The Sachem North boys track team crowned five League I Champions en route to a second place finish at the League I Championships on Saturday.
It began with a sweep of the 3,200-meter run and the squad’s first League title for Junior John Onken. Seniors Isaac Garcia-Cassani and Anthony Coccia took second and third respectively.
“We certainly got off on the right foot,” exclaimed Sachem North’s distance coach, Bill Holl. “I knew we could potentially have League Champions in the 3,200, the 1,600, and the 1,000, but John got it all started for us.”
The North boys cross country head coach and winter boys assistant was right on.
They did claim League I titles in all three of those events as Isaac Garcia-Cassani took first place honors in the 1,600 meters and Anthony Coccia won the 1,000. Head Coach Joe Zarzycki said, “You have to hand it to Coach Holl and his distance crew—they had an incredible day and kept us in first place for the majority of the meet.”
Junior Dan Block also scored points in the 1,000 finishing third, while Freshman Jonathan Lauer scored as well taking fourth. “It just goes to show how deep Coach Holl’s distance team is,” Zarzycki said, “We had five different runners score points for us in the three distance events alone, plus another four were a part of our two 4 x 800 meter relay teams that took first and second places in the meet.”
Those four were Michael Cavanaugh, Mike Neftleberg, Tyler McNamarra, and Bryan Runz who along with Garcia-Cassani, Onken, Block, and Lauer—all mentioned above—combined for the very impressive first and second place finish in the 3,200-meter relay.
Coccia scored in three open events, and Gracia-Cassani and Onken scored in two opens and a relay. “Those three are our distance leaders, but they are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to our distance runners as we had an incredible nine members of our distance team score points for us today,” Zarzycki believed.
The field event performers were also impressive as Senior Mike Kearns earned League Champion status with his 55’5” heave in the Shot Put. This was the 4th time Mike broke his own school shot put record this season as he broke the 31 year old 52’9 mark held by Sachem’s Tom Farrell earlier this season.
“This was the type of standout performance we knew Mike had in him and my hat goes off to Sachem East throws coach, Mike Mastrogiacomo for working with and helping tutor Kearns in this event throughout his four years on our team.”
Senior James Novak placed second in the High Jump, sixth in the triple jump and ran the third leg of 4 x 200 meter relay team that took 5th.
“That was an impressive triple because James scored for us in the three events he competed in for us,” Zarzycki boasted, “Coach O’Brien deserves kudos for that one as he not only coaches James in the High Jump, but it was his idea to put him on the 4×200 team whereas he was originally slated for the Long Jump.
O’Brien said, “James may or may not have scored in the long jump, but his place on the 4×2 team vaulted them from the unseeded section into scoring and taking fifth place overall in the meet.”
Novak ran with Freshman Christopher Tibbetts, and Seniors Marc Richer and Kevin Larson for that fifth place win. “We hope their improved time in this meet can propel them into further post-season meets,” Zarzycki said.
Tyler Murrell also scored for O’Brien in the High Jump taking fourth and those four points left the Arrows at 107 for the day—second only to Longwood’s 116.
Longwood Head Coach Joe Reilly said, “Those Sachem boys really had a great meet and they made us sweat this one out. They really did a great job this season.”
Commack, Sachem East, and Brentwood rounded out the top five. “It ended up being a two-horse race,” Zarzycki beamed, “but the coaches and I could not be more proud of our boys because they really stepped up and hopefully will take this performance and want to improve upon it next week at Counties.”
Fly Arrows, fly.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE RESULTS FROM THE MEET
-Submitted by Sachem North coach Joseph Zarzycki