D1 States results - JH

---- little-Huth in 4x200
219 PHOTOS by George

posting by JH:

It goes without saying that our view of events is colored by individual circumstances. You’ll have to bear with my particular slant – but it makes for more interesting reading (maybe).

An e-mail landed in my in-box Sunday AM. The Scoutmaster of troop 205, Joe Pope passed away suddenly on Saturday afternoon. He had been battling melanoma for several years, and it finally got the better of him. Together, we led a number of trips, including several days in the Downeast Maine backcountry. I remember staying up late evenings with Joe over the campfire, looking at the stars, and chatting. Goodbye, Joe. Be free.

On the way to Reggie, I made a quick visit to Marathon Sports in Brookline to get new sprint spikes to replace a long-moldering pair. The store had a number of would-be marathoners who were boasting about the sports-gels they drank on their long runs, etc. Sprinting seemed to be on their radar screen as much as curling or archery.

My contribution to the team was to shepard the runners into the check-in. For some reason, many of the kids just didn’t listen to the announcements for check in. It was good exercise for me, for sure, but there were a lot of “hey, there, didn’t you hear the check-in call for the 1000?”’s going on. (n.b. we didn’t have anyone in the 1000, that was rhetorical) Those were typically met with a blank stare, and “huh?’

We also had a number of kids who were off on vacation with their families. The hard-core was there, however – ever vigilant to their race check-ins, asking about their splits.

As a result of my running around, I didn’t get to see all the action, but I made a point of catching most of the races where NS was entered.

First up were the prelims for the 300m, with Gerald Arneaud and Georgiy Kupovykh. Gerald handily qualified for the finals, which were, strangely enough, run in two heats of 4 each. Gerald was in the top seeded heat, next to Jeff Rose of New Bedford. I told him to work off of Jeff, who typically goes out hard in the start of the 300.

The first heat of the “finals” of the 300 went off, then Gerald was up. The gun went off, and then suddenly, another shot went off from the officials table. The runners got nearly 80 meters down the track, when three more shots went off, and they were called back to the starting line.

The timer at the officials’ table hadn’t been reset, and for some reason, the starter thought they were good to go. Anyway, the hot heat of the 300 had to be restarted. Gerald ran a perfect race, staying with Jeff Rose, and then dueling and finally passing him at the end – a great run for Gerald.

Unfortunately, the problem with the start seemed to have drained and unnerved the runners, and now the slower heat got the better times. Gerald snagged 4th, and now advances to All-States, and with some incentive to run hard in the 4x2.

As long as we’re on mishaps, we can look to Yong Cho’s hurdle race. Yong had the fastest qualifying time in the prelims – 7.75. In the finals, he had a good lane assignment, next to LS’es Bryant Chang. All of Reggie was hushed for the start. The runners were in the “set” position, and we were anticipating a fast duel between Yong and Bryant. A split second before the gun went off, Yong twitched, and he was pulled out of the race for a false start.

Disconsolate, Yong wandered off to the high jump pit, and was slowly assessing the damage of one errant nerve communication to his legs. I called to him to come off the track, and tried to get him refocused on the upcoming 4x2.

Azeezah Gray’s family was there to watch her in the hurdles. She ran a fast 9.33, less than a tenth off of her PR, and good enough for 11th, but not enough to advance. Up next for Azeezah was the girls’ 4x2.

Candace Bailey and Pebbles Banks were in the prelims of the 55m dash. Pebbles got a new PR in the prelims with 7.39. In the finals, Pebbles got 4th overall to take home some hardware, with Candace taking 7th. Candace had a stress fracture in her foot that kept her out for most of the indoor season, and is making a comeback. We’ll be expecting big things of her in outdoor. Both Candace and Pebbles teamed up with Azeezah and Katie Sandson in the 4x2.

In the boys 55m dash, Kwame Francis-John ran a 6.91, not enough to qualify – but a great experience to run in the States. James Huth opted to skip the 55m dash, preferring to save his legs for the 4x2, along with Kwame, Gerald and Yong. In hindsight the decision not to run may have been golden. AB had a crack 4x2 relay team that beat out NS. AB’s star sprinter, DJ Brock, pulled a hamstring in the prelims of the dash, taking him out of their lineup.

Turning to hamstring injuries – we saw a few of them going on. The number two runner of Attleboro’s 4x2 pulled up lame on the backstretch, grimacing and holding the back of his leg in pain. LS’es star runner, and long jumper, Dana Jamieson, pulled her hamstring in the long jump, and was hobbling around on crutches. It’s a tough time of year, kids train hard, and that can leave them vulnerable toward the end of indoor season.

So, now to the long jump. Sarah Marquis has begun to jump really strongly this year. She hasn’t surpassed her PR of 16-10 this year, but is closing in on it. With Sarah getting ready for her last jump of the day, NS crowd was clapping that “long-jump-prep” clap that seemed unfamiliar to some, but they got the hang of it. That seemed to incite Sarah to throw down a 16-08.5 It was good enough for 4th, and a trip to All-States.

Nalis Mbianda popped a big PR for her in the shot, with a 33-03 toss to take first place! Liz Jeyaraj took fourth overall. Both now advance to the All-States on Friday.

Moving up the distance ladder, Tal Inbar ran a 1:27.43 600 to hold off LS’es Ben Cutting, who was a tenth behind.

Noteworthy races where NS didn’t run include the boys 1000, where St. John’s Prep’s Mike Masse held off Newton North’s Seb Putzeys to win in 2:31. The All-State 1000 is shaping up to be a fast one.

Chris Brown of Chelmsford ran out in front, alone, to take the mile. He’ll face Charlestown’s Omar Aden. Chris ran a 4:23, and Omar, in the D2 Champs, ran a 4:19.

