The Sachem North girls cross country squad ran in its third Championship race of the season last weekend. Conditions at Goddard Park – home of the Brown University Northeast High School Invitational – were perfect. Sachem North harriers were a week past their outstanding race in the Eastern States Championship Race at the Manhattan College Invitational and were excited and confident about today’s race.
Fast starts were expected as the starter’s pistol was fired and Sachem got right into the mix. Elise Ramirez went out with race leaders. She reached the half mile mark in tenth place. Ramirez would pick off several runners as she reached the two-mile mark in seventh place. The last mile of her race would pit her against Talia Guevera of Miller Place and Shannon Murdock, Exeter (NH) High School’s top runner. Ramirez edged past her opponent before the final turn and charged to the line passing Guevera in the last 50 meters to place fifth overall in the championship race.
Ramirez’s teammates were having season-best days as well. Mackenzie Coleman (32) placed second for Sachem. She stated that teammates Gabriella Mott (33) and Katie Michta (34) helped her a lot in the race. Sachem’s pack of three consecutive finishers demonstrated the great teamwork and results of training that have been part of the Flaming Arrows formula for success all season.
Dowon Hwang finished five spots behind Katie to complete top five scoring. Oriana Howell and Monica Abrams enjoyed season-best days as their strong races displaced one or more top five runners on several teams in the championship race.
Patricia Romano was given a simple race plan of getting out with the race leaders and sticking with them in the expected fast paces in a talented field of the JV (large school) II Race. Romano had a career-best day as she finished at No. 16 in the race in a fastest-ever 5K time of 21:10.1.
Her senior teammates Katie Pfeil, Natalie DeQuarto and Ashley Miskovsky also had career-best days in the race. Katie unleashed Sachem’s most furious kick of the day in her shot-out-of-a-cannon finish. Natalie and Ashley ran close together throughout the race as they were separated by only seven places and just over ten seconds at the finish line. Julia Reilly finished one place behind Natalie as the squad showed the same great race pack efforts that would be seen in the Championship race later in the day.
Sachem North was the third Suffolk County team in the race behind race winner Northport and second place Miller Place. Sachem East placed fourth among Suffolk teams in the Championship Race and Ward Melville (19:40) boasted a team average in the Varsity II Race that edged out Sachem East’s average (19:42). All five outstanding teams will see each other again next Tuesday. The race course will be more familiar to all runners at Sunken Meadow as all five teams will be in the Championship field at Division Championships.
-Words submitted by Sachem coach Alex Young