All State Update/Couple Reminders

Well, it's been a crazy week as the wild card system's new rules had even yours truly confused. The state put in a rule that you had to be top six to count as a wild card on high jump (previously they took all the people who cleared the last wild card's height), so Madison suffered the misfortune of being in the most competitive division, which had six people over 5'2. Then it turned out Logan Cotto did make it as the last wild card. I wasn't sure how they counted preliminary/final round times, but our hurdler did get in after all.

So we've got Sydney and Logan on Saturday, both competing early for all you that want to come and cheer them on. Logan goes at 9:30 for the Hurdle Trials, Sydney at 10:25 for the 600.

A few words on our qualifiers and near-qualifier. Did you know that Madison and Sydney are the only Holliston athletes since 1996 (possibly eariler, that's as far back as the online results go) to medal in the indoor divisional meet their first two years of high school?

Sydney's our first indoor State Divisional champion since 2009, when Emmaline Berg (Shot Put) and Rosie Keogh (2 Mile) each won. She's also the youngest Divisional champion we've had according to the results I have on file!

Logan's time of 8.08 is the same time his older brother Ty ran at the 2006 AllState Meet, where he placed 12th. For those that don't know, Ty went on to become a two-time conference and New England champion for UMass-Amherst in the 60 meter hurdles.

Reminders for everyone...the Banquet is Wednesday, February 26th at 6:30 in the cafeteria. It's posted on the schedule sidebar to the right, so you won't miss it. And for those interested, the Spring Track Signup Meeting will be Thursday the 27th after school in the cafeteria. Registration for all spring sports is due March 6th (done online at familyid.com)

Snow Wins, Two School Records Fall in State D4 Meet!

Any time there's a realignment, new teams and new individuals emerge. Now we're in Division 4 out of 5 (as opposed to 3 out of 4), and it looks like Holliston is gaining notice.

I hate ranking performances among our own kids, so I'm copping out as usual by going in chronological order.

Batting leadoff was our freshman phenom sprinter. Emma Guccione and seemingly half of Massachusetts was entered in the girls 55 meter dash. She beat nearly half the field, finishing 44th out of 84 in 8.06, just missing her PR!

Logan Cotto continued our early work on the infield. He just barely snuck into the finals as the eighth man out of eight, running 8.23 in the preliminary round. Fully warmed up, he overcame being stuck on the inside lane to take fifth in 8.08, just 0.01 off his PR!

Our next competitor was the #1 seed in the 600, sophomore Sydney Snow. Having just missed All-States by 0.2 seconds last year, this year the agonizingly close margin became one of victory, as our sensational soph ran 1:40.32 to sneak past a Watertown girl by 0.05 seconds for the win! She's our first indoor class champion since Emmaline Berg in 2009, and the youngest class champion since at least 2001, possibly earlier.

Katie Salley narrowly missed the school record in the 1000, but still made the top 10 in 3:13.37. Her day, however, was far from over. Back over on the infield, Madison Ward cleared 5'0 to take seventh in what's the strongest division by far for the high jump.

All that was left was the relays, which didn't disappoint our small army of fans that came to cheer. First up was the girls 4x800. They were seeded 5th, but keep in mind that was with a 10:19 run with a certain 600 meter State Class Champion. With a new group, how would they measure up? Quite well, as Madison Ward (2:35), Eve Bagley (2:31), Alexis Mejia (2:33), and Katie Salley (2:34) ran 10:13, the third-fastest time in school history and fourth place overall!

The boys came in seeded 11th out of 14. After the first legs of Ryan Leonard (2:10), Ryan Moser (2:08), and Mike Glazebrook (2:12), Jack Boyd was in ninth place in his first race as an anchor leg. Scorching the track in 60.5 seconds for the first 400, he passed not one, not two, but three teams to lead the team to a sixth place finish in 8:34.3, a full 10 seconds lower than the school record!

The last race of the day involved one more school record attempt. The 4x4 record had been on the minds of some of these athletes for three years. Shauna Rockett's race of her life gave us a 62.1 opening leg, and after Virginia Hanstad (64.8) and Emma Guccione (63.6), Sydney Snow pushed through despite being in a bit of "no-man's land" to close in 63 for a 4:14.66, beating the school record of 4:15.54!