In the two mile – a huge breakthrough for Andrew Wortham. Brookline’s Michael Burnstein and Robert Gibson took it out in their customary dominating fashion. Andrew hung onto the pace, and didn’t lose contact with them. He got a big PR of 9:42.1, which was good for third place, and is 10 seconds faster than his previous PR. The All-States 2-Mile is shaping up to be a real duel, with the only faster time than the Andrew’s, Burnstein and Gibson being North Middlesex’s Davd Hausherr and Whitman-Hanson’s Peter Gilmore who ran 9:32’s. Last year’s 2-mile was dominated Ryan Collins solo race in 9:13 – this one will have maybe 10 guys in the 9:30 to 9:45 region.

The girls’ mile was exciting. Bridget Dahlberg had her work cut out for her, with LS’es Andrea Keklak tailing her for the first 800. Keklak has a fast kick, and Bridget had to nullify that kick. With 800 to go, Bridget upp’ed the tempo from 76 400 splits, down to 73. That dropped Andrea back, who put on a strong kick, but not enough to catch Bridget, who won in a 5:02. Juliet Ryan-Davis took 4th in 5:12.98.

Keklak is a freshman – and speaking of that, Weymouth’s frosh Jill Corcoron took third in 5:11, and then NS’es own Kathy O’Keefe took 6th in 5:13.35 – a huge PR for her. So, three freshman milers under 5:15 in D1!

In the two mile, Kelsey Karys had the flu all week before the meet. She was able to run, and helped set the pace, carrying Melanie Fineman along. About a mile into the pace, Kelsey looked like she was struggling, so Melanie stepped up and ran a hard race. Melanie took 5th in 11:22.5, which, if not a PR for her, is very close to it. Kelsey ran hard, despite looking to struggling with her body just not delivering. She took 7th with an 11:27. Looking over the results from the other divisions, I see that no one in the other divisions ran as fast as this beyond the top five who make it to states. So, there’s a good chance that Kelsey gets to run in All-States. If that’s the case, she’ll face Bromfield’s Emily Jones, who ran a 10:31 in the D4’s last week.

The girls’ 4x800m relay. Another time that would’ve broken the meet record, another second place vanish to LS. This makes three in a row – and another duel coming up at All-States. At the gun, NN’es Carolyn Ranti opened up a 15 meter lead to hand off to Emma Kornetsky. Diana Braver and LS’es Ellie Hylton began to reel in Emma. Julia Frieze gave chase to close up the gap, and the handoff to Bridget Dahlberg put NS in front. In a replay of the DCL champ meet, LS’es Andrea Keklak hung on Bridget for three laps, and then put on her now-famous kick with about 300 meters to go, which was hard to answer. So, another would be record of 9:32.7. Splits were 2:22.3 (Juliet Ryan-Davis), 2:22.9 (Diana), 2:23.2 (Julia) and 2:23.5 (Bridget). Friday brings another shot at this, and with some strong running, the girls might be able to pull it off! That would be sweet.

In the girls 4x2, we had Candace Bailey to Pebbles Banks to Katie Sandson to Azeezah Gray. They ran in the next-to-fastest heat, and handily took first, which turned out to be an advantage. They took 6th overall with a time of 1:48.62. There are no faster teams beyond the top 5th in the other divisions, so this may very well get them at shot at it again at All-States. Splits were 27.5, 25.7, 28.3 and 26.8.

In the boys 4x8, we had Sasha Long to John Beck to Yuji Wakimoto to Will Cha. There’s a lot of depth in the 4x8 in D1. Brookline took it in 8:30. The guys ran a fast 8:17, with potential for even faster times. Splits were 2:03.8, 2:04.34, 2:07.4 and 2:02 – all more than respectable. They took 6th overall, and have the fastest non-top-5 time in all divisions, so it looks like they have a big shot at the All-States.

The girls 4x400m relay featured an all-frosh group of Jessica He to Kathy O’Keefe to Madeline Frieze to Andrea Braver. They ran a 4:26.27 to take 4th in their heat. Splits were 66-66-67-64, roughly. Although I don’t have the statistics to back it up, I’d bet good money that this was the only all-frosh 4x4 in Massachusetts. Congratulations on a great performance to the girls.

In the boys 4x2, we got some redemption for the false-starts, and being careful in earlier races. Seeded 6th, the team of Yong Cho to Kwame Francis-John to James Huth to Gerald Arneaud took 3rd overall with a time of 1:33.67. This still leaves their record at 1:33.4 in one piece, but they’re capable of running faster. Newton North took first 1:32.2, and it was pretty neat to see NN and NS standing next to each other on the awards stand.

Overall, the girls took 2nd with 48 points to LS’es 66. The boys took 7th overall. For the boys, this is a pretty good showing – particularly considering we may have gotten even more points from Yong and Gerald, had it not been for the false-starts.

So, things to watch for - coming to states for sure are Bridget Dahlberg, and Juliet Ryan-Davis in the mile, Melanie Fineman in the 2-mile, Sarah Marquis in the long-jump, Nalis Mbianda and Liz Jeyaraj in the shot, Pebbles Banks in the 55m dash and the 4x8 team for the girls. For the boys, we have Gerald in the 300, Andrew Wortham in the 2-mile, and the 4x2 team.

On the “hoping to make All-States list” – we have 6th and 7th place finishers who seem to have the top times in all divisions after the top 5 from each division are chosen. For the girls, these include Kelsey in the 2 mile, Kathy O’Keefe in the 1 mile, the girls’ 4x2 relay, Candace Bailey in the 55m dash.

For the boys, this includes the 4x8 relay.

I cannot say that the “hoping to make All-States list” is any more conclusive than “hoping to make”, but stay tuned –we may have an even better turn-out for All-States.

Go Lions!