The Sachem East girls cross country team won the featured Championship Race at the Brown University Northeast Invitational this past Saturday at Goddard Park in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Led by Alex DeCicco’s 2nd place finish (18:02), the team totaled 40 points to outdistance the top-notch field. Also on the podium were the defending Champions from Northport (72) and Cumberland of Rhode Island (90). Next was a superb performance from Sachem North (91), who almost took down Rhode Island’s best in grabbing 4th.
Sachem East recorded the 6th fastest team average in the 32 year history of this major invitational. Val Romero (8th, 18:35), Tiffany Ly (15th, 19:01), Rachel Ruggiero (18th,19:15), Karli Murphy (22nd,19:26), Caitlin O’Hehir (25th, 19:29), and Ciara Murphy (38th, 20:16) each contributed to the record-setting effort, and all ran faster than or close to personal bests for 5,000 meters. Also running or breaking 21 minutes were Shayna Arrigo (20:14), Kaitlin Veigl (20:38), Rachel Semetsis (20:40), Lauren Harris (20:42), Jill Manfredi (20:49), and Brooke Howell (21:00), making the meet a true showcase for the East Arrow distance-running depth.
Next up for the East Arrows is the Division Championship meet at Sunken Meadow tomorrow, but the team’s major focus is on the State Qualifier meet to be held on Friday, October 31st where the East Arrows will face 4 other teams ranked in the NYS top 25 for the lone entry into the New York State Championship meet to be held one week later in upstate Canton.
The Girls Division Championship race goes off at 1:55 tomorrow, and will be preceded by the Boys race at 1:30.
-Submitted by Sachem East coaching staff