Nadel leads North Shore girls to third place in cross country
The North Shore girls made their presence felt once again in the cross country world.
Samantha Nadel ran to a ninth-place finish in 18 minutes, 46.6 seconds Saturday as the Vikings took third overall behind perennial powers Saratoga and Queensbury at the state Federation championship at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
North Shore's Brianna Nerud took 22nd in 19:12.8, Jessica Donohue (19:21.2) was 30th, while sophomore Elizabeth Caldwell finished 65th in 20:00.4. Emily Osman finished in 21:20.4, rounding out the Vikings' top five.
"The goal was to move forward from last week," North Shore coach Neal Levy said of the Vikings, who won the state Class A championship last week.
It was the highest finish for a Nassau girl's team since Wantagh took second in 1992.
Six Long Island runners placed in the top 20.
Holy Trinity's Colleen Schmidt (18:45.4) was the highest individual LI finisher, taking seventh. St. John the Baptist's Anne Carey (18:45.5) finished eighth followed by Nadel in ninth and Ward Melville's Mary Kate Anselmini in 10th.
Sachem East junior Rachel Paul was 18th in 19:04.3 and Michelle Gaye of Harborfields (19:09.1) was 20th.
"I'm extremely proud and impressed," St. John the Baptist coach David Wood said about Carey. "We had a good game plan going into this."
Wood said Carey had been at her best the last few weeks. The Columbia-bound senior finished second at the CHSAA Intersectional last weekend and third at the League championship in October.
Northport was the next highest LI team finisher, taking eighth. Freshman Brigid Brennan (19:53.1) was 56th, followed by Victoria D'Amato and Anna Corrigan, who finished 57th and 58th.
Other notables were Friends Academy's Kira Garry, who finished 28th in 19:19.9, and Ward Melville junior Caroline O'Hea (19:21.9) finished 31st.
Garden City eighth-grader Jennifer Gerland was 38th in 19:28.4, Alyssa Knott of Smithtown took 42nd in 19:34 and Miller Place sophomore Tiana Guevara finished 46th in 19:39.8.
