Ward Melville (3-1) delivered Sachem North (3-1) its first dual meet loss of the season by a score of 23-37 at Sunken Meadow’s three mile course on a perfect weather day today. Sachem had a race plan going into the race and, for the most part, carried out its plan.
Ward Melville – the No. 2 team in the county and one of the better teams in the state – had a better day as seven Patriots crossed the finish line before the Flaming Arrows #4 finisher. Ward Melville clinched the meet win when its seventh finisher crossed the finish line six seconds ahead of Sachem’s All-County freshman Gabriella Mott.
Sachem coaches Young and Wood exchanged “we had a good day” words following the race. Five runners broke 20:00 today – two of them from Sachem. Elise Ramirez remains undefeated in League 2 as she ran the fastest Sachem North time on Sunken Meadow’s three-mile course since Jackie Berman and Jeanna Composti in 1997 and 1998. Records will have to be reviewed to see if Sachem’s two legendary harriers ran a time faster than Elise’s 18:46 in dual meet action.
Mackenzie Coleman continues her strong season as she placed fourth in 19:45 – a career-best time on the Meadow’s three mile course. Despite being under the weather, Gabriella Mott ran one of her fastest pace races of the season – the pace equaled her pace at Suffolk Coaches a little more than a week ago.
Rookie sophomore Krista Goodman solidified her No. 4 runner status with a 6:52 pace 20:36 race as she beat several talented Ward Melville rivals. Samantha Giambrone, Amanda Carlson and Kaitlyn Licata refused to give into two rivals as the five runners crashed across the finish line in less than one second.
Kaitlyn Goodman continues her fine rookie season as she ran one of her strongest races of the season. Freshmen Allaura Dashnaw and Nicole Batinsey and 8th grader Gia Carr ran their first-ever Sunken Meadow Cardiac course as all covered the three mile course in 24:00 or faster. Hailey Lynch continues her wonderful sophomore season with a career-best on the course and rookie freshman Kelsey Flynn – a converted sprinter – looked like a veteran harrier today with her 26:10 run. There were more eye-opening and noteworthy races by Sachem runners as well.
But there were lessons to be taken from the meet, too. Our 31 runner roster is rookie-heavy with 17 first-year team members. Lessons learned today will be applied in big meets as our October season continues. Aggressive starts, course knowledge, pack running, race tactics and team goals will be discussed as we prepare for Manhattan College Invitational, Brown University Northeast XC Championships and post-season races. A team that was not on the radar of county powerhouses before the season began bears watching as our team average and 1-5 runner split drops. Rookie scorers are gaining valuable experience by the meet that will be instrumental in our late October and November races. And Elise, Mackenzie and Gabriella may be as strong as any teams’ top three runners in Suffolk County.
Sachem travels to Van Cortlandt Park’s famous 2.5 mile course for the Manhattan College Invitational on Saturday. The North Flaming Arrows will be running in the Eastern States Championship Race for the second straight year.