Big NYS championship meet for Sachem student-athletes
The 2018 New York State championship meet was a day for the record-books for Sachem East girls track.
When the dust had settled late on Saturday night at the Ocean Breeze athletic facility on Staten Island, all 10 of the Sachem East Arrows that qualified to compete in the state championships had walked away with a coveted state meet medal. This was more than any other team at this year’s meet.
Highlighting the day for Sachem East was the state championship performance from Margaret Atwood, who dominated the 1,500-meter race walk from start to finish to win New York State gold. Her time, a personal best of 6:49.09, is in the top 10 of Long Island history and is the third fastest time in the history of the New York State Championship meet. Her teammate, Chelsea Benedict, managed a fifth place finish in the same event, sending two Sachem East Arrows to the race walk podium.
Later in the day, the 4 x 400-meter relay squad of Kaitlyn Famiglietti, Lauren Trejo, Brooke Papele, and Angela Consalazio earned an eighth place finish and a spot on the podium. The medal did not come without its drama, however.
Finding themselves in a challenging position to qualify out of Semifinals earlier in the day, the East Arrows grabbed a spot in Finals thanks in-part to the 58.72 second anchor leg by Shayna Arrigo. This is the second fastest 400-meter relay split run in school history.
Adding to the medal total was Melissa Merone who earned the opportunity to run the anchor leg for the Section XI distance-medley relay, which put four of the best runners from Section XI up against the remaining 10 sections from around New York State. Her anchor leg, a 5:25 mile, was good enough to help Section XI earn a fourth place podium finish.
Punctuating the historic day for the East Arrows was the school-record setting performance from the 4 x 800-meter relay squad of Shayna Arrigo, Kaitlyn Famiglietti, Rachel Ruggiero, and Bridget Abraldes. In a drama-filled race which saw the top six teams closely bunched up nearly the entire length, the relay squad was able to finish fifth overall in a time of 9:17.05, good for the fastest in Sachem history and the eighth fastest in the history of Section XI.
Up next, Sachem East will send a handful of race walkers to the New Balance Indoor National Championship Meet along with two relays squads each seeking a covered All-American spot and potential school-records. The meet is held at the Armory Track and Field Center in Manhattan.