Today, it was the dawn patrol for me - zipping down the MassPike to Holyoke and the SAT II's at 6:30 AM. Pockets of fog clung to the valley floors, promising a steamy-hot day.
After the drop-off for the SAT II's - I settled into the empty stands to feel the heat come on, and watch the circus roll into town.
The day was a bit topsy-turvy with some forgotten spikes, starting blocks, a headwind for the sprints, a major accident that shut-down the Mass Pike completely (causing a few people to miss their events - not NS).
Overall, there were some great efforts - a sense of jubilation, and maybe a tinge of sadness that the season is really, for certain, drawing to a close. Top 6 places make it to New Englands in Fitchberg.
In the girls mile, Bridget Dahlberg broke 5 minutes to take first in 4:58.8. Madeliene Reed took eighth in 5:17 - quite a showing on a hot day.
In the girls' 4x800 meter relay - a great effort - Diana Braver, Juliet Ryan-Davis, Ann Norris and Bridget Dahlberg (splits = 2:21.6, 2:19.7, 2:25 AND 2:19.5) took 3rd in 9:26.77 for a new NS record!!! Newton North ran a 9:15.12 for a new All-States meet record, with North Andover taking 2nd. Some of the parents of the girls on the North Andover team were sitting right behind our contingent of Newton South parents. We behaved...trust me. That time is very good - the girls who ran should be proud of this race.
Candace Bailey took 2nd in the 100m dash, in 12.56, missing first by 0.03 seconds - it was too close to call from anyone in the stands. Times were slow, overall in the sprints and hurdles, due to a headwind. The winner in the 100m was Hannah Janeczak, a freshman from Doherty high school. Candace had (has) a fantastic year - 1st in the indoor 55m dash, 2nd in the outdoor 100m in the All-States!
The girls 4x100m relay took 5th in 49.88. Andover set a meet record of 48.26, eclipsing the old record of 48.68 set by ...none other than Andover in 2005.
Cora Visnick PR'ed in the pole vault, jumping 9-0. The girls took 4th place, overall, with 29 points, and within 3 points of 2nd place
On the boys side, Gerald Arneaud got some hardware, taking 7th in the 400m in 50.2 - seeded race. Gerald told me that Miekle Paschal (who took first) isn't going to be running in the New Englands, so Gerald qualified for the New Englands next week. Good going, Gerald!
James Huth ran a 11.51 in the prelims of the 100m - not good enough to qualify, but good enough to beat his seed placing of 20 up to 15.
Senyo Agawu ran a 23.29 to take 14th overall in the 200m. In an interesting example of error-propagation, Senyo's last name somehow got misspelled as "Agawa" in the entries for the Class meets, and then in the entries for the All States.. and finally on the back of the All-States commemorative tee-shirt (with all the athletes' names on it). Goodbye, Senyo - I speak from my heart, when I say that we'll all miss you next year!
Ross McDonald vaulted 12-00 and Roy Ribitsky tied his PR with 11-06. The end of the boys vault was postponed until Monday because of an approaching thunderstorm. Still going were about 8 vaulters, including Paul Bunyon (yes, that's his name) who has the best height of 14-0 going in.
Brad Pruente jumped 6-01 in the high jump to take 16.
Full results can be found at:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/07/ma/Jun2_MIAAAl_set2.shtml
Other action: Emily Jones of Bromfield took first in the girls two mile in a time of 10:48.3. Molly Binder from Lincoln Sudbury took first in the 800, Dana Jamieson of LS took first in the 400m. Dana ran an eye-popping anchor leg in the 4x400 meter relay, catching the Andover anchor, making up what seemed like 15 meters.
In the boys mile - Mark Amirault ran a 4:13 to take first. In the last lap, in the backstretch, Kevin Gill of Brockton threw down the gauntlet with a brave kick. Mark came back on him, and shut him down - dramatic!
In the boys 800m - Brian Longo was passed with about 220 meters to go by Brookline's Stewart - it looked like Stewart had it with a longer kick than in the Class meet, but Brian caught him at the finish to take the win.
Darius Walker (aka fasterthanu) took the 100m dash in 10.79, and the long jump in a huge 23-01.25.
Pat Jablonski from Frontier HS took first in the shot put, upsetting returning all-states champ David Smith (aka smitty) from Newton North.
Speaking of North - Cailean Robinson of NN took 2nd in the 100m dash in 11.13, Avery Mitchell (aka weezy) of NN took 2nd in the 400m in 49.01. The NN 4x100m relay took 1st in 42.55, narrowly missing the meet record of 42.2. On the efforts of Mitchell, Robinson Smith and the 4x100m relay, Newton North took 2nd overall for the boys.
Finally - two Massachusetts teams went under 8:00 in the 4x800m relay! Brockton and Whitman-Hanson - egads! 16 teams were under 7:53 in the Illinois qualifiers. Must be the steroids in the corn!
Jennifer Reed took a truck-load of photos of the meet. We're hoping to get the good ones posted before too long. Sam Donovan (aka sizzlexc) was also there, taking many photos).
The track - beautiful - an eight lane 400meter track with large radii on the curves. If only we had a track like that. Dream on.
It's a real accomplishment for people to make All-States. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be treasured. Good going, Newton South.
When I left - the place was nearly empty again. The boys pole vault was just called off for the day: all of the pent-up energy in the atmosphere began to release in a major thunderstorm. It seemed fitting.
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