Michels Breaks 100-Meter Dash Record

North sophomore Melissa Michels broke the 1000-meter dash record she tied earlier this week in the preliminary round of the 100-meter dash at the 45th annual Loucks Games held at White Plains High School last Friday.  Melissa earned a spot in finals with her 7.40 time.

Melissa’s work out of the starting blocks over the past several weeks has resulted in a more explosive start, a key element to fast times and competitive races against strong Suffolk County competition. Melissa approached her 90 minute old record time in finals with a 7.46 time and sixth place finish.  A restart and a false start gave the finals extra drama.

After seven of the remaining eight (following the false start) sprinters settled into their blocks, the starter’s pistol fired and an exciting race was underway.  Melissa had a memorable meet as she had a big-time performance under the glare of a big meet.

FOOTNOTES

• Alyssa Leto, Carly Swinford and Emily Rathmann join Melissa as Sachem four fastest sprinters based on their outstanding times at Loucks.  The quartet is currently the #4 ranked 4x100 in Suffolk County.
• Katie Michta continued her outstanding race walk season with a 4th place finish in a field dominated by Section XI race walkers, including teammate Natalie DeQuarto.
• Tri-State 4x400 relay leadoff leg Becca Duffy raced through the beginning of the exchange zone to handoff the baton to second leg Aprilrose Marasco near the finish line as Becca avoided the exchange zone gridlock caused by a 12 team relay team section of the race.  Becca dashed past many runners in mid-exchange as she kept her own baton moving at race pace with an outstanding handoff to Aprilrose.  Third leg Gabriella Czerw and anchor Andrea Hegarty had season-bests splits in the relay.

Article/photos courtesy of Alex Young, head coach Sachem North girls track

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