The girls cracked the top 10, finishing 10th with 17 points. Our boys were 27th with 7 points.

Sydney's automatically advanced to the All-State Meet on Saturday. As long as the Division 1 Meet (tomorrow morning) doesn't feature a massive parade of PR's in girls high jump, Madison will likely join her by making her second straight appearance.

I'll post an update on that tomorrow afternoon. Thanks to all who came to cheer!

No practice today/spring registration reminder

Due to the early dismissal, there is no practice today. Also, a reminder that registration for spring sports is due March 6th. It's done online through familyid.com, just like fall + winter. Don't leave it until the last minute!

State Meet schedule is in the post below this one.

State Div. 4 Meet Schedule

Here's the schedule for Sunday's Division 4 State Meet.

10:45 - Arrive at HHS ready to go
11:00 - Leave HHS for Reggie Lewis Center
12:00 - Arrive at Reggie Lewis Center
1:00 - Shot Put/Long Jump starts, check-in for first running events
1:30 - Hurdles/Dash Trials, Finals
***High Jump starts after the hurdles/dash are done. I'd guess around 2:00 or 2:15.
1:30 - Girls Mile
1:45 - Boys Mile
1:55 - Girls 600
2:05 - Boys 600
2:10 - Girls 1000
2:25 - Boys 1000
2:35 - Girls 300
2:40 - Boys 300
2:50 - Girls 2 Mile
3:15 - Boys 2 Mile
3:40 - Girls 4x200
3:50 - Boys 4x200
4:05 - Girls 4x800
4:15 - Boys 4x800
4:25 - Girls 4x400
4:45 - Boys 4x400

No School/No Practice

No practice today as school is closed. Be careful if you're shoveling, see everyone Thursday at 2:30.

Girls 4x4, Snow, Cotto win at TVLs!

We had three event winners today at the Tri-Valley League Championship Meet at Boston's Reggie Lewis Center. I'll go in the order the events were contested, but first here are the team scores

***Updated with Freshman Mile results, sorry the scoresheet we got last night left it out.

BOYS
1) 77 - Medfield
2) 70 - Norton
3) 46 - Bellingham
4) 35 - Hopkinton
5) 16 - Holliston
6) 16 - Westwood
7) 14 - Medway
8) 12 - Ashland
9) 12 - Millis
10) 12 - DS


GIRLS
1) 132 - Hopkinton
2) 76 - Westwood
3) 32 - Norton
4) 29 - Holliston
5) 17 - Medfield
6) 14 - Ashland
7) 13 - Medway
8) 12 - DS
9) 3 - Bellingham
10) 1 - Millis

