Most of this report is from my spies at the weekend meets. I was up in New Hampshire, taking a wilderness first aid course (and sneaking in some cross-country skiing).
Bridget Dahlberg ran, unattached, on Saturday night at the Boston Indoor Games, with a very talented field, including Triton's Keely Maguire. She ran a smart race, with even splits and broke 5 minutes, running in 4:58.67. This took 5th place out of 11 runners, including Jillian Smith, who won in a scorching 4:49. Breaking 5:00 is pretty spectacular, particularly for this early in the season. The coaches haven't emphasized speed work, yet, so that's even more impressive.
Full results: http://www.bostonindoorgames.com/2008/events/gMile.htm
In the Elite relays on Sunday, we have another school record to add to the 4x8 ran the weekend before.
In the Distance Medley relay, Bridged doubled back on Sunday, running an anchor leg of 5:10, for an overall time of 12:20.93. This took first, ahead of Lincoln-Sudbury and Weymouth. In addition to Bridget's anchor, we had Juliet Ryan-Davis running the 1200 in 3:48, Julia Frieze in the 400 in 60.8, and Diana Braver in 2:21.4. This is a new school record.
And, an amazing run by the B team of Kathy O'Keefe (3:51.2) Dani Pensack (62.8) Kyle Remy (2:29.3) and a super fast anchor by Kelsey Karys of 5:11.1, to take fourth, overall in 12:29.79.
Another great performance was the 4x50 shuttle dash with Dani Pensack, Katie Sandson, Azeezah Gray, and Pebbles Banks, running in 25.23.This took 5th overall.
The boys 4x800m relay ran a 8:17.5, which is a significant improvement. Sasha Long (2:02.6), John Beck (2:04.1), Yuji Wakimoto (2:07.7) and Will Cha (2:02.9) ran a great race. This took 8th overall.
Gloucester ran a hot 8:02, only a few seconds off of the meet record.
There was a mishap in the boys 4x400m relay. Will got jostled in his leadoff leg, and dropped the baton. The boys managed to get the stick around, but they'd fallen off the pace, so it was difficult to get back into the game. Next time, guys!
The girls 4x200m relay ran well, with Pebbles Banks, Ellie Ellis, Sarah Marquis and Azeezah Gray teaming for a 1:52.2. There was a tough handoff in there, so we know they can go faster.
The high jump relay took 3rd overall, and had some great jumps, with Diana Braver at 5'1", Ellie Ellis in 5'1", and Kathryn Ellis in 4'11".
Other standouts - the LS 4x8 ran a 9:16 for first. With a goal of dropping under 9 by the indoor season's end, they have some work cut out for them, but are, typically, dominating the field. The big news was the Hingham girls running in 9:33, which is a significant improvement, to take second. Watch for them later in the season.
The Woburn boys set a new record in the sprint medley relay, 3:34.12. Woburn returned to run a scorching 4x4 in 3:24.
Chelmsford had a nasty surprise in the DMR when leadoff runner Ryan Buckley (top 600 time in the state) seemed to get injured. Ryan has some great times this season.
Next up is a busy weekend, with the Bedford/Notre Dame/Westford Academy DCL meet on Friday, the Coaches Invitational on Saturday, and the Elite section of the Coaches Invitational on Sunday.
Westford Academy has a strong squad, with Max Enos doing the dash, 300 and long jump, typically, and Cassie Ryding running hurdles for the girls. Marc Boutin runs the 1 and 2 mile, typically. They have a strong squad. Notre Dame girls are also strong. Bedford has Jon Gault in the 1 and 2 mile. It will be interesting to see how the coaches approach this, with the Invitationals in mind for Saturday/Sunday.
The Saturday portion of the Invitational is gigantic. Every school in Massachusetts may be represented. It's exhausting. It represents a chance for many runners, particularly sprinters, to qualify for states, as spikes are allowed.
On Sunday, the Elite section provides a preview into what one might see at the State meets, both the Class meets, and the All-States, so this should be exciting. The challenge, for the coaches, is to figure out how to enter kids into the races without wearing them out from too much racing. So, it's a question of how to handle the dual meet, and then what to enter in the Saturday and Sunday sections of the invitationals. It looks like the coaches may put more emphasis on the Elite section.
Late breaking news: Emily Jones and Bridget’s seed are both up in the 1-mile for Sunday. We’ll see if they both run.
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