The bar was set high early in the season for members of the Sachem North Girls Track & Field team. 118 athletes worked together to create a family bond and to push each other to be the very best athletes they could be.
Twenty-one team members – from a five year varsity senior to a rookie eighth grader – competed at the final Section XI meet of the season at Port Jefferson High School over the past two days. The stakes were high. A spot on the Section XI team competing next weekend’s NYS championship meet was on the line. The margin to qualify for the 100 meter dash would come down to .04 seconds for sprinter Alyssa Leto. Only days earlier, coaches wondered if sophomore Leah Blackall would have to be scratched from State Quals due to a painful ankle sprain suffered at the end of a workout only six days before the meet.
A challenge was presented to junior Nikki Fogarty in the days following Nikki’s four top six scoring performances at Division Championships. She would be entered in the pentathlon. Nikki would compete against Division I Champion Erica Silhan of Bay Shore and two other multi-event athletes who would hit the NYS standard this weekend to qualify as the second athlete in the NYS championship meet. Other team members from sprints to distance to field events would be pursuing goals that, for some, dated back to pre-season.
The team delivered. Sachem crowned two county champions. Nikki won pentathlon with 2975 points. She shattered a seven year old team record in the process. Nikki won three of the five pentathlon events in her first pentathlon competition since her freshman year. The junior track and field star scored 403 more points than she did at 2012 State Quals. Nikki currently has the fourth best score in pentathlon in NYS. Senior Katie Michta closed out her spring season and Sachem career with her fastest racewalk time ever in her 1500 meter racewalk victory. Katie was briefly challenged by Kings Park’s Allie Bennett with 300 meters to go. Bennett moved into the lead on the back stretch halfway through the bell lap. Katie maintained her poise and retook the lead with a brief burst that carried her to a three second victory in the race.
Nikki will be joined by five of her teammates at the NYS Championship meet held at Cicero-North Syracuse High School next weekend. Alyssa Leto placed second in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Alyssa’s times and race finishes qualify her for States. Senior Sunja Joseph holds NYS #2 mark in long jump with a 19’ 3.5” mark. She placed second in long jump on Friday and will be seeded #2 at States. Sophomore Leah Blackall was able to resume training on Wednesday after her ankle sprain suffered less than a week before State Quals. Leah earned All-County honors with her 4th place finish in long jump on Friday – Day 1 of State Quals. On Saturday, Leah leaped 37’ 10” on her first triple jump attempt. The mark was good enough to take second and earn a trip to States.
Sachem’s 4×100 meter relay of Sunja Joseph, Kelly Gardner, Melissa Michels and Alyssa Leto closed out Sachem’s first day at State Quals by breaking the relay record set a year ago (48.37 at 2013 State Quals) at the same meet in a time of 48.19. The relay stepped on the track today knowing that North Babylon – seeded #1 in the event – was not going to hand over the county championship they were defending without a fight. And Brentwood’s relay anchored by 100 and 200 meter dash champion Alexia Douglas was going to try to chase down Sachem. North Babylon won the race in 47.52 seconds – NYS’s #3 time. The Sachem squad took second in the relay as it raced NYS’s #4 time of the season and broke the record it set only 21 hours earlier a time in 47.98. Sachem will return to States in the 4×100 for the third straight year. Brentwood’s time of 48.82 is NYS’s #8 time but was not enough to advance out of Suffolk County today.
Distance runners Mackenzie Coleman (200 meter steeplechase) and Kaitlyn Licata (1500 meters) ran season-bests in their races today. Sachem’s 4×800 of Elise Ramirez, Samantha Giambrone, Dowon Hwang and Monica Abrams fell off the pace in the 4×800 at Divisions last week on leg one and could never get back in the race. Despite a season-best time of 10:11.07 at Divisions, the squad knew they could run better. The quartet each ran season-best 800 splits and Sachem ran a 9:54.40 at State Quals – an improvement of 16 seconds in just over a week. The relay followed rule #1 of relays – keep the stick in the race – as they placed 3rd in their nine team section of the race and 10th overall in the 4×800.
Kaitlin Martins raced to a PB in racewalk with her 7th place 7:08.78. Kaitlin and senior teammate Natalie DeQuarto (6th place 7:06.24) will travel to Greensboro, NC to compete at New Balance Outdoor Nationals in two weeks.
Sachem will be well represented at the All-County Dinner next Wednesday with Fogarty, Michta, Leto, Blackall, Joseph, Michels and the 4×100 all receiving All-County honors. Racewalkers Katie Michta and Natalie DeQuarto and sprinter Melissa Michels will receive Academic-All County recognition at the dinner.
Congratulations to all Sachem athletes who competed at State Quals on a perfect track and field weekend.