship race. Queensbury High School’s cross country course is the site of the NYS XC Championships in November.
FOOTNOTES
- Home course PBs were also run by Patricia Romano, Julia Reilly, Cassie Pixler, Emily Leath, Kimberly Longboat and Lindsay McCormick.
- The double meet day today between North and East girls and boys teams featured four teams ranked in the top 25 in NYS Class A schools in a pre-season poll.