By PHIL BRODSKY
Orange Live Sports Writer
Amity girls cross country Coach Sean Mahon was more than just pleased with his team’s efforts at Saturday’s Wickham Invitational in Manchester. The Lady Spartans were ninth (out of 32 teams) in the seeded 3.0 mile varsity race.
According to Mahon, “Everyone ran spectacularly well. They were awesome! We ran better than I ever thought we would run. Prior to the race, I was hoping we’d be among the top 15 and we ended up ninth. I think the big thing is the girls are now focusing on racing, not just running.”
Lisa Gorham was Amity’s best finisher, crossing the finish line in 21 minutes, 30 seconds, which placed her 26th (out of 213 runners). Sarah Stein (64th—22:39), Minnie Chen (65th—22:42), Marissa Tomei (71st—22:49), and Alanna Morton (83rd—23:09) round out the Lady Spartans’ top five finishers.
Earlier in the week, the Black and Gold defeated Sacred Heart (19-42) but also bowed to Mercy (27-30) in a Southern Connecticut Conference tri-meet on the Pacers’ 2.7 mile home course in Hamden. With that split decision, the Lady Spartans hold a 5-3 record.
In this race Tomei was Amity’s top runner as she logged a third place 18:39. Behind her came Chen (4th—18:54), Gorham (5th—18:55), Morton (9th—19:25), and Melissa Taggart (13th—19:42).
“We ran very well in that race,” Mahon said. “I knew it would be close with Mercy. The girls ran hard. I just wish the outcome had gone the other way, but Mercy has a pretty good team with a handful of good runners. We haven’t really had a consistent No. 1 runner. Lisa (Gorham) has finished first for us in most of our races, but this time it was Marissa Tomei who stepped up. She had a great race and it came on her birthday. Melissa Taggart is only a freshman but she is starting to come into her own.”
The Lady Spartans host Cheshire and Shelton Tuesday in a big SCC Housy Division showdown in a 4 p.m. race at the Fitzgerald Trail in Woodbridge.
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