By:Scott Brinton
It took 20 long minutes for the results to be tabulated at the Nassau County girls' cross-country championship last Saturday. In the end, the Mepham High School squad reigned supreme for the third straight year, winning the Class A crown in what was probably the toughest field of competitors it has faced yet.
The race was run on an up-and-down, 3.1-mile course at Bethpage State Park. Mepham's two top runners, Courtney Kelly and Dawn Leavy, placed fifth and sixth, respectively, out of 140 runners, propelling the Lady Pirates to the championship.
"When my coach finally told us we had won, we were just screaming, we were so happy," said Leavy, a junior who spent much of last year healing from a serious knee injury.
Saul Lerner, the Central High School District athletic director, said of the Mepham squad's third title, "It's great for the school. These kids work very hard. It adds to the legacy of outstanding cross-country and track teams" at Mepham. "And what makes me proudest is that they've combined the dedication of cross-country and track and field with academics." In 2003, the team grade point average was 96.
Last Saturday's other big story was Bellmore-Kennedy's Maegan Krifchin, who battled back from stress fractures in her lower leg last year and a hamstring injury over the summer to win the individual cross-country crown.
Krifchin, who only a week earlier had captured the Conference II Championship race at Bethpage in an amazing 19 minutes, 18 seconds, knocked 21 seconds off that time at counties, finishing in 18:56. Krifchin was the only runner to break the 19-minute mark, and the county meet was the first time that she had done so. Before that, her personal best was 19:01.
Krifchin, a junior, is the first Kennedy runner to win the individual county title. "I was very excited to win, and I'm just ready to see what happens at states," she said. "I was injured at the end of last season. This was a little bit of redemption."
As a team, Kennedy placed seventh, which was too low for the squad to qualify for the state championship meet. But Krifchin moves on to states, which will be held at Chenango Valley State Park in Binghamton on Saturday. The Mepham team goes to states as well.
Krifchin said her goal is to place in the top five at the state meet and earn All-State honors.
Leavy said that the Mepham runners hope to finish among the top three teams, and the squad's prospects of doing so are excellent. In past years, Mepham had to face the likes of Saratoga, a perennial powerhouse that was ranked first in the nation last year. But for the first time this year, squads are classified according to their high schools' populations, which puts Mepham in Class A and Saratoga in Class AA. So, at states, Mepham won't have quite as much competition as in past years, giving it a better shot at finishing in the top three. Two years ago, it was eighth as a team, and last year it finished seventh.
The Mepham squad includes Stephanie Becker, Allison Breivogel, Cristina Capasso, Samantha Cosenza, Alexandra Falbo, Kristina Harper, Erica Hylton, Melissa Hylton, Kelly, Amy Kilgallin, Leavy, Jeanette Lee, Aileen Monks, Jessica Restivo and Amanda Sannella. The coaches are Dave Frazer and Robert Ostroff.
The Calhoun High School boys' team placed third at the county meet.
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