The Sachem North boys cross country team started the post-season off with a Section XI Division 1 Championship and an overall Section XI Championship.
The race on Tuesday places the top teams from Suffolk County, large schools and small schools, in one race to decide on overall county champ, as well as division champions based on school size. In the division 1 scoring Sachem North scored 28 points beating out second place Northport who scored 69 points.
When all the teams from across Suffolk County (50 teams) were factored into team scoring Sachem scored an impressive 55 points, 2nd placed Walt Whitman scored 152 points. This was the first Suffolk County Championship for the Sachem North Boys Cross Country team since 1996.
Leading the way for the Arrows was sophomore Jonathan Lauer who placed fifth overall in the meet with a time of 16:53, cementing himself as the fastest sophomore cross country runner Sachem North has ever had. Following closely behind in team scoring was John Onken in 8th place, Dan Block in 9th place, Mark Difulvio in 15th place and Dan Stretz in 18th place. All five runners earned All-County honors in the race. Mike Cavanaugh was Sachem’s 6th finished in 33rd place and Tyler McNamara was the 7th finisher in 70th place.
In the Junior Varsity race sophomore Chris Tibbetts won the race and led the Arrows to victory with a blazing fast time of 17:48. The team of Tibbetts, Vincent Inzone (3rd place), Joe Varca (5th place), Patrick Lavan (9th place) and Jack McGlinchey (13th place) defeated Northport 31-46 in a thrilling and close race. Sachem continues their post-season schedule October 31st at Sunken Meadow for the Section XI State Qualifier meet with a chance to go to the NYSPHSAA meet on the line.
