Alyssa Leto won her second straight county championship in the 55 m. dash at the State Qualifier Meet held at Suffolk West today in a time of 7.15 seconds. Alyssa broke the Suffolk County record (7.17) she tied at the 2014 NYS Championship Meet.
“Fastest ever in Suffolk” declared Newsday sportswriter Jordan Lauterbach in his article reviewing meet results. Alyssa rewrote Sachem records with her time today. Her 7.15 time is a new Sachem record as well.
Leah Blackall set a new State Qualifer Meet record with her winning triple jump mark of 38’ 8 ¾”. Today was the third straight meet at which Leah broke the school record in triple jump. Leah placed second in long jump (17’ 9 ½”) in addition to her county title in triple jump.
Alyssa and Leah will be joined by three teammates at the NYS Championship Meet in March. Nikki Fogarty placed second in the 55 m. hurdles. Kaitlin Martins took third in the 1500 m. racewalk (7:05.99). Elise Ramirez placed third in the 1500 m. run (4:50.57) and will anchor Section XI’s Intersectional Relay at States.
Sachem’s 4×200 qualified for finals with its second place heat finish in the second fastest time in the semi-final round. Sachem was edged out by North Babylon by a narrow margin of .09 seconds as the North Flaming Arrows placed second in finals. Sachem ran a season-best 1:45.56 in finals. Sophomore Krista Goodman added to Sachem’s outstanding day at State Quals with her career-best 3:11.92 as she placed ninth in the 1000 m.
Alyssa (55 m. dash), Leah (triple jump and long jump), Nikki (55 m. hurdles), Kaitlin (1500 m. racewalk) and Elise (Intersectional Relay) will compete at States in one month.
Sachem’s state qualifiers will continue training and compete at Long Island’s Elite Meet and Eastern States over the next several weeks as they prepare for the NYS Championship Meet held at Cornell University on March 7.