Red, Black & Gold Scoreboard: January 7

Sachem North Girls Track Update from Hispanic Games: The Sachem North girls winter track and field team ran its fourth fastest 4 x 200-meter relay in the last 20 years at Saturday’s Hispanic Games held at the New Balance Track & Field Center in New York City. 

The relay was led off by frosh Alyssa Leto who, earlier in the meet, moved up the team All-Time Top 25 list in the 55-meter dash. Her time of 7.73 is the No. 6 Sachem time since 1992 and her season-best split of 27.9 put the squad – seeded No. 25 going into the meet – in second place in the heat at the first handoff.  Sophomore Sunja Joseph – a new addition to the Top 25 list after her 7.97 time in the 55-meter dash today – ran a season-best 28.2 relay split as the relay slipped into third place. Frosh Nikki Fogarty, who ran a No. 7 Top 25 time in the 55-meter hurdles earlier in the meet, dashed to a career-best 27.7 in the relay’s third leg to close the gap on the relays ahead of Sachem. Melissa Michels, currently Suffolk County’s #2 55 meter sprinter, nearly caught her nearest rival with a season-best 26.2 anchor.  The relay’s time of 1:50.29 is the fastest Sachem time since the North Arrows ran a 1:49.16 at the 2007 Stanner Games.  The foursome will  get a chance to chase the No. 2 all-time Sachem time at next Saturday’s (Jan. 14) Stanner Games.  The two frosh-two soph relay will have a chance to break Sachem’s record time of 1:48.27 over the next several seasons.

Junior Kelly Lavan led Sachem distance runners with a career indoor-best mile run. She placed fourth in the varsity mile run in a time of 5:20.80. Like her sprinter teammates, Lavan moved up the Top 25 list as she is now the No. 7 miler since 1992. Lavan was cheered on by Class of 2011 former teammate Keira Wood who holds the No. 6 time just .4 seconds ahead of Lavan. Senior co-captain Becca Duffy moved up the Top 25 list with her 5:46.5 mile time. Frosh miler Elise Ramirez ran a solid time 6:13.20 as she was the only Sachem runner to run a negative split race.  Elise opened up her mile run with a 3:13.4 half mile.  She closed out her race with a 2:59.8 half mile and a third place finish in her heat.  

Sachem had 21 season-bests in its 33 events Saturday demonstrating that the Arrows achieved a team goal to compete well at a major invitational.  The Armory also lived up to its reputation as one of the nation’s fastest tracks.  Sachem looks forward to competing at the Armory in the next two weeks at the Jan. 14 Stanner Games and the Jan. 21 New Balance Games.

Sachem East Girls Update from Hispanic Games: The Sachem East girls opened up an exciting weekend of competition, and continued a stretch of 6 meets in 14 days, this Saturday at the Hispanic Games at the 168th Street Armory. Narrowing down towards a post-season focus, the East girls brought only a select crew of milers, racewalkers, sprinters, and hurdlers, as they seek ever important "seed performances" for post-season meets like League and County Championships, as well as State Qualifiers.

Opening up the day for East were Kelly Maranchuk, Amanda Catherall, and Alyssa Furlani competing in the seeded section of the 1500m racewalk. Kelly Maranchuk was Hispanic Games Champion, finishing first in 7:13.47, a season best, indoor best, and top time in Suffolk County this season. Catherall (7:33.50) and Furlani (7:33.64) were close behind in 10th and 11th and also walked to season bests. In the following section, Holly Lindoe challenged the field, walking a season best of 7:40.80, good for 12th overall, and paced her teammatae, Sarah Laporta to an 8:05.32, a season best for her in her first race in several weeks.

The milers took the stage next and were led by strong performances by Shannon O'Hehir who ran a personal best (5:31.40), Mel Notarstefano who continues to impress on her comeback to full strength after a post-season cross-country injury (5:36.31), Jayda Allen who competed in the mile for the first time (5:39.34), Danielle Vazquez who continues her strong comeback from an early season knee injury (5:44.29), Katie Hempfling who ran a personal best (5:51.18), and Brenna McGuire who ran a personal best (5:58.92). Emily Piazza (6:22.19) had a solid race after showing strong consistency at practice recently.

Not to be outdone, East sprinters Essence Sterling (7.83), Ashley "Bean" Mercado (7.94), and Aly "A Pic" Picascio (8.01) all ran strong season and personal bests in the 55m dash. Hurdlers Sam Eng (9.78), Paige "P Pic" Picascio (9.99) and Katy Sullivan (10.18) all ran season and personal bests in the 55m hurdles and were joined by strong performances from Shannon Haberkorn (10.11), Jess Grassi (10.13), and Danielle "D Naer" Naer (10.70) who each put up their fastest time of the indoor season.

To close out the day for East were sprinters Paige Picascio, Ashley Mercado, Essence Sterling, and Aly Picascio running a season best of 1:54, breaking 1:55 at East for the first time in two indoor seasons.

Look for more results from the East and North girls as their six meets in 14 days continues.

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