On Tuesday afternoon, I was working with the girls in the JV 4x200 meter relay. I was trying to explain the rules of the exchange zone to them. In the practices, they sometimes were standing outside the zone. I told them “the officials will disqualify you for that. You must be inside the zone before you get the baton. The incoming runner may run off to Zanzibar and back, but you can’t be out of the zone until you get the baton.” They seemed to get the message.
I went to Reggie on that night (before the DCL meet), and was hanging out with my masters running buddies. We were waiting for the last of the Tri-County meet to be over, so we could do our workout. The girls’ 4x400 meter relay was finishing up. My buddies and I were noticing how much trouble the girls were having with their handoffs – most of them just stood at the start of the exchange zone, and the incoming runners would nearly slam into the outgoing runners. I told them “This would never happen in the Dual County League.” Little did I know that the outcome of the LS-NS match-up would hinge on just such a handoff in the 4x4. [edit: this is known as ‘foreshadowing’ for you fans of narrative technique]
It was an intense meet, as expected. To save you the suspense, I’ll tell you now that the boys lost a squeaker to LS 52-43, and the girls won against LS 52-43 (yes, same scores, flipped results).
Full results can be found on CoolRunning:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/08/ma/Jan9_DualCo_set2.shtml
So, where to begin. How about the guys going first?
In the JV mile, we had Igal Bubar in 5:00.34, and Kyle Olson in 5:09.3, Kian Olia in 5:10, and Cammy Olia in 5:15, followed by a huge number of NS milers. I couldn’t keep track of them all – I think I had 20 splits in all. Jon Frieze and I were going nuts trying to log all the times.
In the 2 mile, Cameron Fen led for most of the race, only to fall to a fast finishing kick by LS’es Alex Linden. Cameron ran a 10:22, followed by Matthew Weaver and Marcus Schneider for a 2-3-4 placing.
Gerald Arneaud ran a scorching 36.2 in the 300, a full second faster than the next runner, Tyler Freeman of Weston. Georgiy Kupovykh ran a 38.9 and Sam Sewall, in his varsity debut ran a 39.8, which he was pretty happy about.
In the 55m dash, James Huth and Kwame Francis-John took 1-2 in their heat, running 6.92 and 7.00. With Gerald and Georgiy, we have the makings of a fast 4x200 relay in some of the specialized meets.
In the 55m hurdles, Yong Cho nearly took Bryant Wang, 8.15 was his time, 0.05 off of Bryant’s. There were big PR’s for Dan Connelly (frosh) and Ben Weissman (soph), who both dipped under 10 seconds in the hurdles.
In the 1- mile run – there was a show-down between Jon Gault (more of a 2-miler) of Bedford, and Jack Benjamin of AB. Jack took it out and John could never make up the ground. Jack won in 4:33.
In the LS/NS heat, Jimmy Tyrell of LS edged out John Beck for first – 4:46.8 was his time. Yuji Wakimoto is making amazing progress – another big PR for him, 4:46.9 – I think this is a 4 or 5 second PR – the second in a row.
In the 600, Will Cha ran a hard race against LS’es Ben Cutting, narrowly missing first by 0.3 seconds, running a fast 1:28.5.
Alex Long took first in his heat of the 1000 in 2:46.4. Westford Academy’s Marc Boutin ran a fast 2:38 in his heat.
In the high jump, Gus Hergrueter took 6th overall with a jump of 5’5” – showing real consistency and improvement over last year!
Yong Cho is turning into a big scorer for us, taking 2nd overall in the long jump, with a substantial leap of 19’11”.
In the shot – a disappointment – Chris Kim was wearing a small necklace. The official warned him twice to remove it, but for some inexplicable reason he didn’t, and was disqualified. It’s not like the coaches haven’t been lecturing the kids about not wearing jewelry. Grrr…..
In the JV 200m dash, Josh Sugarman took first in 25.0. In the JV 600, Ben Olins took 2nd in 1:36.
It all came down to the relay, but we were simply outgunned there. All the runners put everything they had into the race and ran a very hot 3:34.9. I had LS in 3:31. I’m pretty sure that the CoolRunning listing for LS (3:23) is in error.
So, a hard fought meet for the boys – they should be proud of their races. It was very intense – given some breaks, it could’ve gone the other way, but I’m not complaining – great efforts all around.
NOW…the girls.
Here’s a posting I clipped from Dyestat for the JV girls mile from last night:
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Okay - how many leagues in the country have the JV girls mile going like this:
1 Rudder, Emily FR Lincoln Sudb 5:42.02
2 May, Elizabeth SO Newton South 5:45.70
3 Chari, Sara SO Newton South 5:45.90 4 Jessa, Rubin Newton South 5:48.40
5 O'Brien, Claire JR Newton South 5:52.30
That speaks volumes about:
A. The hard work of the girls involved.
B. The superb coaching and team-building of the programs involved.
IMHO - Coach McChensey and Coach Tarello are two of the finest coaches in the Northeast. They are a credit to their school districts and the state of Massachusetts.
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Amen, brother. I don’t think I need to say more about this. THIS was one intense match-up, and the girls ran out of their heads.