Girls Mile - Katie Salley finished fifth in a PR of 5:34.51! Maggie Naughton won the unseeded heat in 6:04.59, finishing 11th overall.
Boys Mile - Jack Boyd was eighth in 4:53.87, and Ben St. George PR'd in 5:06.85 for 11th place
Girls 600 - Sydney Snow took the lead with 200m to go and won in 1:40.33, taking first by over a full second! In the second-fastest heat, Eve Bagley qualified for states with a 1:46.11, just missing the last medal!
Boys 600 - Ryan Moser was fourth overall in 1:28.30, just missing his PR, and Ethan Harris was 14th in 1:36.77.
Girls High Jump - Madison Ward finished fifth at 4'10.
Boys High Jump - Logan Cotto tied for ninth at 5'4.
Girls Hurdles - Eve Bagley was 16th  (10.82), Bridget Ghelli 18th (11.00) and Anna Foster 20th (11.34)
Boys Hurdles - Logan Cotto won by possibly the biggest margin of victory ever, setting a new PR of 8.07 to win by 0.36!
Girls Freshman Mile - Addie Datz was third and nearly broke six minutes, running 6:02.56!
Girls Dash - Ally Rosati was 15th in 8.52, Helen Dolan 17th in 8.58.
Boys Dash - Sam Ratcliffe was 15th in 7.36
Boys Shot Put - Sam Ratcliffe finished 18th with a throw of 28'11.75.
Girls 300 - Emma Guccione took fifth overall, qualifying for states with nearly a full-second PR of 44.83! Virginia Hanstad was 14th in 47.34.
Boys 300 - Ed Bennie won his heat and took 12th overall in 40.23, and Cole Osten finished 14th in 40.69.
Girls 1000 - Madison Ward just missed states, finishing seventh in 3:23.42, Kiara Hanlon was ninth in 3:26.92, and Katie DesRochers finished 10th in 3:27.82.
Boys 1000 - Ryan Leonard claimed sixth place and qualified for states in 2:47.78 ,and Tanner Datz PR'd in 2:58.79 for 13th!
Girls 2 Mile - Adri Grinder PR'd and took fifth overall in 12:45,21, while fellow sophomore Abby Meltzer was seventh in 12:58.16.
Girls Shot Put - Hannah Brady got sixth overall with a throw of 27'4.5, just missing her PR by two inches.
Girls 4x400 - The quartet of Shauna Rockett, Virginia Hanstad, Emma Guccione, and Sydney Snow just missed the school record, but won the race in 4:16.49, taking first by 0.38! It's the second fastest time in school history.
Boys 4x400 - The boys' team of Ryan Leonard, Cole Osten, Ryan Moser, and Jack Boyd were sixth overall in 3:50.98.

Banquet Date/TVL Schedule

(TVL Top 10 Seeds are in the last two posts, scroll down if interested).

Our banquet will be held Wednesday, February 26th at 6:30 in the cafeteria. You can show up as early as 6 if you want to help set up.

The TVL Meet is expected to start at 2:30. It may start slightly later if the invitational that's earlier in the day runs long, but the meet director for that invite thought they'd be done in time for us to begin at 2:30.

Events 300m and up run slowest section before fastest section.
12:20 - Athletes should arrive at HHS to get ready for the bus
12:30 - Bus LEAVES for Reggie Lewis Center (don't be late!)
1:30 - Arrive at Reggie Lewis Center.
2:30 - High Jump (Cotto, Ward) and Shot Put (Ratcliffe, White, Brady, Rosati) starts.
          Opening height is 4'2 for girls, 5'0 for boys.
2:35 - Girls Mile (Salley, Naughton)
2:50 - Boys Mile (Boyd, St. George)...usually 2 heats of each, fastest one last
3:05 - Girls 600 (Snow, Bagley)
3:15 - Boys 600 (Moser, Harris)
3:50 - (Or whenever the high jump ends)
          Hurdle Trials (Cotto, Bagley, Ghelli, Foster)
          Dash Trials (Ratcliffe, Winiker, Rosati, Dolan)...fastest 8 to finals for Hurdles/Dash, trial heats are randomized
          Freshman Girls Mile (Datz)
          Freshman Boys Mile
          Hurdle Finals
          Dash Finals
The following events may start slightly later if the high jump takes a while, but I doubt it.
4:05 - Girls 300 (Guccione, Hanstad)
4:10 - Boys 300 (Osten, Bennie)
4:15 - Girls 1000 (Ward, Hanlon, DesRochers) - probably two heats
4:23 - Boys 1000 (Leonard, Datz) - possibly two heats
4:30 - Girls 2 Mile (Grinder, Meltzer) - only one heat, usually 14-18 total runners
4:50 - Boys 2 Mile (M. Glazebrook, E. Glazebrook) - only one heat, usually 14-18 total runners
5:05 - Girls 4x400 (two heats, Holliston is in the fast section as the #1 seed!)
5:15 - Boys 4x400 (two heats, Holliston is in the fast section as the #3 seed)
5:40 - Depart Reggie Lewis Center
6:40 - Arrive back at HHS

*Top 6 earn ribbons, though they are given to coaches at our Postseason Meeting next week, and we pass them out at the banquet.

Scoring - 10 points for 1st, 8 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd, 4 for 4th, 2 for 5th, 1 for 6th