Bay Shore was too strong despite Sachem North’s best efforts to unseat the defending Division I Champions over the two day Division I Championship Meet held at Connetquot High School. Bay Shore made breaks for itself with a couple of key passes in the 1500 and 3000 meter runs and with a trio of strong performances from Imani McGhee, Aviana Goode and Patrice Baston in long jump.
Sachem also tried to push through the championship door with multiple scores in long jump, triple jump, the 200 meter dash and racewalk. Some near misses took scoring opportunities away for Sachem in both throws, high jump and steeplechase. Sachem athletes beat the seed sheet in other events. Bay Shore won some head to head battles. Sachem won some. Bay Shore caught a bad break as sprint-jumps star Anisa Toppin was lost to injury several weeks ago. Sachem’s Elise Ramirez was in the meet but still not at full strength from an injury that cost her more than half of her training season. A typical story for a championship meet.
Sophomore Leah Blackall was a meet star on Day 1 as she won triple jump in a meet and school record 39’ 4”. A little before heading to triple jump, Leah qualified for finals in the 400 meter run in a career-best 59.35. Sunja Joseph finished 2nd in triple jump (38’ 8”) to give the North Flaming Arrows 18 points in the event. Rachel Heymach completed Sachem’s Day 1 scoring with her sixth place (9’ 0”) in pole vault. Despite a 5th placing ranking on Day 1, Sachem set up an exciting Day 2 with finals qualifiers in the 100 dash, 200 dash, 400 and 100 hurdles and 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Pentathlete novices Nicole Costanzo and Mara Bigornia had good first days in the multi-event contest as well.
The second day of Divisions began with a season-best 7:42.17 steeplechase finish by sophomore Mackenzie Coleman. Coleman finished 7th in the race despite her strong racing tactics and great finish. Rookie frosh Kaitlyn Licata gave teammates another reason to cheer with her outstanding last lap in the unseeded 1500 meter run. Kaitlyn’s time of 5:09.28 puts her behind only teammate Coleman (5:03.3) on the team best of season seed sheet in the event. Junior Nikki Fogarty (100 hurdles) and Alyssa Leto (100 dash) got Sachem’s scoring day started with a pair of 3rd place finishes in their first events of the day.
Both would have three more events in their busy days. Leah Blackall ran another sub-60 (59.96) 400 to place 5th in the event. Costanzo took 3rd in pentathlon. Leto, Fogarty and Kelly Gardner gave Sachem 14 team points in the 200 dash finals. Leto and Gardner ran season-bests along the way. But Sachem was still 15 points behind Bay Shore as the next event – the 1500 meter racewalk took to the track. Bay Shore was having a busy scoring day up to that point with great efforts in sprint finals, the 1500 and with a win by Goode in the 100 hurdles.
Five Sachem athletes stood on the starting line for the 1500 meter racewalk. As the race began, senior Katie Michta took her customary position at the lead, a spot she did not give up in her wire to wire win in a career best 6:47.77. Natalie DeQuarto (7:18.13) and Kaitlin Martins (7:19.15) placed fourth and fifth in the race. Sophomore teammates Meghan Tozza (8:00.18) and Emily Leath (8:00.52) had great races, too. Racewalk results would catapult Sachem in to the meet lead by one point for the moment.
Team members cheered loudly on learning the new meet score. But Bay Shore would retake the meet lead with a win (Goode) and a tie 6th (Nye’dia Harris) in high jump. There were only four events left after high jump results came in. Long jump and the relays. Long jump would prove to be the last big battleground of the meet.
Sachem and Bay Shore had three jumpers each in the event. All had been busy through the two day meet. But Sachem’s Sunja Joseph was especially busy right now. The 4×100 would start while long jump was under way. And Sunja was the relay’s leadoff leg. Coaches moved Sunja into flight one of the two section event so that Sunja could get in her preliminary round jumps before heading to the track.
As luck would have it, the second section of prelims was ending just as Sunja dashed off to the relay starting line knowing that she was currently in 3rd place in long jump. Finals would start without her. And a ten minute clock was ticking. To add a little stress to the unfolding drama, PA announcers were calling “Sachem North’s leadoff leg to the starting line” and an official sent race anchor Alyssa Leto to long jump to get Sunja. Alyssa and Sunja ran to the track accompanied by Coach Young who laughingly complained “Doesn’t anyone trust me around here?” Alyssa responded, “But they made get Sunja!” Alyssa and Sunja exchanged brief words before they parted at the track.
Sunja’s face was one of calm and composure when she reached the starting line. The last runners in a Division III 4×800 were crossing the finish line. Sunja knew she would meet Coach Young after her leg and return to long jump. The starter’s pistol sounded and Sunja blasted off the start. Sunja closed the gaps outside her lane three position and handed off the baton to Gardner with the relay in first place.
Sunja continued down the straightaway to meet Young. The two paused long enough to see Gardner, Samantha Sommers and Leto complete the relay victory. Sunja’s return to long jump was met with the news that she was forced to take a pass on her first finals round jump. And the clock was ticking on her second jump. Sunja stepped onto the runway and began her approach. She took off and landed deep into the sand pit.
“Foul!” An official raised her arm to indicate a foul as she spoke the words. Coaches Young and Lasher knew the call was wrong. Coach Lasher spoke first – “No – you’re wrong!” Coach Lasher was right. Sunja landed perfectly on the board with a little room to spare. But how do you get an official to reverse a call? It’s like balls and strikes in baseball. In this case, it was easy. The official called the foul off of the 12’ board. Sunja was using the 8’ board for her jumps. The official realized her error and reversed her call.
The pit raker – a meet volunteer and head coach of St. Joseph’s College track and field team (Matt Perry) had not moved his rake after hearing the brief protest. Sunja’s mark was intact and could now be measured. 18’ 11” and, for now, the best jump of the competition. Bay Shore Coach Borbet now complained. “How could you watch two boards at once? How do you know the jump was not a foul?” The event’s second official, standing near the pit ready to mark the jump for measurement, concurred with the corrected call.
“It’s over,” declared the first official and the corrected call and measurement stood. Sunja’s first of her two finals round jumps was the winning jump of the event. In the space of less than three minutes, Sunja led off the winning 4×100 and took first place in long jump.
Sachem and Bay Shore split the six places in long jump. Blackall took 4th and Fogarty took 6th for North. But Bay Shore outscored Sachem in the event 16-15 behind McGhee (2nd), Goode (3rd) and Baston (5th). Sachem knew all along that a big points win was needed in long jump. After Bay Shore’s 2nd place finish in the 4×800 (Sachem did not score despite its season-best time) and long jump results, Bay Shore clinched the Division I Championship Meet victory. The meet’s final event, the 4×400 was a formality.
Fogarty, like Sunja a little earlier, ran from long jump (at the conclusion of finals) to the track to run the relay’s second leg. Gardner and Leto (back from the 4×100 finals as they had also done on Day 1) joined Fogarty and Ashley Pimentel in the relay. Ashley Pimentel was running her first race of the two day meet. Her PB time of 63.2 and the still-strong legs of her teammates gave Sachem a 5th place finish in the relay race.
Sachem coaches reported the meet final score (Bay Shore 108.33, Sachem North 96) to team members before PA announcers gave the same news. More than a few team members shed tears – Sachem had come to win and came up short to Long Island’s #1 team. Still, Sachem athletes stood and cheered for Bay Shore as the Marauders passed the Sachem-athlete bleachers section on their victory lap. A few more words by Sachem coaches then off to the team bus. There was a full team practice tomorrow. State Quals is just over a week ahead.
-Words submitted by Sachem coach Alex Young