The girls’ cross country team began a historic day for the Bears by winning their second consecutive Suffolk County Championship and third overall in program history. Their win, followed by County title wins for the boys’ cross country and girls’ soccer teams, gave the Blue and White a record three championships in a single day.
For the girls to repeat as champions, they had to take down Southold, a team that defeated them in the first dual meet of the season. On a cold day at Sunken Meadow State Park, our girls left their previous performance against the Settlers in the rear view mirror as they motored to a 24-31 win for Stony Brook’s 35th Suffolk County Championship. Freshman Margot Rashba led the way, as she has all season, winning in a time of 21:23 to become the first girls’ individual County Champion since Alexis Fernandez in 2008. She was able to hold off Southold’s senior Ivy Croteau, last year’s County Champion, who had defeated Rashba earlier in the season.
with 400 meters to go, Rashba used her signature kick to distance herself from Croteau and smash her personal record at Sunken Meadow by 11 seconds. This was not the only exciting finish of the day as Maria Paz Valenzuela and Allie Damianos out-sprinted their Southold counterparts by less than a second, winning crucial points for the Bears. By merit of their victory our team has earned a spot in next Saturday’s New York State Meet in Pawling, NY.
Individual Results
| Place | Name | School | Time |
| 1 | Margot Rashba | Stony Brook | 21:23 |
| 2 | Ivy Croteau | Southold | 21:35 |
| 3 | Shelby Pickerell | Southold | 22:41 |
| 4 | Ayana Aaron | Stony Brook | 23:10 |
| 5 | Kathy Kim | Stony Brook | 23:25 |
| 6 | Maria Paz Valenzuela | Stony Brook | 24:06 |
| 7 | Shannon Guyer | Southold | 24:06.3 |
| 8 | Allie Damianos | Stony Brook | 24:19 |
| 9 | Meghan Kelley | Southold | 24:20 |
| 10 | Colette Steele | Southold | 24:43 |
| 11 | Jennifer Roslak | Southold | 24:50 |
| 12 | Katie Connolly | Southold | 25:30 |
| 13 | Aileen Catapano | Stony Brook | 25:52 |
| 14 | Kriupa Samson | Stony Brook | 27:14 |
We all ran our absolute best today and it paid off. We all knew that we had it in us and the outcome showed. As an individual I was extremely happy. I had a personal record for my time as well as the title. Overall, it was a great day and a great race and I couldn’t ask for anything more.
~ County Champion Margot Rashba
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