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Overcast Lady Jets continue run of success
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Valerie Sanders set the pace for the Lady Jets.
Jeff Wilson/Herald
In a season that saw its 108 dual meet winning streak snapped, East Meadow’s girls’ cross-country team started a new one and still managed to place fifth in Nassau County.
“We had a great group of kids and I thought they did outstanding,” Lady Jets coach Steve Josepher said. “They were a little off at the county meet for whatever reason, but that can happen to anyone. It’s probably the closest group I’ve coached and everyone accomplished a lot of good things.”
Senior Valerie Sanders closed her career for the Lady Jets with a rush, setting a personal best in the state meet (19-minutes, 31.6-seconds) on Nov. 14 at Plattsburgh and finishing eighth among Nassau participants. She was 19th in the county meet on Nov. 7 and fifth in the Conference I meet the previous Saturday. “Valerie averaged about 40 miles per week over the summer and was our most consistent runner,” Josepher said.
Senior Jennifer Flores had a nice year as well and finished first or second in most regular-season dual meets. Flores placed sixth in the conference meet and was East Meadow’s No. 2 finisher in the county race, completing the 5K course at Bethpage State Park in 20:27.0.
Flores and senior Theresa Park (20:27.5) finished side-by-side at the county meet and the latter was part of a group that had breakout seasons according to Josepher. “They all committed themselves over the summer to being more accomplished and successful runners,” he said. “They really worked hard and were a true team.”
Park’s twin sister, Helen, senior Elsa Echeverry and sophomores Nilam Patel and Rachel Levy all came through with solid performances as well. Helen Park was 13th in the conference meet, Patel was 19th and Echeverry 23rd. Had the conference title been decided on the top six runners instead of five, the Lady Jets would’ve outscored Massapequa.
With a half-dozen key contributors set to graduate, the team has some rebuilding to do for 2010. “We’ve got 60 girls signed up for winter track so I’ll have to do some recruiting,” Josepher said.
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