If one thing is certain, MacArthur junior Leah Fortunato did not expect to matter so much Saturday.

They did not know it at first, but the Generals won the Nassau Class I cross country team championship with 79 points at LIU Post. They tied with Massapequa, marking the first time in Nassau history that a tie took place in the team scoring at a county championship meet. Points in cross country are scored based on the placement of each team’s top five runners. Ties are broken based on which team’s sixth runner finished faster.

So, even though she didn’t score, Fortunato’s 30th-place finish in the 5-kilometer race in 21 minutes, 9.5 seconds was one of the most consequential placements in program history, as it secured their first county title since 2008.

“I think it’s amazing,” Fortunato s

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