Another year, more dominance for Sachem East
As gold jersey after gold jersey hurtled across the Sunken Meadow finish line on Tuesday, the Sachem East Girls cross country team was sure they raced fast and that they followed their race plan well, they just weren’t sure if they had toppled Suffolk County rivals, Ward Melville in their head-to-head league meet matchup.
A crisp fall day, weather perfect for racing, marked the final league meet of the season for the Arrows, a significant shift for the team as they turn towards the post-season Championship Meets.
The match-up between Ward Melville and Sachem East was circled on the calendar for several weeks. Throughout the season, the Arrows notched League victories against Walt Whitman, Bay Shore, Commack, Sachem North (on the cusp on a NY State ranking), and Riverhead (currently ranked as a NY State top 20 team). Additionally, the team has tested themselves at the Queensbury Invitational at upstate Queensbury HS and the Xavier Invitational in NYC’s Van Cortlandt Park. Each of these early season invitationals helped to vault the East Arrows to a top 20 NYS ranking of their own.
Heading into Tuesday’s clash with Ward Melville, however, the Arrows experienced their first dose of set-backs and challenges in their young season. Specifically, East Senior Captain Melissa Merone has been sidelined with a hip injury since mid-September. Additionally, the Arrows managed only an “up-and-down” performance at the Manhattan College Invitational this past Saturday on October 12th, a meet which usually showcases the strength of the Arrow XC squad.
However, thanks to key contributions from Juniors Lauren Trejo, Alexis Violi, Sabrinna Mena, and Anna Murphy, along with major development from Senior Sydney Sherbitsky, Freshman Grace Teller, and Junior Angelina Colon, the East Arrows have been able to keep the ship on course, so to speak. Likewise, consistent improvement from Sophomores Brenin Mahon and Chelsey Weber, along with Junior Marissa Sciotto, and Senior Marcela Araujo, kept the Arrows ready for Tuesday’s matchup despite a shakeup in their season’s progress.
Once all the gold jerseys made their way through the finish, a total of 20 out of 25 finishers ran lifetime bests on the Sunken Meadow league meet course. Yet, despite this impressive stat, it was Ward Melville who ended up on top, with a final score of 22-33. This result leaves Sachem East, Ward Melville, and Riverhead sharing the title of League Champions, since East defeated Riverhead earlier in the season while Melville was defeated by them only a week earlier.
The lopsided score on Tuesday only tells a part of the story, however, since key runners for Sachem East were well within striking distance of Ward Melville’s top performers. Can they make the jump to close the gap? Will the Arrow “pack” continue to develop and improve? Will key injured runners make a return in time? With all three Co-Champions currently ranked in New York State, the stage is set for some ferocious “rematches” later on in the post-season. In two weeks, Suffolk County’s top squads will all toe the starting line at the Division Championship Meet while the State Qualifier Meet two weeks later will determine which squad from Suffolk County will head upstate for this year’s NY State Championship Meet.