The Sachem East girls cross country team chose to employ an avant garde approach to Tuesday’s Division Championship meet yet still managed to easily qualify for next week’s County Championship meet that also serves as the State Qualifier.
Despite holding out the team’s top five runners who helped Sachem East place seventh in the Northeast Championship race in Rhode Island just three days earlier, the squad of Jayda Allen, Jaimie Fleming, Rachel Semetsis, Tiffany Ly, Katie Hempfling, Jordan Messineo, and Chandana Kochath still managed to place 5th in Division I and earn entry into the Suffolk County Class A Championship race.
In a “merge” of all 48 Varsity teams from Suffolk County, the 7 runners East sent to the line still managed to finish ahead of 29 other programs. The next crew of runners representing East in the Individual Qualifier portion of the meet managed to finish as the 5th best overall JV team in Suffolk county, led by a season best perofrmance from Senior Brenna McGuire.
Even while being ranked in the top 25 of the Class “A” teams in New York State, Head Coach Dan Schaub and Assistant Pete McNeill have been utilizing a developmental approach to meet line-ups this season – one that allows the younger athletes to be slowly brought up to speed while also allowing veterans a chance to recover and rest appropriately.
NYS rules dictate that only one team from each Class may qualify for the State Champ Meet out of the SQ meet. And with the likes of Northport (currently ranked #8 in New York State), Sachem North (ranked 16th) and Ward Melville (ranked 25th) part of the 15 team field, Sachem East (ranked 23rd) will need to be in top form to have a shot at heavily favored Northport. With a win streak stretching from the Villa Bears Invitational on Sept 14th right through the Brown Invite on Oct 18th, and with having clearly dominated the dual meet season, Northport appears to be running on all cylinders.
Sachem East has also enjoyed a high level of success this season. After a one point loss to Sachem North that saw Ciara Murphy injured and lost for the season, East rebounded with a 13th place finish in the Queensbury Invitational, the site of this year’s State Champ Meet, on Sept 21st that featured 20 teams ranked in the top 30 in New York State. Shannon O’Hehir was the team’s top finisher with Karli Murphy and Val Romero stepping up into the roles of #2 and #3, spots they have maintained all season. Jill Manfredi ran a great race with Nikki Silvestre grabbing another crucial Varsity spot.
A solid win over Ward Melville was followed by finishing as the 4th best team at the Bowdoin Park Classic, home of the State Federation Meet, on Sept 28th, taking down New Jersey’s 5th and 9th ranked teams in the process. The meet saw Junior Jamie Fleming make the most of her first Varsity selection to finish as an East top 5 scorer.
Meanwhile, on the same day at the Suffolk Coaches Invitational Brenna McGuire and Chandana Kochath led another squad that finished 22nd of the 45 Varsity teams competing at Sunken Meadow, clearly demonstrating the greatest depth in Sachem East history, a prequel to the same strength shown at Tuesday’s Division Chmapionships. Sophia Saladino, Jen Campbell, Courtney Evola, Alanna Laino, and Ashley Rommeney were also awarded Varsity spots for the first time in their careers.
A rested Northport squad shut out a battle worn Sachem East the following Tuesday, Oct 1, but after a block of solid training, Shannon O’Hehir led East to a shut out win over Lindenhurst. The squad then grabbed a 3rd place finish in the “F” race at the prestigious Manhattan College Invitational at Van Cortland Park on October 12th with Katie Hempfling just a second off her best ever on the course, and then proceeded to shut out Middle Country only 3 days later.
On October 18, just three days before the Division Championship, Freshman Tiffany Ly was awarded her first Varsity assignment while consistent scorers Shannon O’Hehir, Karli Murphy, Val Romero, Nicole Silvestre, and Jill Manfredi led the team to the 7th place finish in the Northeast Championship Race, with all East Scorers running lifetime bests for the standard 5-kilometer distance.
“We’re at a good place right now,” said coach Schaub. “We’ve been able to strategically avoid the plague of end-of-season over-racing and appear more than rested and ready.” The County Championships will be held Friday Nov 1 at Sunken Meadow State Park, with the Girls Class A race scheduled for 2:30.