We had quite a few impressive performances today at the Route 228 Fr/Soph Invitational at Notre Dame in Hingham. The younger athletes got a chance to have the spotlight to themselves, and didn't disappoint.
The girls, led by 18 points from Kelly Alves alone, totaled 38.5 points to finish fifth as a team, just missing last year's mark for the best finish ever by our school. This meet is normally dominated by large schools, we even beat Acton-Boxboro, which has nearly 2,000 students!
Kelly entered the finals of the javelin in second place, but unleashed a 95'6 missile to win by over six feet and qualify for states! This was mere minutes after she had just finished taking second in the shot put with another PR of 31'5.5.
Caroline Ward was another double medalist, taking fifth in the triple jump at 32'3.5 - which officially qualified her for the Freshman Triple Jump at New Balance Outdoor Nationals! (She had cleared 30' before, but had to do it in an invitational for qualifying purposes). She then cleared 4'9 to tie for fourth in high jump. Not bad for five hours of sleep after coming back early from her vacation so she could compete!
Addie Datz dropped a mammoth PR in the 2-mile. In an 11-person field, as the pack went out in 82 seconds (11:00 pace), she hung back and worked her way up. Ninth after a lap, seventh after two, and fourth at the mile, she took third, nearly stealing second place in 12:27.51! It's a 21 second PR, the fourth-fastest time in the league this year, and qualifies her for states!
The girls 4x400 team had a strong third, with the fastest time of any 4x4 we've had this year in 4:25.44. Alexis Mejia led off (65.2), then Anna Foster (66.8), followed by Kami Kozubal (67.7 - huge PR split) and Emma Sayers (65.5) anchored the squad.
The girls 4x100 A team nearly scored from the unseeded section, as Keara Shaughnessy, Kelsey Crowley, Jill Davis, and Elena Daly ran 57.39. They were third in their heat, but also beat two teams from the fast heat to take ninth. The B team (Julia Whiting, Erica Chipman, Ashley Fondo, Amanda Ernst) ran 60.6 to take 14th despite being seeded 17th!
Earlier in the day we had some other results. Our small battallion of 100 meter runners fared well, with Maddy Getman (17.00), Kelsey Crowley (15.29), Amelia Porter (16.39), Paige Shaughnessy (16.50), Ashley Fondo (16.19), Amanda Ernst (16.39), Keara Shaughnessy (14.66), Elena Daly (14.67), Julia Whiting (15.91), and Jill Davis (15.12) all posting solid times. Erica Chipman was the lone ranger in the 200, but PR'd in 31.90, nearly winning her heat!
Alexis and Emma ran 6:01 and 6:02 in the girls mile, earlier, and Morgan Geoffroy had a big PR in the 800 with a 3:03.99, taking third in her heat!
Kami also took 20th in triple jump at 27'9.5. Flannery Langton threw 44'11 in the javelin, placing 18th.
Anna Foster got the girls started with a 77.16 for 11th in the 400 hurdles...then had to wait five hours for the relay...always a tricky doubl!)
On the boys side, we had two scorers in the top 8, though unfortunately they only gave medals to the top 6. Ryan Sofoul was seventh in the first event - 400 hurdles (66.80), and Mark Mulvaney bookended our day with an eighth in the last event for the guys (shot put, 35'5.5).
The javelin saw a trio of PR's. Cam Waddell nearly made it into the finals, taking ninth overall with a big personal best of 110'3. Pat Quinn was 24th at 86'4, and Jack Inman was 28th at 77'1. Kevin Ricard ran 5:50 for the mile.
Tim Strang had a PR of 14 seconds in the 2 mile, running 11:27 to take 13th.
Our next meet is at home against Medfield on Wednesday. Great job by our young stars today, the future looks bright!
