The Huntington varsity girls’ cross country team has faced many challenges this fall, one of the biggest of which has been nagging injuries. But the Blue Devils are pushing onward.
Huntington competed in the Manhattan High School Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx on Saturday and while no Blue Devil finished among the top runners, they did turn in some nice performances in a field that included 135 competitors and 18 teams.
Ella Siepel and Valerie Rogel captured medals last weekend in the Manhattan High School Invitational.
Ella Siepel and Valerie Rogel both garnered medals. Siepel covered the 2.5 mile/4000m course in 17:24.90. Rogel finished in a time of 17:57.60. Kaylee Dammers (19:43.60), Anna Koulakova (20:31.60), Erin Ye (21:47.40), Talia Addeo (21:53.60) and Diya Rai-Gersappe (23:10.80) also gave Huntington everything they had.
“The Manhattan Invitational has been one of my favorite meets ever since we first went last year,” Siepel said. “Van Cortlandt Park is a beautiful location for running and it’s fun to be able to run on a different course besides our standard one at Sunken Meadow, so I was extremely excited for Saturday’s meet. It ended up being a huge success, with many girls breaking their time from last year and those who were running on the course for the first time also running great times. I myself was happy with my performance, as it was very consistent with what I ran last year. I look forward to the Manhattan Invite next year, when I hope to improve even further.”
Hosted by Bishop Loughlin High School, the meet drew many of the top runners in the state. Huntington head coach Beth Vogelsang was pleased with the effort and performance of her top athletes.
“Ella has really been such a consistent force on our team and is our No. 1 runner this season,” Vogelsang said. “She’s really earned it especially with her intensity and passion for running.”
Siepel’s most recent time of 22:27.97 on the 5K Sunken Meadow State Park course qualified her to compete in the Section XI state qualifier race in November.
Rogel continues to rebound nicely after being sidelined earlier this season. “I’m so proud of Valerie,” Vogelsang said. “She keeps progressing every race and is hungry to keep moving forward. Ella and Val are best friends, captains and from freshman year to now they have pushed each other in such a positive way.”
As the season races toward its conclusion, Rogel is happy with where she is right now, but is confident the best is still yet to come for her.
“In the years that I’ve run at Van Cortlandt Park, the course has been an interesting and novel challenge,” Rogel said. “This year was no different. While I have faced many setbacks in starting this season, I am very grateful for the opportunity to test my skill on a shorter course. My main goal is to recondition myself in order to regain both the endurance and speed that I had last year, so this was the perfect race to test myself. Naturally, I am so proud of my team for embracing the challenge that Van Cortlandt has to offer and I look forward to future races with them.”
Rai-Gersappe, Addeo and Koulakova all set personal bests for 2.5 miles on the Van Cortlandt Park course. “Kaylee Dammers and Erin Ye had strong races as well,” Vogelsang said. “My team loves the Manhattan Invitational because of the large amount of teams from all over New York State and the exposure of such a great course.”
Huntington’s Taylor Case, Noelle Henderson, Brianna Isaza didn’t compete in the Manhattan Invitational last weekend, but they have all notched personal best times at Sunken Meadow this fall.
“This year it’s a small, tightknit group and we treat each other like a family,” Vogelsang said. “Sophie Bradford has also been such a helpful manger and my right hand girl. Everything has been so much fun this season.”