Mission Impossible: Cuffe Breaks 28-year old Mark
KINGS PARK, New York -- Aisling Cuffe continued her season of domination on Saturday at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional with a performance that surprised even herself. Facing relentless gusts of wind that reached speeds of 50 miles per hour and put Suffolk County on severe weather alert, Cuffe became the first girl in Sunken Meadow Park history to break 18 minutes. Her time of 17:45.9 smashed the previous mark by 23 seconds, a record that stood for 28 years.
“I didn’t think it was possible,” Cuffe said of breaking the record under the challenging conditions.
Cuffe took the lead for good after one mile and put 17 seconds between herself and the chase pack by mile 2, which is located atop the course’s most grueling section known as Cardiac Hill.
Abbey Leonardi (18:31.9), a sophomore from Maine, and Chelsea Ley (18:33.1), a senior from New Jersey, finished second and third, respectively.
Joining Cuffe, Leonardi and Ley as qualifiers for the Foot Locker Cross Country National meet in San Diego are Colleen Schmidt (18:35.9), a junior from New York; Marielle Hall (18:36.4), a senior from New Jersey; Lauren Sara (18:37.4), a senior from Connecticut; Emily Durgin (18:38.7), a sophomore from Maine; Sara Sargent (18:42.2), a freshman from Pennsylvania; Lauren Mullins (18:54.4), a sophomore from New York; and Meg Ryan (18:54.8), senior from Connecticut.
Cardiac Hill, one of the most well-known ascensions in the high school cross country circuit, added to its hit list, however. Molly Pezzulo and Caroline Kellner each held qualifying positions at the top of the hill but dropped from the top-10 in the race’s final mile to finish 14th and 18th, respectively.
Undefeated on the year, Cuffe has won invitational and championship meets by an average margin of 53 seconds. After her performance here at Northeast Regionals, it will be difficult not to consider her a strong favorite to win in San Diego. Cuffe finished 12th in the 2008 Foot Locker National meet and is the fifth fastest girl returning to San Diego. Two of those girls, Chelsey Sveinsoon (South) and Megan Goethals (Midwest) won their respective regional today as well and will also contend for the title.
“I don’t want to think I can’t do it,” Cuffe said of her chances in San Diego. “But at the same time I can’t just assume I’ll win.”
Ley, Cuffe’s regional teammate, is in the national meet for the third year in a row and is also one of the top returning runners. She finished eighth in 2008, ahead of Cuffe. She will be among the favorites, but experience has taught her not to buy too much into that.
“You can’t get caught up in all the hype,” Ley said and cautioned her teammates to stay focused on the task at hand. “Go out there and remember what you’re out there for, which is to race.”