To
say we made a good impression on our long-awaited return to the Twilight Meet
would be an understatement. The most competitive invitational in the state, it’s
usually dominated by the largest of the large schools. But we had medals in
SEVEN events, and two more top-10 finishes to go with 11 seasonal PR’s,
including 7 lifetimes PR’s!
While we had no new state
qualifiers, we did have a new NATIONALS qualifier! Madison Ward had made the 5’3
standard before in a dual meet, but to qualify you have to achieve your mark in
an invitational meet. Now, originally the high jump was supposed to do “odd”
heights (4’11, 5’1, 5’3)…undeterred when she found out they were doing evens,
she made every height on her first attempt through 5’2. After barely missing
her first attempt at 5’4, she soared over the bar and landed in the mat with a
ticket to North Carolina in June for New Balance Outdoor Nationals! She had a
couple good attempts at 5’6, perhaps 5’5 (which would tie former All-State
champ and Cornell alum Shawna Rossini’s school record) is in her near future…
Caroline Ward, having raced back
from high jump, cleared 34’2.5 in the second-to-last flight of the triple jump
for a new PR. However, it was good enough to make the finals (top 8)…not
content with merely making the finals, she PR’d by nearly another foot at 34’11.25
to take a medal for fifth overall!
On the track, we had a trio of
milers set new lifetime PR’s. In the first girls’ heat, Emma Sayers and Kelly
Irons let a ridiculously aggressive pack burn themselves out as they worked their
way through the field for new PR’s of 5:52.74 (Emma) and 5:53.14 (Kelly)! Mike
Glazebrook popped a 4:40.21 in his mile for a new PR, and closed in 66 seconds
as he powered his way through his heat.
Bridget Ghelli (18.21) had a goal of
making this meet at the beginning of the year for the 100 hurdles, and managed
to beat nearly half the field in her event. Ed Bennie ran 24.81 in the 200 for
a near-PR.
Kylie Lorenzen, in only her second
400 of the season, ran a 60.46 to finish fourth, her first (but not only) medal
of the day…
Sydney Snow was in her first
Invitational Meet mile, and was in a seeded heat that had five sub-5:10 girls
including a sub-5 winner. Despite having the 11th best PR entering
the meet, she nearly stole a medal with a seventh place time of 5:16.30! She
now has the second-fastest outdoor mile in school history, having just
leapfrogged Cheryl Mrozienski (1979) with only former Brown University
All-American Kim Thalmann ahead of her on the leaderboard.
The second set of jumpers also
dominated the pit. Cass Kelly displaced some of the girls in the first flight,
then Madison Ward popped a 15’7 despite not having done the event in 11 months.
Kylie Lorenzen leapt 16’6.5 to take third place, her second medal of the day!
Over in triple Matt McIsaac nearly qualified for states, jumping 38’5. Mike
Donovan was the last guy of 12 to be seeded in the final flight, but after
popping a 42’5 (11 inch PR!) he finished third overall! He’s the runaway leader
in the TVL, and is ranked quite high in D3 and the State as a whole.
Jake Hancock came close to his PR,
launching 96’5 in the discus, and Kelly Alves nearly snuck into the finals of
shot put from the second-best flight, tossing a 31’6 (nearly matching her
seasonal best) to take ninth overall, along with an 83’ in the javelin.
The meet was actually fairly close
to schedule early on, but after a lengthy delay in setting up the hurdle
prelims and a LONG delay for bringing in an extra set of portable lights, the
last events (400 hurdles, 2 mile and
4x200) started over an hour later than listed. The 400 hurdlers didn’t mind, as
Anna nearly PR’d with a 76.04, and Eve vaulted from the #12 seed to fourth
place overall with a 69.50, a new PR and just one second off Steph Paolillo’s
school record!
Katie Salley toed the line for the 2
mile at 10:00, and despite being in a field with not one, but TWO girls that
ran sub-11, held on to run a new PR of 11:47, besting her old mark by six
seconds! An 81-second last lap (she averaged about 87 to give you an idea of
how impressive a kick that is) nearly catapulted her to the top of the TVL
leaderboard, as she’s only three seconds out of first!
The Girls 4x200 had the toughest
hand psychologically. Seeded last, and running MUCH later than expected, they
not only beat an Austin Prep team that was seeded at 1:55, they beat them by
nearly half a straightaway to take fifth place and earn a medal! Congrats to
Keara Shaughnessy, Kelsey Crowley, Jill Davis, and Elena Daly!
Finally, a hearty thank-you to all
the parents that came to cheer – particularly those that were waiting longer
than expected to see their son or daughter compete - and a big thank-you to our
teammates who weren’t competing but came to give us quite the cheering section!
Also special thanks to McKinley for taking such terrific pictures!
