The Sachem North Flaming Arrows XC team has been a bit of an unknown in the early part of the season. The team is anchored by three All-County runners in Elise Ramirez, Mackenzie Coleman and Gabriella Mott.
A cast of rookies and young veterans from past seasons make up the rest of the team. Departed seniors from the 2013 team contributed mightily to scoring for several seasons.
The new-look North Girls team won its first two dual meets and placed second at the Suffern Invitational – good enough to catch a couple of glances from state rankers and local powerhouses.
Sachem’s performance at Sunday’s Suffolk Coaches XC Invitational at Sunken Meadow State Park’s 5K course raised eyebrows and got a few coaches to count runners in the Varsity A race to see how close Sachem North was to highly regarded NYS Class B No. 18 Shoreham-Wading River (SWR) and NYS Class A No. 19 Northport.
Sachem (67 points) placed third behind winner SWR (60) and second place Northport (61) in the Varsity ‘A’ Race. Sachem stayed close in team scoring with three top ten finishers (Ramirez – 4th, Coleman – 6th and Mott – 8th). Rookie sophomores Krista Goodman (20th) and Kaitlyn Licata (29th) helped secure Sachem top 5 team average of 21:27, behind SWR’s 21:06 but ahead of Northport’s 21:35.
Over in the Varsity ‘B’ Race, NYS Class A #16 Ward Melville (42) won its race over Bay Shore (61) and eleven other teams. Ward Melville’s team average of 21:32 was also behind Sachem. Sachem had the second fastest team average of the meet.
Amanda Carlson (33rd) and Samantha Giambrone (49th) rounded out Sachem’s varsity squad in the meet.
The JV squad was led by rookie sophomore Kaitlyn Goodman. Kaitlyn moved up steadily through the field during the second half of her race placing ninth overall. Brigid Rattiger (20th), Julia Reilly (35th), Kaitlin Martins (52nd) and Emily Leath (70th) rounded out the top five for Sachem. Allaura Dashnaw led the freshmen squad with her 13th place finish in the 1.5 mile Frosh Race. Gia Carr (16th) and Nicole Batinsey (19th) also had top 20 finishes as Sachem took second in team scoring behind Islip in the race.
North is aware that some of Suffolk’s top teams – including Sachem East and Bayport-Blue Point – traveled to other meets today and Sachem has many tough tests ahead with dual meets against Ward Melville and Sachem East sandwiched between talent-filled invitationals. But for today, the North Flaming Arrows can enjoy the results of summer and early season hard work as it prepares for the second half of its season.
-Submitted by Sachem North coach Alex Young