4x4 Wins, Snow/Ward 2nd, Girls (unofficially) tie for 1st!

Wow, you wouldn't know by the times that this was the second meet in the span of 24 hours! Nearly everyone got at least top 25 in a state-wide invitational, and we had three medalists for the girls team, which unofficially would've tied for 1st place with Pembroke! (Using 10-8-6-4-2-1 scoring since they gave medals to the top 6 finishers)

(Unofficial) team scores
1) HOLLISTON 28
2) Pembroke 28
3) Dracut 24
4) Hopkinton 20
5) Bishop Feehan 17

On to the results...
First up was the girls mile. Abby Meltzer nearly beat her seasonal PR, running 6:00.52 to take third in her heat despite running a grueling 2-mile just 17 hours earlier. Addie Datz had a big PR in 6:15.92, moving up very well in her heat!
Next up was the boys mile. Ben St. George was coming off a scintillating 2:55.4 debut in the 1000, a time that would've been good for a sixth-place medal at today's meet! He had already been entered in the mile, and showed no signs of fatigue, running 5:08.3 in a massive PR of 15 seconds.
In the girls 300, Anna Foster took her heat in 48.26 seconds, finishing 28th and beating half of a sophomore-dominated field!
Next up was the girls 600. Sydney Snow fought off a couple of attempts by a Plymouth North challenger, and although she lost at the finish by 0.03 seconds, her time of 1:42.68 was a seasonal PR and a full 3 seconds ahead of her time at last year's meet! Quite impressive for someone who had to run 1:43.7 last night to win against a girl who broke Norton's school record.
In the 1000, Alexis Mejia had a huge kick to pass nearly her entire field and finished in 10th place, just missing states by two seconds in a time of 3:25.28. Katie DesRochers also PR'd in her race, finishing fourth in her heat in 3:40.16, 31st overall, top half of the field!
In the high jump, Madison Ward was less than 24 hours removed from having defeated her toughest challenger in the TVL, and cleared 5'2 to take second place, matching her PR!
Over on the infield, Helen Dolan and Emma Guccione both advanced to the 2-heat (16 person) finals of the 55 meter dash, running 7.99 and 8.01. Emma took ninth overall in the finals in 8.02, while Helen ran 8.56. Emma's time is slightly better than the 7.8 hand-time she ran at Norton (0.24 second conversion = 8.04), so an unofficial PR for the rookie! Sam Ratcliffe ran 7.47 in the prelims, beating the majority of the freshmen in a competitive field.
Bridget ran 11.56 in the hurdles, besting more people than she was expected based on seed time.
In the 2 mile, Adri Grinder hung tough in the seeded section, and ripped off a 39.4 second last lap to not only qualify for states (12:48.22, 12:50 was the standard), she nearly took the last medal, as she went from 11th to 7th place in the last lap!

Last event was the girls 4x400. We were seeded 7th overall, putting us in the second-fastest heat, but knew we had a chance to win since last year 4:22 and 4:28 were the top two finishers. Emma, running her first 400 ever, opened up with a 65.9, taking a lead early, then Madison kept the lead with a 67.1. Eve got passed but stuck right on the shoulder of Hopkinton's third leg and split 67.4. Sydney took the baton and regained the lead after the first turn, and held off a furious charge on the final straightaway to win the heat in 4:24.09. We then waited for the fast heat....which was won in 4:26, giving Holliston 1st place and the fastest time in the TVL!

Congratulations to all, the majority of the kids PR'd, we had top-10 finishes in five events (Girls 600, 1000, 2 mile, high jump, 4x4), three medalists (600, HJ, 4x4), and two new state qualifiers (Adri in the two mile, and the 4x4).

NO PRACTICE Tuesday, but there is practice Monday! (Medfield-Millis are having a meet at our track on Tuesday, and we can't have the fr/soph kids practicing/competing seven days in a row, so everyone gets the day off on Tuesday).