Although the boys official results were up over an hour ago, my patience for refreshing the ma.milesplit.com webpage every 15 minutes for the girls' results to go up has worn out. Since I know the approximate times/distances for the girls, I didn't want the loyal readers to go to bed without reading about the spectacular day we had!
(Only event I didn't get an estimated finish was Kelly in the shot put, I'll update that, along with official times/distances for the other events, once they're posted).
Our boys were down in New Bedford, and the girls were in Somerville, but I'll go in order of events as if they were in the same spot.
At a meet like this, the depth of competition can be intimidating, as the top of the leaderboard is usually dominated by the Division 1 and Division 2 schools. From the official results I saw at the boys meet, most of them finished 10th-25th overall but only were behind one or two people in our Eastern Mass Division, which I'm sure held true for any girls we had that finished in similar positions.
So a meet like this is all about positioning. Using the elite competition to help pull you along to a PR. Maybe you went from a "state quailfying" time/distance to a "potential medalist" level. Even if you didn't PR, getting awfully close to your best mark eliminates that little voice in your head that says "no, that was a fluke." (That little voice is always wrong!)
Our first performer of the day epitomized what this meet was about. Eve Bagley entered the 400 hurdles at 72.03 seconds for a PR, only one of a few of our athletes in attendance who was still trying to make states. After breaking 70 seconds, she not only qualified, but set herself up as a serious contender for a top-8 medal at Eastern Mass, and I believe she's only the second girl in the TVL under 70 seconds. Oh, did I mention that she's only a second behind Steph Paolillo's school record?
Ryan Leonard was on track early to make a run at his newly acheived PR of 58.8 from eariler this week. Although he stumbled a bit on the last few hurdles, he still finished 11th overall in 60.04, and his PR from Bellingham looks to be among the top four in our Eastern Mass Division. He took the last medal (8th place) as a junior, perhaps as a senior he'll grab the last All-State bid?
Up next were the 2-milers. Abby Meltzer didnt' quite PR, but her time of 12:26 was her 2nd-best ever, and was well ahead of some of her more recent dual meet races. Distance events can be tricky, especially the 2-mile, where the length makes the variance in race times quite large. In other words, she can now call herself a "consistent low 12" 2-miler.
Mike Glazebrook had won all four of his dual meet races this year, and only one of them - his comeback win against Mike Brady of Medway - was he seriously challenged. So finding himself in a large pack early was a bit disorienting. He went out in 5:02, and although the lead pack of four he was chasing pulled away in laps 6 and 7, he still set a 7-second PR of 10:11.41, good for 15th overall - he was seeded 23rd - and fast enough to beat six guys in the seeded section. He's setting himself up for a legitimate chance at the hallowed sub-10 mark.
Kylie Lorenzen had only just returned to racing and jumping three days ago. She cleared 4'9 in high jump, a technical event that often takes a while to get reacquainted, but followed up with an impressive seasonal best of 26.71 in the 200 trials.
Addie Datz entered the freshman mile having knocked on the "sub-6 minute" door a few times, running 6:06 earlier in the season and just missing with a 6:01 against Bellingham. Well, she didn't open the door, she kicked it down by nearly skipping the 5:50s entirely with a time of 5:51, winning her section with what I'm told was quite the kick. Her new PR is closer to the state qualifier (5:42) than her old PR!
Katie Salley had set an outdoor PR against Bellingham, running 5:34.8, but had missed her overall PR from TVL Indoor by just a few tenths of a second. Undaunted, she popped a 5:31, nearly breaking the sub-5:30 mark!
Although I didn't hear Kelly Alves' official result, I heard she threw at least 31', which would be her second-best throw of the year. Although she's so consistent we take her ability to throw over 30' for granted, please everyone realize that a freshman routinely tossing state-worthy throws is not typical. Quite a day for her!
In the 110 hurdles, Logan Cotto had entered with a 16.1 hand-time from this year, but in such a short event times like that are always questionable. His time of 16.46 today was a full two-tenths better than he's ever run electronically, bettering his mark from last year's state meet. He's certainly moving closer to 16 seconds.
In the 400, Helen Dolan lowered her state-qualifying time by over a half-second, running 63.07 to further move up the leaderboard in the TVL! Over at the boys meet, Ryan Snow ran 53.85, which is technically a PR since his 53.7 was handtimed (converts to 53.94, you add 0.24 seconds), in a similarly excellent race!
Sydney Snow had just PR'd in the 800 running against the #1 girl in the state. Up against the same #1 girl (as well as most likely the #2, #3, and who knows how many others in the top 10), she PR'd for the second time in four days, running 2:25! She's knocking on the door of "low 2:20s", which usually puts you in quite a competitive spot for All-State qualification.
With temperatures now in the low 80s, the girls 4x800 team of Katie Salley, Madison Ward, Alexis Mejia, and Sydney Snow took 10th in a very competitive field, running 10:19.83. I'll have to check the archives to see how that stacks up as a potential outdoor relay record, but nonetheless it was easily a state-qualifying time and puts them in the discussion for medals at EMass.
The events on the track were done, but with seemingly every high school girl in Massachusetts entered in the triple jump, Madison Ward was still waiting for her flight, the last of seven. She cleared 34'9.5, which just missed the finals but is also her 2nd-best jump of the year, missing her PR by just three inches. However, even her 34'9.5 today is still better than anyone in EMass Div. 3, according to athletic.net. So she's proven herself to be a consistent 34-35 foot jumper, and a leading contender for states.
A good day by all, remembering to look at the results in context of the big championship meets ahead (TVL, EMass Div 3) a lot of people moved themselves in to new categories, from qualifiers to contenders, or came close enough to their best marks to give them confidence that when the big days arrive, they'll be ready.
Don't forget to be at the track by 2:45 to set up for our tri-meet with Medfield and Norton on Monday.
