Young Lady Jets impress in cross country

Led by state qualifier Rachel Levy, East Meadow finished runner-up to Massapequa at the Nassau Conference I girls’ cross-country championship meet at Bethpage State Park.

Levy, a junior, placed seventh in the conference in 20-minutes, 24.3-seconds, 24th in the Section VIII championships/state qualifier and represented the Lady Jets at the state meet in Pawling. 

“By the end of the year Rachel cut almost two minutes off her best time,” East Meadow coach Steve Josepher said of Levy. “It was remarkable.”

East Meadow’s top five runners in the conference meet all placed in the top 25, and Levy was the only non-sophomore. Karissa Stankes was 13th in 20:51.5, Camila Merchan was 20th in 21:24.4, Brittany Cutler was 21st in 21:24.8, and Caitlin Langan was 23rd in 21:25.8. Another sophomore, Stephanie Fertitta, placed a solid 38th in 22:20.6.   

“The season the girls had was a pleasant surprise,” Josepher said. “They put in a lot of summer work. They trained in Nassau and Suffolk and logged a lot of miles.”

The Lady Jets compiled a 9-4 record during the regular season and placed seventh in the county meet.

On the boys’ side, junior Sean Grady finished third and sophomore Bradley Kaufmann 13th in the Conference I championship race in 16:33.9 and 17:37.7, respectively, to lead East Meadow to sixth place in the team standings. Grady earned All-County honors. Senior Nick Torres (37th in 18:41.6), junior Scott Sanders (38th in 18:42.7) and sophomore David Carey (41st in 18:46.9) rounded out the top five.