L-S Girls Cross Country Team Places 7th at Nike Regional Championship

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was submitted to Sudbury Patch.)

Riding a wave of momentum from their strong showing in the Massachusetts State XC Championship the previous week, the Lincoln Sudbury Girls XC Team finished 7^th at the Nike Regional Championships held in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. this past Saturday.

The Nike Regional is the Northeast region’s premier cross country race and attracts teams from all over the Northeast. The 2012 edition featured teams from 8 states: 6 New England states, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In a clash of titans, first place was won by Pennsbury (Pennsylvania State Champion & #4 Ranking in the USA),  2^nd place went to Voorhees (NJ State Champion), 3^rd place to Barrington (New England Champion & Rhode Island Champion), 4^th place to Coe-Brown (New England Runner-Up & NH State Champion), 5^th place to Hillsborough (NJ State Runner-Up), 6^th place to Bishop Feehan (MA State Champion Div. 2). With their 7^th place finish Lincoln Sudbury defeated teams from Needham (8^th place Nike Regional / 3^rd place MA State Meet), Champlain Valley (9^th place Nike Regional / Vermont State Champion / 3^rd in New Englands) and 10^th place finisher Ridgefield (Connecticut State Champion).

The Lincoln-Sudbury team was led by sophomore standout Sydney Clary (25^th/19:45) followed closely by Katie Lascaleia (29^th/19:49).  Morgane Butler (40^th/20:03), Daniela Hargus (67^th/20:36) and Sammy Cook (81^st/20:52) all ran strong races while Brianna Bisson and Ariel Keklak rounded out the LS team that competed in the race.

Coach Henry Phelan was pleased with the team’s performance.

“Our team ran well against a very strong field – 7^th place is quite an accomplishment and we are proud of today’s results,” he said. “Sydney and Morgane had excellent years and are poised to be among the best runners in Massachusetts next season. I can’t say enough about our seniors, all three ran great, perhaps the best races they have ever run. Katie, Daniela and Sammy picked a great way to end their cross-country careers. They have been strong leaders from the beginning of the season and I couldn’t be happier for them about their performance today.” 

“It’s quite a challenge to race against opponents of this caliber but I think our team responded well,” Lascaleia said of the race.

“Coach Phelan prepared us well for this type of competition” while Sam Cook was quick to point out," Hargus said. “It felt good to defeat (in state rival) Needham for the 3^rd time this year in our head to head races ... they are a very good team.”

With their seventh place finish at the Nike Regional race, Lincoln-Sudbury finished an outstanding season that included:

• 8-0 regular season record
• Dual County League Champions
• Manchester, N.H. Invitational Champions
• Reebok Manhattan College Invitational Champions
• MIAA Eastern Massachusetts D2 Champions
• MIAA All State D1 Runner up.