DCL league meet Saturday, 11 Feb, Reggie Lewis, 12 - 3

A little nothing snow tomorrow shouldn't hold up the DCL league meet at Reggie Lewis from 12 to 3 - but since we've had so little it might seem like a lot. I'll be there with camera.

Steven's report on the girls team for AB and last chance meets

report from Steven:

We had a super weekend  with a victory over Acton-Boxborough on Friday and a great showing at the MSTCA Last Chance meet on Sunday.  Over the two days we had 25 varsity season bests which is a great sign this late in the season and going into the championship meets.  As a coach I have learned to set goals and expectations that are reasonable for each new season and I am not afraid to think big.  Our girls have overcome a lot of challenges such as illness and a few injuries and have exceeded my expectations this season and that does not happen often.  This team has become what I hoped it could and I am proud of each and every girl.

We defeated Acton-Boxborough 57 - 43 to give us a 3-1 DCL Large School season record with our only loss coming to LS.  Acton-Boxborough was missing some key girls and they were short handed, but that did not distract from our efforts. Our improvement over this seasons has been stellar and we have gone from a young team with little returning experience into a very competitive team.  Our kids have improved in all events across the board and our depth is now a strong point compared to starting the season with so many question marks.  

 Highlights in the NS vs AB meet:

Kathleen Garrity scored points in the high jump with a PR and she placed 3rd in the 55 hurdles.  Mary Testa and Kyra Visnick tying in the dash was huge boost.  Kyra Visnick has improved her start and she joins Mary Teasta as one of the faster 55 runners in the DCL.  Hannah Friedman moved down to win the 600 and Sonya Nair took 3rd in that event.  We had a great  effort in the long jump with Mary and Kyra going 1-2 in their 2nd event and both were over 15 feet.. Our distance kids continue to improve to the point of being good state level athletes.  Alehkya had a nice PR in the 1000 and Anna R. and Anna L. went 1-2 in the two mile and Leda Olia got the 3rd place point.  Lucrecia and Emily ran 1-2 in the mile.

During both days of this weekend we moved a lot kids around in both meets to try new events to gain experience in possible future events and to allow them to have a mental break from the events they will compete in during the championship run.  In the MSTCA Last Chance meet Alekhya Chaparal took to the mile like she was made for it thanks to the pacing of Lucrecia Aguilar who has come off of 7 weeks of illness and little training to post mile PRs in 5:21.  That is an amazing pair of marks when you consider Lucrecia's illness and that it was the mile debut for Alekhya.  Both set PRs on both Friday and Sunday.  Hannah Friedman moving down to the 600 on Friday was a good find as she ran a very fast state mark and she came back and set a mile PR on Sunday.   

I think one of the highlights of the weekend was our 4 x 400 on Sunday in which we qualified for the State Division I Championship running three 9th graders and a sophomore.  I called this relay our 4 x young and they ran great making states in 4:34.04.  That team was Caroline Delheim 9, Julia Lee 9, Sophia Cen 10, Sonya Nair 9.   Jonee Harrison continues to put well in the shot put. with a PR.

Marks from the AB Meet.   Place / Name / Grade / Mark  PR = Personal Record  SB = Season Best

55  Tie 1. Mary Testa 12    7.68 (one hundreth of a second off of her best)  1. Kyra Visnick 11   7.68 PR  

Also Katherine Cullen 9  8.11

55 Hurdles  2. Kathleen Garrity 12    10.78   Ester Cho  10    10.84 PR

300  Yuriko Fukumura 9   49.50 PR

600  1. Hannah Friedman 12     1:44.54 PR  3.  Sonya Nair 9   1:50.26 PR   4. Julia Lee 9   1:51.37 PR

1000 1. Alekhya Chaparala  10  3:13.24 PR   3. Naomi Eisenberg 10 3:22.46 PR  

Also Yasime Hashemi  10  3:30.93   Leah Abercrombie  11  3:39.07 PR

Mile  1. Lucrecia Aguilar  10  5:29.58  PR   2.  Emily Caggiano  11 5:44.81  

Also Sarah Moskowitz  9  5:57.83  PR  Laura Cotter  6:10.80 PR  Sara Wang  6:14.33

2 Mile  1.  Anna Rhatigan 10  12:06.66   2. Anna Laurence  12  12:30:52   3. Leda Olia  10  13:04.04 PR

4 x 400   1. Alekhya Chaparala 10  63.90,  Hannah Friedman 12  64.24,  Sonya Nair 9  67.09  Lizzie Fineman 10   64.26     4:19.87 PR

4 x 200 Did not Race

High Jump:   3. Kathleen Garrity 12    4’4” PR

Long Jump  1. Kyra Visnick  11  15’11.5”   2. Mary Testa 12  15’2.75”

Shot Put  1. Jonee Harrison 11  28’11.5”

Varsity Level Results Last Chance Meet:

