Nadel, Nerud are North Shore's 1-2 punch
The race's final straightaway pitted North Shore teammates Samantha Nadel and Brianna Nerud. Rather than a furious sprint to the finish, the two slowed down, stepped off the gas and jogged home.
Technically, Nadel won the Nassau girls overall cross-country championship Saturday at Bethpage State Park in 17:38.4, 0.3 seconds ahead of Nerud. But it was not your standard county championship finish.
The North Shore girls showed little emotion as they crossed the line. They each took a deep breath or two as they continued through the chute.
"Our coach [Neal Levy] didn't really want us to be racing each other at the end of the race," Nerud said. "It was really just about our team points today."
And it was Nerud who sacrificed a potential county title in deferring to Nadel.
"She's just a great team player and always thinks of other people before herself," Nadel said. "That was really great on her part."
Added Levy: "The goal today was to put the egos aside and move the team forward. We were not trying put forth a full effort."
North Shore won their fourth straight overall county title with 34 points, 63 ahead of Garden City, which also took second to the Vikings in Class B. Jessica Donohue (fourth, 18:20.4), Elizabeth Caldwell (fifth, 18:31.0) and Alexandra Osman (22nd, 19:59.6) rounded out North Shore's scorers. The defending state champions, the Vikings currently are ranked sixth in the nation, according to ESPN RISE/DyeStat.
North Shore will defend its state title Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School. If all goes according to plan in the coming weeks, the team's season will end Dec. 3 at the NXN XC Nationals in Portland, Ore., where the Vikings finished ninth in 2010.
"Our team is looking toward running hard at the end of the season, so it's really just about improving our team each week," Nerud said. "It's great to know that when we're racing, we are doing it together."
Massapequa won the Class A title (138 points), defeating East Meadow by four points. Lauren Lavoro (10th, 19:20.4) and Catherine Young (11th, 19:23.0) were the Chiefs' top finishers. Individual state qualifiers included Syosset's Lauren Gruber (12th, 19:32.3), Bellmore JFK's Sara Rosenzweig (15th, 19:42.7) and East Meadow's Alex Dagnell (20th, 19:58.3)
Sisters Stephanie Gerland (sixth, 18:39.3) and Jen Gerland (seventh, 18:46.2) of Garden City were among the individual qualifiers in Class B.
Kelsey Margey of Friends Academy was the top finisher in Class C, taking third to Nadel and Nerud in a time of 17:49.9. A transfer from Harborfields, Margey won the 2010 Suffolk Class A title. Friends also won the team title (223), 97 points ahead of runner-up Oyster Bay.
