Last year’s Sachem East girls cross country team started the year unranked and then proceeded to rise throughout the season to finish 16th at the Nike Regional Championships at upstates Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
After three consecutive outstanding seasons the Sachem East girls have finally earned a measure of respect and begin the season ranked No. 12 amongst New York State Large Schools.
Senior Captains Shannon O’Hehir, Katie Hempfling, Fran Napoli, and Ashley Rommeney lead a talented group of seniors that includes top runners Nicole Silvestre, Jayda Allen, and Brenna McGuire.
Juniors primed to have an impact include Jaimie Fleming, Jen Campbell, Courtney Evola, and Alanna Laino. A very deep and talented Sophomore squad will be led by Ciara “Keeks” Murphy, Karly Murphy, Jill Manfredi, Rachel Semetsis, and Val Romero, with another five strong sophs right on their heels. Junior High standouts Jordan Messineo and Tiffany Ly lead one of the largest freshman groups in years.
So, How does this years team look so far? With the annual RGBW scrimmage the only competition so far, the team identity is just beginning to take shape. Senior All-State performer Shannon O’Hehir is in the best shape of her life and easily won the RGBW race to lead her “white” squad to a convincing victory (31 pts) with the “black” team second (52 pts).
Carly Napoli, Sam LoCascio, Sophie Saladino, Manfredi, Semetsis, and Ly all figured in the scoring for the white team. Pretty impressive win despite the fact that the other squads had the likes of All-County level performers Kiki Murphy, Jayda Allen, Karli Murphy and Nicole Silvestre.
The next two weeks will bring the team’s prospects into a much clearer focus with some top notch competition right from the get go. The dual meet season opens up on Tuesday Sept 17th at Sachem North as the summer training partners square off in a battle of State ranked teams. Sachem North, pre-season ranked No. 24 in New York State Class A, features top guns similar to those at East, so this meet will very likely come down to a test of team depth.
Three days later both squads will be traveling together to Queensbury High School in the Adirondacks-the site of this years State Meet in November- for the first major Invitational of the fall season. Then it will be “out of the frying pan and into the fire” as the squad splits between the Suffolk Coaches Invitational and an Invitational in upstate’s Bowdoin Park (the site of the Federation and Regional Championships), and then goes against Suffolk’s top ranked Class A team- Northport (No. 9 NYS A).
With a strong summer of training at the SYAG Summer Conditioning Camp providing a solid aerobic base, and a week at upstate’s Running School providing a kickstart, hopefully this team can set and achieve some lofty goals. Head Coach Dan Schaub was extremely impressed by the efforts and performances at the RGBW Scrimmage.
“That was a record for the number of finishers under 11 minutes (for the 1.5 mile course),” said an excited Sachem East coach Schaub. “This could be an interesting year!”