600 Sonya Nair 9   1:50.03  PR     Julia Lee  9  1:53.40

1000   3. Anna Rhatigan  3:09.03 PR     Sarah Moskowitz 9   3:25.20 PR

Laura Cotter  10  3:33.50 PR

Mile  4. Lucrecia Aguilar  10   5:21.26 PR  

5. Alekhya Chaparala 10   5:21.56 PR

Emily Caggiano 11   5:37.18 SB    Anna Laurence 12    5:42.02 SB

Naomi Eisenberg 10  5:45.03 PR   Hannah Friedman 12 5:48.19 PR

Five our girls were in the fastest heat together and our girls heard a lot of talk about our team depth in that event.  In the past we have been called things like a mile factory and this group of kids enjoyed strength in numbers in this event.

Shot Put   6. Jonee Harrison  30’4”  PR

Jonee has had some big throws in practice and that is starting to show in meets now.

NS v AB dual meet at Reggie Lewis

Newton South ran against Acton-Boxboro last Friday.
Click here for photos by Dave Fineman
The results are not posted on coolrunning.

DCL JV League meet

Click here for photos by John Keklak

DCL JV league meet at NS today

Wed. 25 Jan. 2012
The DCL JV league meet is at Newton South today.
The scheduled time is unclear being either 4 or 5 pm.

DCL open meet today at Reggie Lewis Track

The schedules show that just the girls are going. Don't know why.
DCL meet today at Reggie Lewis Track in Boston. The DCL has the track between 4:30 and 7:30. I'd guess that field events start right away and running events at 5 but then again....
Reggie Lewis Center 

1350 Tremont Street, Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120-3447

DCL dual meet at BU

NS ran against Waltham at BU on Wednesday 11 Jan.
Click here for full results

Report from Steven:
Newton South Girls vs Waltham

Our team wishes to thank the coaches and athletes of Waltham for showing true class and sportsmanship in our dual meet after having a competitive disadvantage by missing three event through no fault of their own.

The final score was Newton South 64 and Waltham 25, but it would have been closer if Waltham could have run the full events. On paper going into the meet Waltham would have scored 11 points and Newton South 16 in the three events missed. Instead Newton South was awarded all of those points.

With this win Newton South now has 19 seasons in a row without a losing record.

We are 2-1 in the large school division and this is the first year that we only count our record as such. We have Acton-Boxborough remaining.

Each meet during the season we have improved and this was our best meet to date.

As a team we had 34 season bests. That is the 2nd meet in a row that we have had over 30 season bests and that is a very good sign. At the start of the season I noted that we were a very young team with event areas of inexperience in which we returned no varsity athletes.

Now I would say that we have gained valuable experience and we are a much more balanced team to the point of being one of the best teams in the DCL ahead of schedule. We have only 8 juniors and seniors filling varsity positions compared to 22 - 9th and 10th graders competing on varsity and we are about to bring a few more young athletes up from the JV ranks. Our senior leaders have really embraced teaching the new kids the system and in turn the new kids are thriving and giving varsity efforts. This making coaching this team an absolute blast.

Jonee Harrison and Jina An got us off to a great start going 1,2 in the shot put with Jonee setting her PR of 29’8 and Jina nearing hers.

In the 600 - 9th graders Sonya Nair and Julia Lee went 1-2 with 10th grader Sophia Cen completing the sweep and all three ran very solid varsity times. Sonya Nair also ran a PR 65 split on the 4 x 400.

Alekhya Chaparala had another great day tying her PR in the high jump, setting a PR in the 1000 and giving us the lead in the 4 x 400.

Anna Laurence placed 2nd in the 1000 and Yasime Hashemi ran below the D. IV state standard in the event which allows her to be an extra entry into the DCL championship meet. 9th grader Louisa Kimmell scored in 3rd place.

Both Kathleen Garrity and Jennifer Olins set PRs in the 55 hurdles.

Mary Testa made her first race of the season in the 55 meters a great one with a state qualifying win in 7.67 and also ran a huge leg on our 4 x 200 spliting under 27. Our 4 x 200 had great hand offs and ran a great team race, but was DQed for stepping in the inside of the rail. I feel that these girls did a great job passing the baton and learned a lesson in the process. Kyra Visnick came in 2nd in the 55, tied for 1st in the long jump and also gave us a great leg on the 4 x 200.

Anna Rhatigan ran a huge PR in the 2 mile in 11:49.8 and showed that she is once again among the best in the DCL in distance events after racing ill.

Emily Caggiano had one of the most exciting wins of the day because of her determined running style and won her heat from the gun with Naomi Eisenberg 2nd in with a big PR. Emily ran 5:37.7 and Naomi was clocked in 5:47.8.

Kathleen Garrity and Jennifer Olins both set PRs in the 55 hurdles.

Next Up:
Division I Relays next Saturday
JV jamboree on Friday