Home sweet home: John Jay girls win league meet on home course

The John Jay girls team dominated to win its first home league meet in three years. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN

It had been three years since John Jay was able to host a varsity cross-country race. Runners in the program are well aware of the course through the woods and the problems they faced on the course. It took a lot of work behind the scenes, building bridges and clearing the trail, but the Wolves were finally able to come home and race as John Jay hosted a League H dual-meet against Brewster, Somers and Yorktown on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

For the John Jay girls team, it would be their second race of the season, and their second race without Sloan Wasserman, the leader of the team for four years and an individual state champion who is now running at Boston College. Wasserman led the Wolves to the N.Y. State Class B team championship last fall, and the returning Wolves are anxious to prove what they can do on the trails as they look to defend their Section 1 and N.Y. State titles.

The girls turned in an impressive performance to cruise to the victory at home, taking the top three spots and having four runners in the top six to pull away for the team victory with a score of 25. Yorktown was second at 41, followed by Somers at 58. Junior Mia Haimelin led the way finishing first with a time of 19:45.2, with sophomore teammate Maya Serai right behind in second. Sophomore Brodie Albert finished strong to take third. Freshman Rylee Gaudron was sixth, and eighth-grader Cecelia Kaleda was 13th to round out the top five for the team score.

Tarun Patel leads his brother Rohan down the stretch to the finish line.

“I was really nervous, our trail is a little rough, there’s a lot of roots and rocks every step, but I knew we had an advantage,” Haimelin said of the race on the home course. “Before we started, we just said we know this course, it’s our home meet and we’ve got to win it. Maya ran great and she was really pushing me, she was ahead of me the entire race and the last lap I just felt good to finish strong. Brodie had an injury the last couple of weeks, so I’m really proud of her and all of our team.”

For the girls team, this was a tune-up for their next meet on Saturday, Sept. 26, as the Wolves are heading upstate to Queensbury to compete against the top teams in the state on the course where the state championships will be held in November.

Despite having no seniors in the top five, the John Jay girls have a talented group of runners returning capable of making it another championship season for the Wolves, and they are anxious to prove what they can do.

“It’s still very early in the season and I’m happy with where the girls are right now,” John Jay coach Dey Dey said of his team. “Our trail is not that great with the roots in the woods, but it’s always good to be able to host a meet and the girls ran well. They did a lot of summer training and I see how far they have come. I just told them today to give a hard effort and get ready for Saturday, and then in October we’ll see where we are.”

For the John Jay boys team, it was Tarun Patel turning in a strong finish with a big kick to lead the Wolves with a fourth-place finish, followed by his brother Rohan right behind in fifth place. As a team, John Jay was second with a score of 54 as Somers won the meet with a score of 34.

Tarun crossed the line with a time of 18:25.2, two seconds ahead of Rohan. Peter Koch was the third finisher for John Jay in ninth-place overall. Jacob Chiang was 15th and Gavin Dacey was 21st to round out the top five for the team score.

“I saw the work Tarun was putting in and he has really improved a lot and I’m happy for him,” Dey said of Tarun Patel. “I hope he can keep pushing and gaining confidence for a strong season.”