The ladies entered Day 2 in a distant third place, with just over 6000 points. They were 200-300 behind Milford and North Reading, but had a few teams within 100 points of themselves, nipping at their heels for the third and final team trophy.
But the girls were not content with their parade of PR's from Day 1, which included a few events where the sophomores scored more than 100 points than the previous year (Snow in the shot put, Ward in the shot put and hurdles).
With the long jump, javelin, and 800 on the schedule, it was the field events where the girls would first begin to climb. Entering day 2, Kylie was 3rd, and Sydney and Madison were 16th and 17th. With the field randomized, Sydney headed over to javelin, the other two to long jump.
Sydney uncorked a big PR with a throw of 21.17 meters, good for 69'5, more than 15 feet further than her 2013 mark! Over at long jump, the vast majority of the first flights were clearing 13-high or 14-low, but once every go-around an audible gasp would be heard.
That was when the Holliston girls jumped. Madison ripped off not one, not two, but three jumps over 16 feet, including a mammoth 16'11 1/8 on her second attempt that wound up being the second best in the entire competition, a PR of over a foot, and the third best jump in school history (trailing only Kylie's 17'4 and Chrissy Sereno's 17'3.5 from 2003).
Kylie, in her first long jump competition of the year, matched Madison, as she dominated the other pit, clearing 16'7.5 for fourth overall of 62 competitors.
The girls switched, and Sydney held serve with a 15'3, just a couple inches shy of her PR but well ahead of the majority of the field, despite going against a headwind that had just came about, announcing a storm on its way. Over at javelin, Madison moved up from her 39'8 best last year to a 44' toss, while Kylie tied her PR at 75 feet.
Literally minutes after Syd finished her last jump, an absolute downpour came for 30 minutes, even flooding the inside of the football field along the home straightaway. While other teams sought shelter in their cars/buses, the girls waited out the rain under the trees/umbrellas. Forty minutes later, the skies parted, and the competitors came back out on to the field. A few unfortunate girls had to finish the long jump or javelin, and as a result, the 800s would be seeded based on whoever was ready. Our trio went first.
Now, normally they wait until everyone is done with the LJ and Jav, tally up the scores, and then run the 800s, with the top 12 kids going together. The team scores are also known at this point. Due to the rain and the remaining LJ/Jav competitors, everyone was running the 800 having no idea where they ranked individually or as a team.
I did the math, here's what the scores were heading into the 800.
Individually, Kylie was third (3169), Sydney 15th (2650), Madison 18th (2533)...and here's the team scores
North Reading 8890, Milford 8540, Holliston 8452. Nearly 100 points behind 2nd, and 438 behind first.
But then came the hammer. For the unfamiliar, usually in a heptathlon, it's dominated by sprinter/jumpers, since the 800 is the only distance event out of seven, it's not normally one where kids rack up a ton of points.
Unless they're from Holliston.
Sydney led the way with a 2:25.9, Kylie was just behind in 2:27.9, and Madison was with the pack at 2:42. This was the unofficial "seeded" section, as only one other girl wound up beating Sydney from another heat, and only a (literal) handful would beat Madison's time from other heats.
After the other 800s, the scores were read aloud. Madison had climbed up from 18th to 15, as Holliston was one of only two teams to have all three athletes place in the top 15. Sydney had vaulted from 15th all the way up to 8th, a ridiculous jump in the span of one event. Kylie had held at third, her second straight year earning a top-3 plaque.
North Reading was the other team with three top-15 finishes...but when the scores were read, Holliston had gone from a 438 point deficit heading into the last event to a 266 point win over Reading, which had also leapfrogged Milford and North Reading during the 800.
The last time Holliston earned a trophy at a statewide event was the Girls Indoor Track team in 2003, when they were second at Div. 3's to Bishop Feehan. It took 11 years, but history was made. Congratulations to the ladies on a truly spectacular performance in one of the toughest events there is in track.
And they're all underclassmen!