In the JV 4x200m – recall in the last meet that anchor Chloe Milliman tripped on the last turn and went sprawling. Also, the handoffs were a tad icky. So I worked with the girls on Tuesday, and asked Chloe about falling – she said “not this time”. Well, the girls got the stick around and Chloe was doing great in her heat, when a runner was attempting to pass her, and nipped her ankle. Chloe tripped and went sprawling in nearly the exact same spot as the last meet. She later said that she was undeterred and was ready to go again.
Coach McChesney knew he had a tough order of business to come close to winning the meet, so he pulled a surprise and doubled Kelsey Karys and Bridget Dahlberg in the 2 mile and the 1 mile. That meant that we were likely ceding the 4x400m to LS, but got the 1-2 finishing places in those events.
The 2 mile had a lot of passion in it. Sonya Freeman has been edging closer and closer to getting under 12 minutes – a major goal for her. She ran 12:04 at the last meet.
For LS was the freshman phenomenon, Andrea Keklak. Kelsey and Bridget ran abreast for maybe a mile or so. Andrea dropped off the pace, and we could hear the LS coach screaming at Andrea. She clearly gave it all she had, but couldn’t keep up with the pace. Sonya was doing her best to stay on pace to stay under 12, and was getting splits from coach Ben – staying very close to her race plan. Kelsey picked up the pace some, and Bridget was behind for a while. When Kelsey started to lap Sonya, she ran alongside her for maybe a lap or two – I’m guessing to help out Sonya get under 12.
Finally, at the end, Bridget put on a big kick, and I can’t say who crossed first, but the officials gave it to Kelsey in 11:17.4 and Bridget in 11:17.5. Sonya crossed the line in 12:02. 12:02, can you believe that? 2 seconds. Sonya ran a great race, and was pretty spent. I’m sure she’ll get it soon, and the struggle will make the reward that much sweeter!
Doubling back on the 1 mile, Bridget and Kelsey again ran abreast for several laps, taking 1 and 2 in 5:20 and 5:21. Now, doubling in 11:17 and 5:20 is quite a feat – doing either of these times would be phenomenal for a runner, but having two runners who can both pull that kind of double is unbelievable. Melanie Fineman took 5th in 5:35 – a time that would readily take first in any other league. Note that the top 5 slots were either NS or LS runners.
In the 55m dash, Pebbles Banks took first in her heat in 7.68. Candace Bailey is out with a tiny stress fracture in her foot.
In the JV 200m, frosh Madeleine Frieze ran great – she was blocked by two LS runners, who seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle, but she ran outside of one, and inside the other, to take 2nd in a fast 27.5 (note that CoolRunning mistakenly lists this as Julia, who ran the varsity 600).
In the shotput, Liz Jeyaraj and Nalis Mbianda took 1-2 against LS with throws of 32 and 30 feet.
So, LS also had some impressive showings, with the super-strong middle distance squad of Jess Griffin, Molly Binder, Emily Mepham and Dana Jamieson. Still, our girls in those races ran their hearts out.
Jamieson took the 300 in 42.1, Dani Pensak was on her most of the way, but fell back a bit at the end, but still running a 43.6.
In the 600, Diana Braver and Julia Frieze had to contend with Binder and Griffin. LS took the 1-2 slots, and Diana ran a great 1:39 to take second. Julia and Ashley Dennis weren’t far behind in 1:42 and 1:44.
By the way, some of these times you’re seeing are State-leading.
In the 1000, it was Juliet Ryan-Davis dueling with Emily Mepham for most of the race. Mepham eventually pulled ahead, Juliet took 2nd in a 3:04.
Azeezah Gray ran a 9.47, to take second in her heat to LS’es Maggie Flemming. Azeezah’s running hurdles for the first time and is doing very well.
In the long jump, Sarah Marquis took 2nd with a jump of 15’08”. LS’es Jamieson took first in 16’02”. Here’s a case where the absence of Candace hurt us, but what can you do? She has to heal up, with a great senior season ahead of her.
OK…..so that brings us to the 4x400 meter relay – already the subject of some controversy. As P.T. Barnum once said “you gotta put on a show, if you can’t put on a show, put on a fight…” We had a team of Juliet Ryan-Davis, Dani Pensak, Julia Frieze and Diana Braver paired against Jess Griffin, Molly Binder, Emily Mepham and Dana Jamieson. It all came down to the 4x400 for the win.
Juliet ran valiantly, but Jess opened up a gap that the other runners couldn’t close, but they ran like crazy. The overall time of 4:07.5 is a state leader. LS would’ve run something like a 4:01-4:02, but were disqualified.
Here’s where the story comes full circle. I saw Mepham coming in for the handoff, but something was distinctly odd to my eyes about Dana Jamieson, standing there, waiting for the baton, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It all happened pretty fast, but Dana didn’t seem to run out to lead Mepham for the handoff. Rather, she seemed to just stand there, and they have a somewhat fumbled handoff, like the ones I’d seen the night before at the Tri-county league. Still, Dana came in well ahead of Diana, who ran very strong.
There was some confusion at this point. I was standing next to the Wayland coach, who said that Dana was standing outside the exchange zone, and went over to tell the officials. Evidently the officials also saw this and had disqualified the LS relay. That gave NS the points for the win.
Things appeared to get a bit testy on the infield at this point, and there was a fair amount of passion. I told you it would be an emotional meet. I’m also quite good at weather forecasting.
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