Sachem scored 38 points in winning 5K race at today’s Peconic Invitational. The nearest finisher, Patchogue-Medford, scored 103 points. Sachem’s dominating performance demonstrated that the veteran team is ready for the challenge of the 2013 season. The North Flaming Arrows have a challenging schedule in a league that contains three rivals that are among the top-ranked Division A teams in New York State.
Like Northport, Sachem East and Ward Melville, Sachem North ranks high in pre-season polls. Sachem will also test itself with a tough invitational schedule that takes it to Queensbury, NY, to New York City’s famous Van Cortlandt Park and to the Northeast XC Championship Meet before heading into postseason meets.
Elise Ramirez led Sachem with her race win in 20:45, a time that was 31 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Mackenzie Coleman (4th) and Dowon Hwang (5th) finished within three seconds of each other. Katie Michta’s (10th) and Oriana Howell’s (18th) outstanding races put five Sachem runners in the top 20.
Eighth grader Gabriella Mott placed 3rd in the Freshman Race as she covered the 1.5 mile distance in 9:59. Rookie freshmen Hailey Lynch (13:16) and Isabel Martins (13:39) began their Sachem careers with strong races as well.
Despite the threat of rain on a humid day, very good course conditions and overcast skies providing a welcome relief from a strong sun over the past two days made race conditions seem ideal. Hampton Bays’ Red Creek Park XC course, while mostly flat over the first two miles, tested runners with several sandy sections of trails and a backwoods section from the 2 to 2 ½ mile mark that contained four hills, with the final climb being quite steep. Sachem runners were ready for the backwoods as most ran the entire course as a warm-up run today.
“Did I help her?” asked a Westhampton coach who served as a course guide for all four races today. Biking ahead of lead runners in all races, Coach John Brioch did not want to get too far ahead of a lead pack nor did he want to hinder front runners by going too slow. Elise Ramirez, leading the race for good by the mile mark, appreciated the efforts of Coach Brioch throughout the race.
Sachem continues its invitational schedule with a trip to the Queensbury XC Invitational next Saturday (10/21) following its League 2 season opener at home versus Sachem East on Tuesday (10/17).
FOOTNOTES
- “No one breaks 21:00 at Red Creek,” declared Coach Young after reviewing results at the Peconic Inv. over the past three years. Elise proved him wrong.
- Meghan Tozza and Kaitlin Martins had good races in their first-ever XC races. As both are sophomores, they ran the 5K distance.
- While many rookies dealt with butterflies at the start, veterans were calm and focused throughout race preparations today.
- At least one member wondered out loud what she would run on Red Creek’s XC course on a return trip this season.
- Old Squire Road, a sandy fire road traversed three separate times during the 5K race, is an active road. Race officials had to hold a car driving on the remote road at the Girls 5K race mile mark and ask the driver to wait until all runners crossed the road for the last time at the 2 ½ mile mark.