Bayport-Blue Point's Sophia McInnes wins Suffolk Class B girls cross country championship
Sophia McInnes of Bayport-Blue Point wins the Class B girls race during the Suffolk cross country championships and state qualifiers at Sunken Meadow Park on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. Credit: James Escher
Fighting off a virus and running a 5,000-meter race on a hilly course are totally unrelated. The only qualities they share? Both are tedious, difficult and exhausting. Of course, when you are as battle-tested as Bayport-Blue Point senior Sophia McInnes, these things are practically routine.
McInnes was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the middle of October, sidelining her from competitive running for over three weeks. She needed roughly a week to recover from the illness and another two just to get back into competitive shape. However, on Wednesday afternoon at Sunken Meadow State Park, McInnes showed no signs of rust, as she won her second consecutive Suffolk Class B championship in 19 minutes, 23.1 seconds.
This was nothing more than an old charade for McInnes, who said it was “about my fourth time” dealing with COVID. She said she also caught the virus during last year's cross country seasona campaign that ended with her first county title.
Though she had not run since Oct. 12, McInnes was not worried about being unprepared for the county championship race.
“I was definitely a little concerned, but I’ve overcome it before,” McInnes said. “I knew that I was going to be able to bounce back and get over it again. I just didn’t know how long it was going to take. All of that strength that I gained during summer training really paid off for now.”
Other individual champions included Floyd senior Zariel Macchia, Center Moriches junior Emma Gold and Pierson senior Greylynn Guyer. Macchia captured her fourth-straight Class A crown in 18:49.7. Gold ran 22:10.2 to win the Class C title and Guyer posted a 21:44.6 to become the Class D champion.
For Gold, winning it all felt like a prophecy being fulfilled.
“It feels amazing,” Gold said. “When I was in eighth grade, one of the seniors on the team — Helena Roy — used to tell me that one day it would happen. I’m so grateful that she always told me to believe in myself, because I think that’s why today came out this way.”
On the team front, Northport claimed its fourth-straight Suffolk Class A title (53 points). Sayville (40 points) took home the Class B plaque. Center Moriches (24 points) won Class C and Port Jefferson (24 points) won Class D.
Winning the Class C title brought tears to Center Moriches coach Lisa Hession’s eyes.
“This is the best feeling ever,” Hession said. “We worked very hard for this, and it really could’ve gone either way. We always battle with Mattituck, but they did it.”
