By TONY BELLISSIMO
Papandrew, a senior who placed 17th in the Nassau championship/state qualifier race at Bethpage State Park on Nov. 1 in 20:13.1, also helped the Lady Owls to the Division III-B title and a second-place finish in Conference III. "When Cassie was a freshman, I gave her the nickname 'Real Deal,'" said coach Joe Beyrer. "Wherever she decides to go to college, I have no doubts she'll do well. She's a great runner and student."
This marked the second straight year Papandrew qualified for the state meet. She set a personal best 5K earlier this fall at Brown University, with a time of 19:25.0, and on the last Saturday of October she placed third in the Conference III championship race to help Lynbrook finish right behind Wantagh. "Wantagh only beat us by six points during the regular season," Beyrer said. "We had a shot to beat them for the conference championship but they came up with three of the top seven."
Papandrew and senior Eileen Riley earned All-Conference honors. Riley was Lynbrook's second finisher in both the conference meet (21:18.6) and the state qualifier (21:07.2). "Eileen struggled late last season but really came on strong down the stretch this year," Beyrer said.
Seniors Megan Ehrlich and Kim Lynch and freshman Maria Randazzo were selected All-Division. Ehrlich (22:05.2), Randazzo (22:07.2) and freshman Hannah Deegan (22:0.8) had big performances in the state qualifier. Randazzo, Deegan and sophomore Sammy Harris will be counted on to lead the way in 2009. Deegan, who didn't crack the varsity lineup until the third race of the season, was the team's most pleasant surprise according to Beyrer. "We didn't use the same lineup in the five division races," the coach said. "That shows the kind of depth we had. The seniors we had this year were freshman when I started coaching here, so I'm excited they finished on a great note."
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