In a team meeting following today’s Large School County Championship Meet at Suffolk West, Coach Young told the team, “Congratulations – you were one of the two finalists in the Miss America pageant. But the other girl got the tiara and sash.”
The team smiled as they knew the routine. Coach Young had used an old Jerry Seinfeld routine in which the comedian (Seinfeld not Young) gives his philosophy on the meaning of second place earlier in the week. Seinfeld’s bit aside, a top two finish was something the team had not achieved since the mid and late 1990s powerhouse teams. Sachem won Counties in 1994, 1997 and 1999.
The North Flaming Arrows placed second in 1996 and 1998. Coaches told the team that Sachem was a top two contender at Counties. While Bay Shore was the clear favorite heading into Counties, it was Sachem’s goal to push Bay Shore as hard as possible and try to beat the seed sheet.
This meant that Sachem would have to finish higher than seed sheet projections at their biggest team meet of the season.
One of the oldest team members and one the meet’s youngest athletes were seed sheet beaters in the meet’s first two events. Senior Co-captain Kaitlyn Okvist was celebrating her 18th birthday. Seeded fourth in shotput, Kaitlyn put together an outstanding series in trials and finals to finish third in a season-best throw of 33’ 10 ¼”. While Kaitlyn was busy at shotput, teammate Gabriella Mott was winning the unseeded section of the 3000 meter run in a time good enough to place seventh in the race. Gabriella was seeded eleventh going in to the race. Her outstanding start and aggressive race tactics was a second seed sheet buster in two events for Sachem and raised the team spirits.
Bay Shore was putting on a very impressive show of its own with wins in triple jump and the 600 meter run in early meet contests. Sachem was not backing away from head to head contests as senior co-captain Sunja Joseph broke her own school record in triple jump for the second straight meet. Sunja’s 37’ 6” jump was good for second place at Counties and is the #4 mark in NYS rankings.
Sachem’s racewalkers were a seed sheet busting squad behind Katie Michta’s first-ever county championship. Katie raced to a career-best time and improved her nation-leading mark with her 6:54.46 time. Seed sheet projections gave Sachem an impressive sixteen points in the event. Sachem scored 18 points as sophomore Kaitlin Martins placed third in a career-best time and senior Natalie DeQuarto placed fifth. Sophomores Meghan Tozza and Emily Leath added career-best marks of their own in the unseeded section of the 1500 meter racewalk.
Sachem had two sprinters in the finals of the 55 meter dash. Junior Alyssa Leto and senior co-captain Melissa Michels looked to improve on preliminary round performances to score points for Sachem. Only .25 seconds separated first and sixth place in finals. Despite a very good start, Melissa placed sixth. Alyssa matched Melissa’s start and transitioned to pull away from the field for her first county championship victory. Alyssa showed typical sportsmanship as she congratulated each of her rivals at the finish line.
Nikki Fogarty did a little seed-sheet busting as she ran a career-best in the preliminary round of the 55 meter hurdles. Nikki’s time of 7.70 was the fastest time of the round. Looming in finals was the county’s top hurdler, Aviana Goode of Bay Shore. Aviana showed why she is the county’s top hurdler with her win in finals in 8.68. Nikki placed second in 8.88. For the moment, Sachem led all teams in the meet. But Bay Shore was racking up big points in high jump, boasted three of the county’s top four jumpers in the long jump competition that was just beginning and was expected to outscore Sachem in relays.
Bay Shore scored fourteen big points to Sachem’s one point in high jump. Senior co-captain Gabriella Czerw placed sixth in high jump with a 4’ 10” jump. Bay Shore was beginning to drop the hammer.
Sunja Joseph continued her inspiring post-season performances with a season-best (and #2 all-time Sachem indoor mark) in long jump as she placed third with her 17’ 7” leap. The distance is NYS’s #10 mark. One-half inch and two places behind Sunja was Leah Blackall with a 17’ 6 ½” jump. Leah is #10 in NYS and the state’s #2 sophomore long jumper. Despite Sachem’s outstanding long jump day, Bay Shore – first, second and fourth in the competition – outscored the North Flaming Arrows 22-8.
Sachem placed outside of scoring in the 4×800 with a seventh place finish. The 4×400 beat the seed sheet as it outran several teams seeded ahead of it. While Bay Shore had clinched its third county title in as many years, all eyes turned to the track as the 4×200 meter relay teams began the final event of the meet.
Sachem shook up its own relay squad as Melissa Michels was moved from her traditional anchor spot to second leg. Coaches hoped that speed up front with All-County runners Alyssa Leto and Melissa Michels would result in an early relay lead that top seed North Babylon and third seed Bay Shore would have trouble overcoming. Sachem’s back half of the relay – Nikki Fogarty and anchor Kelly Gardner are formidable sprinters in their own right. Sachem delivered a wire to wire win for their third victory of the meet. When final results were posted Sachem learned that it broke a thirteen year old meet record as its time of 1:47.94 broke the mark of 1:48.6 set by a Connetquot squad in 2001.
In a show of outstanding sportsmanship, Bay Shore athletes walked over to Sachem moments after the meet ended and congratulated Sachem on its outstanding team performance. Sachem athletes cheered for team champion Bay Shore. Sachem had much to celebrate on its second place team performance on the biggest stage of its season.
Sachem returns to Suffolk West next Saturday for the Section XI State Qualifier Meet.
-Submitted by Sachem North coach Alex Young