Sports

East Girls Track Edges North in Battle of Ranked Teams

East gets the best of North, 78.5-71.5, in matchup of girls track powerhouses.

On Wednesday, the Sachem East Girls Track and Field team hosted talented Sachem North with both programs demonstrating why they are ranked in the top-10 on Long Island.

With North bringing a well rounded line-up that features sprinters and jumpers, East countered with its own balanced roster highlighted by mid and long distance runners and an exceptional throws squad to pull out a 78.5 to 71.5 victory.

Outstanding performances were the order of the day with Essence Sterling setting a school record of 34' 2.5" in the triple jump, and Kelly Maranchuck (6:58.3), Holly Lindoe (7:00), and Katie Michta of North (7:03.2) posting the three fastest times so far this year for the 1500 Meter Racewalk in New York State, with Maranchuck's time just short of Coach (and former H.S. National Champion) Jenna Monahan's school record (6:52.60) from 2007.

Find out what's happening in Sachemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Brittany Sepe and Diamond Jackson each nabbed a 1st and 2nd place as the throwers sweep both the shot and discus. Ally Figalora ran a lifetime best 66.9 to win the 400 Hurdles. Mel Notarstefano won the 400 in 59.9 to lead Jayda Allen (60.9) and Laurie Semetsis (61.4) to a 1,2,3 sweep of that event. And Rachel Paul sealed the win by taking the 1500, 800, 3000, and combining with Kaitlin DeMartino, Brenna McGuire, and Katie Hempfling to anchor the 4 by 800 relay- the final and decisive event of the day- to victory.

A look at the stats provides some interesting insights into the meet. East edged North in 1st place finishes, 8-7. But North took nine 2nd place finishes to Easts' six, which put North 4 points ahead of East counting only 1st and 2nd place finishes.

Find out what's happening in Sachemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What put Sachem East ahead going into the relays was the 10.5 to 4.5 margin in 3rd place finishes as each of those hard earned points ground out by Maddy Egan, Shannon Haberkorn, Shannon O'Hehir, Pam Emengo, and Gabby DeAngelis set the stage for the big finish. The team that could win 2 out of the 3 relays would win the meet.

North won the first relay, the 4 by 100 by 2 seconds. East responded with a fresh Nicole Silvestre, and excellent legs by Allen, Figalora, and Notarstefano, to take the second relay, the 4 by 400, by 10 seconds, thus putting the 4 by 800 squad in position to ice the win with a stellar dual meet winning time of 10:01.1. Certainly the most competitive, and probably the most exciting Suffolk Girls dual meet this season and a credit to both programs!

Sachem East has an exciting and busy schedule with three meets in the next seven days, highlighted by a trip to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, attended by more than 1,000 high schools from across America and seven other nations!

Article courtesy of Pete McNeill, Sachem East girls track coach


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here