Sachem North continued its winning ways in a hard-fought contest at Sachem East today. The North Flaming Arrows prevailed 83-67 with a well-balanced attack against a strong and determined Sachem East team.
North won nine of the fifteen open events clinching a team victory before the end-of-meet relays began. North showed team depth as it won the battle of second places as well. Sachem opened up the meet with a sweep of the top three places in triple jump behind Leah Blackall’s first place 36’ 3” jump and 34+ foot jumps by Nikki Fogarty and Sunja Joseph. Nikki followed her second place effort at triple jump by tying her school record with a win in the 100 meter high hurdles (15.0). Nikki contributed to team scoring twice more in the meet with a second place finish in the 400 meter hurdles and with an outstanding third leg on the winning 4×100 meter relay.
East’s strong distance squad made its presence felt in the 1500 meter run as East’s Shannon O’Hehir and Valerie Romano led a strong squad. North’s Mackenzie Coleman and Jess Humann joined the fast race start and a lead pack began to stretch away from the rest of the field. Cheers from both teams’ bleacher sections erupted as the race became a battle between Mackenzie and Shannon. Mackenzie (5:03.3) held off Shannon (5:06.0) and won the third straight race for North.
North Flaming Arrows athletes won the next three track events behind Kelly Gardner’s win in the 400, Alyssa Leto’s win in the 100 meter dash and Katie Michta’s win in the 1500 meter racewalk. Alyssa Leto was a double winner as she also won the 200 meter dash. Kelly Gardner placed third in the 200 and anchored the winning 4×100 meter relay. Kelly was joined by teammate Leah Blackall as a triple scorer today as Leah placed third in the 400 and led off the 4×100.
North field event athletes scored 50 team points today. Kaitlyn Okvist won discus and took second in shotput. Gabriella Czerw led a high jump sweep with a season-best 5’ 2” in the event. Teammates Mara Bigornia (4’ 10”) placed second and Natalia Aneiros (4’ 7”) took third. Rachel Heymach matched her career-best vault (9’ 0”) in an exciting jump-off at pole vault. The jump off was won by East’s Kerstyn Ciulla with East’s Jordan Messineo tying Rachel for second place. Pole vaulters and spectators cheered loudly for each of the three outstanding competitors.
A post meet team meeting was kept brief as team seniors looked ahead to a 4:30 a.m. departure for Sachem’s annual senior trip. Sachem’s soon-to-be sleep deprived seniors and the rest of the team heads to Northport next Tuesday.
-Submitted by Sachem North coach Alex Young
With senior Ebonie Lewis leading the charge, The Sachem East Girls Track Team gave Sachem North a run for their money and both teams put on quite a show as North pulled out the win with a score of 83 to 67 yesterday at the East Track. Sachem Norths’ sprinter/jumper corps led them to a second place finish in Suffolk County this past Indoor season and Lewis met the challenge by placing 1st in the Long Jump (16’9.5″) and Shot Put (32’3.5″), and 3rd in the 100 Meter Dash (12.8) to keep East close.
Also winning events for Sachem East were Ciara Murphy (800-2:27.6), Shelby Trentini (400 Intermediate Hurdles-69.9), Val Rommero (3000-11:10.8), and Kerstyn Ciulla (Pole Vault- 9’3″). The 4 by 400 team of Ciara Murphy, Jayda Allen, Shannon O’Hehir, and Alex DeCicco won (4:15.7), and the 4 by 800 relay squad of Rachel Semetsis, Jordan Messineo, Katie Hempfling, and Nicole Silvestre also finished 1st in a fast 10:22.8.
Highlights for the East squad were the sweeps in the 800, as Hempfling and Allen finished just behind Murphy, and in the 3000, with DeCicco and O’Hehir just steps behind Romero. Carly DeMartino entered rarified air with a 33’3″ performance in the Triple Jump and Rebecca Carroll (16.4) and Paige Picascio (16.6) both got under 17 in the 100 hurdles. The 51.8 time posted by the foursome of Lewis, Carroll, Sam LoCascio, and Lauren Alberg is one of the best 4 by 100 times in Suffolk so far this season.
Perhaps the most exciting race in this meet of very exciting races was the 1500 Meter Racewalk. Sachem East rising stars Jaimie Fleming and Lauren Harris were facing Sachem North superstars Katie Michta, Natalie DeQuarto, and Kaitlin Martins.
Two weeks ago that trio placed 2nd, 5th, and 12th at Nationals and just 4 days ago Michta earned a spot on the U.S. Junior National team to compete in the World Cup in China. Not intimidated, the East duo hung on to the fast early pace with Fleming closing strongly to grab 3rd in 6:58.6, and Harris 5th in 7:15.0, both huge personal bests that put them (and the North trio) all in the top 10 in New York State so far this season.
Next up for the East Girls is a short trip to face a strong Connetquot squad on it’s home track, Tuesday, April 8th at 4:00.