Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Nike Outdoor Nationals - Story




See post from 20 June for links to photos, videos and results.

Story and photos by Jennifer Reed

Newton Centre Athletics 4 X 1 Mile Girls’ Relay National Champions

Newton South runners Kelsey Karys, Melanie Fineman, Kathy O’Keefe and Bridget Dahlberg won the Nike Outdoor Nationals 4 X 1 mile relay to become National Champions. Kelsey Karys ran an outstanding first leg pulling away from the pack at 1/2 mile and never looking back. She split the last 1/2 mile in 2:27 for a sub 5:00 mile. Her leg set the pace for the rest of her teammates. Karys passed the baton to Fineman who kept the lead running a 5:10 leg. O’Keefe and Dahlberg put the race away with 5:06 miles, giving the girls a finishing time of 20:23.20, a New England record and 8th U.S. all time.

The 4 X 1 mile relay was part of a group of sixteen track and field athletes from Newton South who traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina to compete for NCA at the Nike Outdoor Nationals (NON). Four relay teams and three individuals competed for NCA. In the first day of competition for NCA, Ezra Banks, sprinter and triple jumper, was the first Newton South athlete to compete. NON officials surprised the field by moving the take off board from 32 feet to 36 feet and many national caliber jumpers didn’t even make the pit. Banks jumped an impressive 36’ - 7 3/4”, her 2nd best jump ever, especially given these conditions. Nalis Mbianda competed in the Shot Put and threw a remarkable 41’ - 2 1/2” to finish 11th overall.

The 4 X 100 meter relay of Katie Sandson, Dani Pensack, Andrea Braver and Ezra Banks has had an incredibly successful high school season breaking the school record multiple times. They ran their second fastest time at NON. The Relay of Sandson to Pensack to Braver to Banks posted a time of 49.22. They performed extremely well, especially considering that the athletes had gotten up at 4:00 am for the early flight to North Carolina and encountered summer heat-wave like temperatures and humidity upon arrival.

The boys 4 X 1 mile relay of John Beck, Andrew Wortham, Igal Bubar and Sasha Long ran the fastest time ever run by boys from Newton South. A spectacular effort with three sub 4:30 legs impressive given two members of the team were coming back from injury. Their finish time of 18:10 placed them 11th in the nation. Madeleine Reed came in 9th in the nation with a 7:29 showing in only her 2nd 2000 meter Steeplechase competition. She ran a brave and competitive race in incredible heat and humidity while also sick.

The final event for NCA’s athletes was the Distance Medley Relay (DMR). The DMR set a new New England record and was 21 seconds faster than girls from Newton South have run the DMR previously. Kathy O’Keefe ran a 3:34.38 1200 in the first leg handing off to Dani Pensack in first, who had over a second personal record with a remarkable leg of 58.80. Pensack handed off to Melanie Fineman who ran a 2:19.85 800 leg with Bridget Dahlberg finished the relay with a 5:00.33 1600. The final time of 11:53.35 gave the girls a 4th place finish and All American status. It was a great same day effort by the girls who had run that morning. Nike Outdoor Nationals 2009 proved to be a very successful experience for all the Newton South athletes competing for Newton Centre Athletics.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Boston Globe All Stars

Click here for boys Globe All Stars
Click here for girls Globe All Stars
Yong Cho in the hurdles
John Beck, Will Cha, Xhulio Uruci, Alex Long in 4x800m
Kelsey Karys in 2 mile

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Nike Outdoor Nationals

Click here for Nike Nationals Website
Click here for all results
Click here for story by Jon Waldron
Click here for photos by J.Reed

4 x 1 girls mile won by Newton South
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
1 Newton Centre 20:23.20
5:00.14(5:00.14) Kelsey
10:11.01(5:10.87) Mel
15:16.95(5:05.95) Kathy
20:23.20(5:06.25) Bridget
Click here for interview of team
Click here for video of race
Click here for awards ceremony

boys 4 x 1mile 2nd heat, NSHS in 4th in 18:10.59
4 Newton Centr 18:10.59
4:27.14(4:27.14) John Beck
8:57.12(4:29.99) Andrew Wortham
13:39.76(4:42.64) Igal Bubar
18:10.59(4:30.84) Alex Long
11th overall
Click here for video of race

girls 4 x 100m in prelims:
6 Newton Centre Athletics 49.22
1) Katherine Sandson 10
2) Danielle Pensack 09
3) Andrea Braver 11
4) Ezra Banks 10
20th overall
Click here for video of race

girls Distance Medley Relay
4 Newton Centre Athletics 11:53.35
3:34.38(3:34.38) Kathy O'Keefe
4:33.18(58.80) Dani Pensack
6:53.02(2:19.85) Melanie Fineman
11:53.35(5:00.33) Bridget Dahlberg
4th overall
Click here for video of race

girls triple jump:
29 Ezra Banks 10 Newton, MA
11.17m -0.4 36-07.75
FOUL(1.4) 11.17m(-0.4) FOUL(0.8)

girls shot putt:
11 Nalis Mbianda 09 Newton, MA
12.56m 41-02.50
12.17m 12.56m FOUL

girls 2000m steeplechase
9 Madeleine Reed 7:29.87
Click here for video of race

Have to add the other Massachusetts winner, Ricardo Jaquite of Roxbury in the triple jump winning in 49'-10".
Click here for video of jump
The video is his last jump, not the winning jump.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Nike Outdoor Nationals June 18-20, 2009 at Greensboro NC

Team Newton Centre Athletics is sending quite a few runners to the Nationals in North Carolina.
Click here for Dyestat races to watch
Click here for official Nike meet website
You can check out the entry lists.
Some of the competitors:
boys:
A 7'-5" high jumper!
4 shot putters over 70'!
girls:
2:03 800m!
13:56 in 100m hurdles!
and it goes on.

