The Sachem East girls cross country team beat Ward Melville Tuesday, 22-33, to finish the dual meet season 4-1, League II runner-ups (to Northport).
East continues to be led by Juniors Shannon O’Hehir, Kaitlin DeMartino, and Jayda Allen, but the big development for the team has been the improvement of the next group of girls that are closing in on the lead group, or as they say in X-C lingo, closing the spread.
Frosh Ciara Murphy and Karli Murphy (no relation) have been coming on like gangbusters, and junior Nicole Silvestre has recently not only returned to form, but is running faster than last year. Just behind those two groups, junior Katie Hempfling and seniors Holly Lindoe and Devan Classi are providing much needed depth.
The win over Ward Melville was the first in Sachem East history, as Ward Melville has been to the New York State Federation Championships seven of the last eight years, and last year edged East, placing seventh at Feds with East eighth.
The win comes after a fourth place finish in the “C” race at the elite Manhattan College Invitational this past weekend which helped solidify East’s position in various rankings. The Girls are currently rated fifth on L.I. and 17th in N.Y. State large schools according to the Milesplit rankings.
East will head to the Brown Invitational this weekend with the East Boys and North Girls squads as they attempt to defend their title in the Northeast Championship Race where last year they edged out the best teams from Rhode Island, Massachustes, and Vermont.
This year, the stacked field again features many of those same teams along with League 2 Champs Northport. Should be an exciting race. Look for the North X-C Girls to also be going for the win in their race. The North Girls are also ranked in the top 10 on Long Island and among the top teams in New York and are led by the tandem of Kelly Lavan and Elise Ramirez. They should be right in the mix in the Large School Race that features 20 very strong programs.
The championship portion of the season will officially begin next Tuesday with the Division Championship meet at Sunken Meadow. Both the North and East Girls squads have qualified for the Championship race made up of the top 20 teams in Suffolk County.
This text was submitted by the Sachem East coaching staff.