Yes, they broke one longstanding meet record in winning their second consecutive large school county championship. Yes, they broke two school records. And yes, they scored the second highest point total ever (142) to convincingly outscore Connetquot (87) and Bay Shore (78). But how do you explain Sachem East’s outstanding performance in the 2016 Suffolk County spring track and field championship meet? Three words: diversity, depth, and seniors.
The seniors successfully capped off Sachem East’s first Triple Crown, winning cross country, winter track, and spring track and field Suffolk County titles in the same school year, a feat that has not been accomplished in Suffolk since 1999.
Diversity. The Sachem East Arrows scored in 13 of the 20 events conducted in the meet. Sprint events, jumping events, hurdles, throws, distance events, race walk, and relays. No other team was able to score in all the track and field areas, and no other team scored in as many events.
Depth. What really separated Sachem from the rest of the pack were the events where the Arrows posted multiple scorers. The Arrows only had two event winners in the meet, Ciara Murphy and Lauren Harris, but in a total of six events they had multiple scorers (top six places score) in the 15 team championship meet. Murphy and Alex DeCicco led a 1-2 finish in the 800 meter run, and Harris, with Chelsea Benedict, Ariana Cavalino, and Sam Delano, led a 1-3-4-6 finish in the 1500 meter race walk.
Harris broke Sachem alum and Olympian Maria Michta-Coffey’s meet record by 10 seconds, winning in 6:34.25. Sachem East placed two scorers in the pole vault (Kerstyn Ciulla and Jordan Messineo), three in the 400-hurdles (Shelby Trentini, Kaitlyn Famigletti, Skylar Papele), three in the 3000 (Val Romero, Rachel Ruggiero, Alex DeCicco), and four in the 1,500 (Murphy, DeCicco,Val Romero, Rachel Ruggiero).
Seniors. Perhaps the most important word in describing the total team effort exhibited by the 2016 squad is seniors. Sure, the seniors scored most of the team points on meet day, but it was their leadership and their day-to-day efforts throughout the season that directly led to the victory. The daily training grind in all weather, the challenging of one another during workouts, the encouraging and mentoring of rookies and novices, and definitely the positive tone that they set from day one. Seniors were the foundation of the three relay events that closed out the meet by adding 20 points to Sachem’s final point tally of 142.
The 4-by-800 squad featured three seniors (Romero, Jill Manfredi, Murphy) and placed second. The 4-by-100 squad, led by seniors Lauren Alburg, Kerstyn Ciulla, and Sam Locascio, then followed that up with a school record performance (49.92) good for a third place finish.
And in the last event of the meet the 4-by-400 squad, led by seniors Trentini and Kaylie Wessberg, provided the icing on the cake- breaking the School Record with a 3:58.30 clocking and a 3rd place finish (the top 3 teams all broke the former Meet Record).
Next up for the Sachem Squad is the Suffolk County State Qualifier meet which will be held Friday, June 3rd and Saturday, June 4th at Port Jefferson H.S.
2016 Division 1 Championship Top Ten finishers from Sachem East
- 6th, Kristen Heuschneider 2222 points
- 10th, Jasmine Ahmed 2024 points
- 7th, Dana Tyner 16.92
- 10th, Sam LoCascio 13.09
- 1st, Ciara Murphy 2:18.45
- 2nd, Alex DeCicco 2:19.44
- 2nd, Shelby Trentini 63.39
- 3rd, Kaitlin Famiglietti 65.12
- 6th, Skylar Papele 67.12
- 2nd, Valerie Romero 12:12.17
- 3rd, Rachel Ruggiero 10:28.15
- 4th, Alex DeCicco 10:28.50
- 8th, Lindsay Dodenhoff 10:48.62
- 2nd, Kerstyn Ciulla 10′ 6″
- 3rd, Jordan Messineo 10′
- 6th, Erin Leonard 105′ 1″
- 8th, Amanda Fitzgerald 95′
- 3rd, Jill Manfredi 7:31.60
- 2nd, Ciara Murphy 4:47.09
- 3rd, Alex DeCicco 4:49.48
- 4th, Val Romero 4:51.47
- 5th, Rachel Ruggiero 4:52.26
- 2nd, Amanda Fitzgerald 37′ 11.75″
- 7th, Molly Jandris 4′ 8″
- 1st, Lauren Harris 6:34.25 (Meet Record)
- 3rd, Chelsea Benedict 7:10.19
- 4th, Ariana Cavalino 7:19.17
- 6th, Sam Delano 7:22.32
- 9th,Hayley DiCarlo 7:51.08
- 10th, Alex Bergen 7:56.13
- 2nd, Rachel Ruggiero, Jill Manfredi, Val Romero, Ciara Murphy 9:42.28
- 3rd, Brooke Papele, Lauren Alberg, Kerstyn Ciulla, Sam LoCascio 49.92 (School Record)
- 3rd,Kaitlyn Famiglietti, Shelby Trentini, Kaylie Wessberg, Angela Calabrese 3:58.30 (S R)