Entries from Newton:
- 2000m steeplechase: Madeleine Reed
- 4x100 meters:
1) 1285 Katherine Sandson
2) 1282 Danielle Pensack
3) 1273 Andrea Braver
4) 1271 Ezra Banks
5) 1284 Juliet Ryan-Davis
- 4x1mile:
1) 1278 Kesley Karys
2) 1281 Katherine O'Keefe
3) 1277 Melanie Fineman
4) 1275 Bridget Dahlberg
5) 1283 Madeleine Reed
The national record is 19:56.75. There is a real shot at this.
- Distance Medley
1) 1281 Katherine O'Keefe
2) 1282 Danielle Pensack
3) 1284 Juliet Ryan-Davis
4) 1275 Bridget Dahlberg
5) 1277 Melanie Fineman
- Triple Jump: Ezra Banks
- Shot Putt: Nalis Mbianda
Boys:
- 4x1mile:
1) 1272 John Beck
2) 1286 Andrew Wortham
3) 1274 Igal Burbar
4) 1279 Alex Long
5) 1276 Benjamin Finch

Friday, June 5, 2009

MA All State Meet tomorrow

photos from last years 2 mile:
From Massachusetts All State Championship- Fall River MA

From Massachusetts All State Championship- Fall River MA

Sports Awards breakout session

Track Families and Coaches:

The Sports Awards breakout session has been rescheduled to Wednesday at 5:30 PM, so that ALL coaches will be able to attend.

Because we are having the event at the dinner hour, we'll host this as a potluck, similar to last year, with the usual food category request -- although card table substitutions are welcome (RSVP to this email if you can bring a table - I think we could use up to 4).

A - F Drinks
G - L Finger food/appetizers
M - S Salad/main dish
T - Z Dessert/fruit

We hope this change of timing works for the majority of Track and Field kids and parents. We really look forward to seeing all of you and celebrating Outdoor Track 2009 Season together!

(At Juliet's house).

Thursday, June 4, 2009

MA Allstate Championships 6 June 2009 in Fitchburg

ALL-STATE MEET: Fitchburg State College
Saturday, June 6, 2009

Field events will start at 10:00 A.M. 2 mile at 10:30 a.m. Rest of track events will start at 11:00 A.M.

QUALIFIERS:
First four place winners (Division I, II, III, IV) including relays in all four divisions in the Eastern Mass. Meet as well as the first
four best performances in the Central and Western Mass Track Meets are eligible for the competition in the State meet.

Performance Lists will be posted on http://www.miaa.net on Tuesday, June 2, 2009.

Additional entries will be added if a non-qualifying athlete has a top 15 performance in an event based on the results of all
divisional meets combined. Coaches should review the All-State Performance List posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, on the MIAA
website to see if they have athletes in this category. Athletes added because of a Top 15 Performance will be designated with
an “X”.

The first SIX place winners in each event including the first six relay teams, (400 Meter, 1600 Meter and 3200 Meter Relays) in
the All-State Meet will be eligible to represent Massachusetts in the New England Track Meet to be held on Saturday, June 13,
2009 @ Burlington High School, 52 Institute Road, Burlington, Vermont (see note below)

JURY OF APPEALS: Will be composed of three officials and two coaches.

The school scoring the most points on Saturday, June 6, 2009 will be the 2009 State Outdoor Track and Field Champion (boys
and girls), scoring will be 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

All field event competitors in the Javelin, Discus, Triple Jump, Long Jump, and Shot Put will receive three trials. The top nine
competitors in the trials will receive three additional attempts in the finals.

Shot Put and Discus circles are of cement. High Jump, Pole Vault, Triple Jump, and Long Jump Runways are composition
(maximum 1⁄4” spikes). Javelin area is grass. Throwing implements will be weighed in one (1) hour before the competition.

An athlete may participate in a maximum of three events with the following limitations: One field event, one running event,
one relay; one field event, and two relays; or two field events. Violation of this rule will result in disqualification of that
athlete from the last event in which he/she competed.

~ALL-STATE MEET~
ORDER OF EVENTS 2009 – Saturday, June 6, 2009

9:00 AM – Weigh in for all throwing implements - Preference will be given to boys shot, girls discus and girls javelin.

10:00 AM - FIELD EVENTS TRIPLE JUMP (G-B)
HIGH JUMP (B-G)
SHOT PUT (B-G)
DISCUS (G-B)
JAVELIN (G-B)
LONG JUMP (B-G)
POLE VAULT (G-B)
10:30 AM – RUNNING EVENT TWO MILE RUN (G-B) FINAL ON TIME
11:00 AM - RUNNING EVENTS GIRLS FOLLOWED BY BOYS (G-B)
*200 METER DASH TRIALS
800 METER RUN FINAL ON TIME
400 METER HURDLES FINAL ON TIME
400 METER RUN FINAL ON TIME
ONE MILE RUN FINAL ON TIME
*100 METER DASH TRIALS
*100 METER HURDLES TRIALS
*110 METER HURDLES TRIALS
200 METER DASH FINALS
100 METER DASH FINALS
110 METER HURDLES FINAL
100 METER HURDLES FINAL
**3200 METER RELAY FINAL ON TIME
400 METER RELAY FINAL ON TIME
1600 METER RELAY FINAL ON TIME
* Advancing in the 100M Dash, 100M Hurdles, 110M Hurdles and 200M Dash will be on FAT ONLY.