Paul Wins 800-Meter Run and Qualifies for State Meet

Sachem East's Rachel Paul won the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.59 at the State Qualifier meet Friday at Port Jefferson High School, earning her a spot in the state championship meet.

Paul, who is coming back from tendinitis, was originally seeded third in the race but took a big lead on the second lap.

"Going into the race, [the coaches] said the winner would take the race the last 300 meters," she said. "I knew I was capable of more. I wanted to go to states real bad."

East's Alex Saavedra took second in the boys 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:23.34. Saavedra described the race as pretty normal for him and said his strategy was "just trying to stick to the pack to see what happened."

Other competitors include East's Melanie Notarstefano in the 400-meter dash in 59.43 seconds, which qualified her for finals Saturday, as well as East's Meghan Walsh and Ally Figalora in the 400-meter hurdle run with times of 67.53 and 67.66. Both girls will compete in finals.

In the 800-meter run, East's Ryan Scarpelli and North's Colin Eberhardt competed with times of 2:01.31 and 2:03.48, respectively. North's Keira Wood ran the 800-meter run in 2:16.71 and East's Kaitlin DiMartino ran it in 2:29.04.

North's Kelly Lavan competed in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:37.59. East's Sam Eng competed in the 100-meter hurdle dash with a time of 17.49 seconds. Morgan Genoino, from East, competed in the 100-meter dash in 11.58 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 23.01 seconds. East's Amanda DiSalvo ran the 400-meter dash in 1:01.47 and North's Chris Weilbacher ran it in 52.30 seconds.

In the unseeded 3,200-meter run, East's Shannon O'Hehir took first place with a time of 10:53.44. Zach Patsy from East ran it in 10:09. Danielle Vazquez and Kathleen Hempfling, both from East, and North's Lauren Waka also competed.

In the relays, East girls had teams compete in the 4x100- and 4x400-meter races. The 4x400 team of Laurie Semetsis, Ashley Ayers, Nicole Silvestre and Notarstefano will compete in finals with its time of 4:05.75.

Ebonie Lewis from East long jumped 16'9.25". Diamond Jackson and Brittany Christiansen, also from East, both competed in the discus with throws of 104'7" and 100'5", respectively.

East's pentathlete Maddy Egan competed in the 100-meter hurdle dash, high jump and shotput for the pentathalon. She will compete in more events Saturday.

More athletes will compete Saturday, the second and final day of the meet. Those who qualify will join Paul in Caledonia, N.Y. for the state championship meet June 10-11.