Six Sachem North athletes boarded the Section XI bus on Thursday morning to attend the NYS Track & Field Championship Meet at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
After two days of competition in the two-part NYSPHSAA and NYS Federation Championship Meet, each of the six athletes would earn NYSPHSAA Division I medals.
Sachem earned All-State honors in three of the six events in which it was entered. And Sachem sprinters would close out their two day competition with the third fastest 4×100 meter relay in Suffolk County history.
Senior Sunja Joseph (18’ 8.25” in long jump) and Sophomore Leah Blackall (37’ 6.25” in triple jump) continued their outstanding jumps seasons with sixth place finishes in Division I. Both advance to the Federation Championships round of jumps on Day 2 based on their top 8 overall performances. Sunja placed 7th in Feds with a 17’ 11” jump. Leah took 5th in Feds with a 37’ 9” leap.
Junior Nikki Fogarty’s Day 1 100 m. hurdles in 14.97 – the opening event of the five event, two day competition – earned her 846 points on her way to a 2887 point total and a 5th place finish in Division I.
Junior Alyssa Leto was busy over the two day meet with five races. Alyssa ran the fifth fastest time in the 100 m. dash to qualify for Division I finals on Day 2. Alyssa placed 6th in the Division I finals on Day 2 in 12.48. Alyssa’s 25.49 in the 200 semis would not advance her to finals but her first day of competition would end as she led off Sachem’s potent 4×100.
Alyssa, sophomore Kelly Gardner, Leah Blackall and senior Melissa Michels had not raced together for more than a month. The last time they were together as a relay was at St. Anthony’s when they placed 2nd to North Babylon in a time of 49.02. The only change made to the reunited relay was to switch Kelly and Leah in the middle legs. The relay ran a 48.17 in Division I Championships.
The squad was edged out for the NYSPHSAA championship by .02 to North Babylon and advanced to the Federation Championship round with the third fastest time of the day.
There is always a little tension at a 4×100 starting line. The stakes were high today with a championship and podium positions on the line. A starter’s pistol misfire sent most of the leadoff legs out of their blocks. A slightly bemused but nonplussed Alyssa looked up from her blocks as other leadoff legs sprinted away and stood as a second pistol shot returned the field to their starting blocks.
A second start was sounded and Alyssa shot out of her lane 3 blocks and began chasing after lane 4 Medgar Evers and lane 5 North Babylon. A great handoff to Kelly and the race continued to loud cheers from the stadium. Kelly was switch to second leg because of the strength and raw speed she has shown on the straightaway throughout the second half of the season. The only glitch in yesterday’s relay was a less than stellar handoff between Kelly and third leg Leah. Not today. Another great handoff and Leah, only minutes after taking her final jump at triple jump, to a great handoff from Kelly.
Leah raced around the final turn of the race and had an outstanding exchange with Melissa. By the final exchange, the order of finish seemed determining barring a mishap by race leader Medgar Evers, second place North Babylon and Sachem North. Medgar Evers broke its one year old meet record in winning the race in 46.25 (old record – 46.49). North Babylon broke the Suffolk County record in its second place time of 46.80. (old record 47.28 set by Riverhead in 2007).
Sachem North broke its own school record set at State Quals last week and ran the #3 time in Suffolk history in placing 3rd in 47.61. In the blink of an eye, three teams sprinted through the finish line concluding one of the most exciting races in NYS Championship meet relay history.
Sachem’s performance at States was one of the finest in the team’s history. Congratulations to Melissa and Sunja in closing out their illustrious Sachem careers with outstanding performances on a big track and field stage. Melissa will continue her track and field career at Northeastern University and Sunja will continue hers at SUNY Binghamton.
-Submitted by Sachem Coach Alex Young