We had an unbelievable weekend, netting 6 All Americans in one meet!
The girls ran under the banner of Newton Centre Athletics (tee shirts and other merchanise now available!)
Kelsey Karys, Juliet Ryan-Davis (two), Kathy O'Keefe (frosh), Bridget Dahlberg (two), Diana Braver and Julia Frieze.
The girls 4xMile took third overall in 20:52.48 - Kelsey to Juliet to Kathy to Bridget - fast times all around. Kelsey PR'ed in the two mile to take 7th overall in 10:48.18 in a very tough field.
The most exciting race, for me, however, was the 4x800. The order was Juliet to Diana to Julia to Bridget. The girls were dueling for 4th with about four other teams, and the position changed back and forth a lot. It became it's own mini-race. The first three 200-meter splits of each runner was almost identical for all runners: - 32 - 68 - 1:44, and then they just hung on with real presence for that last 200 meters, passing other kids who couldn't hang onto the pace. The official time is 9:16.27, which is a seven second improvement over their previous school record of 9:23, set two weeks ago in the All States.
Every girl ran their hearts out - it all came together at just the right time. We had a bunch of parents and relatives down at the Armory to watch it. The atmosphere was electric.
The girls were great and gave me a wonderful card and cake for my 50th birthday - today, as it turns out - although I'll take that 4x8 race as a birthday present any day.
They really ran out of their heads today. I have to give huge credit to Steven for getting them to peak at just the right time - the tightness of the pacing in the first three laps is something I've never seen in a relay team - great discipline. You can tell where that comes from. Hat's off to you, Steven - enjoy this one.
Of many huge performances over the weekend, one big standout was the first place finish of Woburn's 4x400 meter relay team. They were in fourth place when Ryad Bencheick got the baton in the third leg, bringing them up to within striking distance of Speed City (Long Beach Poly, last year's indoor national champ's). Brett Sullivan then took the baton for the anchor, and managed to pull out a narrow win. The time of 3:19 isn't something I've seen from a Massachusetts team in a long time. Beating teams like Long Beach Poly, and Mumford High School (Michigan) and Newburgh in a national championship is huge.
Emily Mepham of LS ran a 2:12 in the open 800m - great racing. LS scratched in the 4x800 - I'm guessing because both Emily Mepham and Molly Binder were spent after a huge effort in the open 800. I think Molly ran around a 2:16.
Keely Maguire took fifth in the mile in 4:56.
The girls ran under the banner of Newton Centre Athletics (tee shirts and other merchanise now available!)
Kelsey Karys, Juliet Ryan-Davis (two), Kathy O'Keefe (frosh), Bridget Dahlberg (two), Diana Braver and Julia Frieze.
The girls 4xMile took third overall in 20:52.48 - Kelsey to Juliet to Kathy to Bridget - fast times all around. Kelsey PR'ed in the two mile to take 7th overall in 10:48.18 in a very tough field.
The most exciting race, for me, however, was the 4x800. The order was Juliet to Diana to Julia to Bridget. The girls were dueling for 4th with about four other teams, and the position changed back and forth a lot. It became it's own mini-race. The first three 200-meter splits of each runner was almost identical for all runners: - 32 - 68 - 1:44, and then they just hung on with real presence for that last 200 meters, passing other kids who couldn't hang onto the pace. The official time is 9:16.27, which is a seven second improvement over their previous school record of 9:23, set two weeks ago in the All States.
Every girl ran their hearts out - it all came together at just the right time. We had a bunch of parents and relatives down at the Armory to watch it. The atmosphere was electric.
The girls were great and gave me a wonderful card and cake for my 50th birthday - today, as it turns out - although I'll take that 4x8 race as a birthday present any day.
They really ran out of their heads today. I have to give huge credit to Steven for getting them to peak at just the right time - the tightness of the pacing in the first three laps is something I've never seen in a relay team - great discipline. You can tell where that comes from. Hat's off to you, Steven - enjoy this one.
Of many huge performances over the weekend, one big standout was the first place finish of Woburn's 4x400 meter relay team. They were in fourth place when Ryad Bencheick got the baton in the third leg, bringing them up to within striking distance of Speed City (Long Beach Poly, last year's indoor national champ's). Brett Sullivan then took the baton for the anchor, and managed to pull out a narrow win. The time of 3:19 isn't something I've seen from a Massachusetts team in a long time. Beating teams like Long Beach Poly, and Mumford High School (Michigan) and Newburgh in a national championship is huge.
Emily Mepham of LS ran a 2:12 in the open 800m - great racing. LS scratched in the 4x800 - I'm guessing because both Emily Mepham and Molly Binder were spent after a huge effort in the open 800. I think Molly ran around a 2:16.
Keely Maguire took fifth in the mile in 4:56.
