North Shore teams well to win girls cross-country title
Four members of the North Shore cross country team at the 2010 Nassau High School Cross Country championships held at Bethpage State Park. (Nov. 6, 2010) Credit: Errol Anderson
The pack of North Shore girls ran four across, a well-organized wall of Maroon situated just behind the lead pack.
In essence, it amounted to little more than a calculated tempo run.
Tempo run or not, the group of Elizabeth Caldwell (19:18.7), Samantha Nadel (19:19), Brianna Nerud (19:19.3) and Jessica Donohue (19:19.5) finished fourth-seventh and helped North Shore to its third straight overall Nassau girls cross-county title Saturday at Bethpage State Park.
The Vikings had 28 points, 47 more than runner-up Wantagh.
"The goal of this race was to use it as a steppingstone to make the state meet and beyond," North Shore coach Neal Levy said. "Today was more about 'we' and less about 'I.' "It was about winning as a team and being selfless."
The four girls running side-by-side appeared almost surreal in a county meet setting. But Levy had a plan, and his girls followed through.
"Today was a risky approach," Levy said. "It could have backfired, so I was more nervous than anybody else. But when the four of them came in with a lot left to spare, it put a smile on my face.
Kira Garry of Friends Academy built an early lead and won the overall individual title in 18:30.4. Eighth-grader Jennifer Gerland of Garden City was second at 18:41.8 and Manhasset's Mary Welsh was third at 19:15.7.
Garry took a 10-second lead by the mile-and-a-quarter mark and held on to that margin until the end.
"I wanted to get out hard," Garry said. "I talked to my coach about pushing it on certain spots, so the field was definitely a main spot to get out there."
After finishing fourth in this race in 2009, Garry believed she had peaked too early. This year, she stuck to higher mileage training weeks and a less hectic league meet schedule.
It all paid off with a wire-to-wire win that left the senior humbled.
"Kind of even thinking about winning the county meet was a cool thing for me," Garry said.
Massapequa finished third overall and won the Class AA title with 124 points. The Chiefs were paced by Caitlyn Krug (16th, 20:02.2), Amanda Schmidt (20th, 20:07. 9) and Shannon McBrien (21st, 20:09).
Valley Stream North, led by Shanice Johnson (27th, 20:29.3), won the Class B title.
