By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Lady Jets captured the Nassau Class AA and overall championships at Bethpage State Park on Nov. 3 and followed with an eighth-place finish at the state meet held a week later at Norwood High School. And they did so with only one senior starter.
"The county meet was about as close as it can get," coach Steve Josepher said. "The girls were more than thrilled to win it. We beat Syosset by two points, and waiting for the official word was agonizing. We went to states looking for a top 10 finish, so to get eighth against such outrageous competition was great."
Pacing the way for East Meadow were sophomore Jennifer Flores and junior Cara Mattson. They finished within seven seconds apart in each of the last two races. Flores placed seventh in the county meet with a time of 19 minutes, 34.7 seconds over the 5K course, and Mattson was right behind her in eighth in 19:40.0. In the state meet, Mattson was 54th in 19:44.5 and Flores 57th in 19:49.3.
"The two of them trained together the entire season and finished a bunch of races side by side," Josepher said of the All-County duo. "Jennifer enjoyed some success as a freshman and really flourished this season. Cara's an amazing leader and helped her along the way."
Roxanne Smith's leadership will be missed as she's the lone starter set to graduate in June. Smith came up big in the county meet, placing 24th in 20:20.2 to earn All-Conference honors, and had a comparable time (20:30.0) on a more challenging course at the state race. "Roxanne moved up the most at counties and was an integral part of the title," Josepher said. "She worked especially hard this summer and ran consistently well."
Finishing fourth for East Meadow in each of the last two races was junior Bridget Faria, an All-Conference winner who rose to the occasion and logged a 20:42.6 to place 32nd in the county and a 20:37.9 to grab 83rd in the state. Sophomore Valerie Sanders didn't let shin problems stop her from turning it up a notch when it mattered most. She completed the team's score at the county race, finishing 39th in 20:57.5, and cracked the top 100 at the state meet. Junior Priya Patel posted a personal best 20:49.3 at Norwood, while sophomore Helen Park, a first-year runner, improved with every race.
"We took a six-day trip upstate in August that brought everyone even closer together than before," said Josepher, whose Lady Jets have won 95 straight dual meets. "More than anything else, they're great teammates to one another."
Comments about this story? tbellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
