CC NS Wayland meet report -JH

(Photo links below story- 3 links)

I don't have the final scores in the CC-NS-Wayland meet from yesterday, but it wasn't exactly a nail-biter. NS scored heavily in most, if not all of the running events.

I can't cover directly a lot of the running events because I was off helping coach and organize the javelin throwing - at a field maybe half a mile away.

Anyway....from my point of view. First - logistics were the usual nightmare. The was a snafu with the buses, and, as of Tuesday afternoon, it looked like we could only bring a skeleton crew of varsity. Out network of parents rallied to the cause, and we had our usual armada tuned up to haul all the kids up to CC. Fortunately Scott Perrin rustled up a total of three buses, to allow all the kids to be on the bus.

The weather was close to perfect for an outdoor meet, unlike many where warmth and dryness were elusive. At the end of the meet, I saw some of the CC parents and kids firing up a BBQ in the park where the meet was held.

First stop was the throwing fields, where I helped the throwers decamp from the bus and get setup. Matt Capstick has me on javelin crew because we've never done particularly well in that event - his comment was "I'm tired of showing up at meets and saying to the opposing team 'hi, here's nine points..'". The javelin is an interesting event, and is used in books on biomechanics as an example of a highly complex activity. The best analogy I can come up with is that the best throwers turn their bodies into a whip, with a running start, they initiate a twist that is unleashed when one foot basically blocks all of the forward momentum. To the point - we're getting there, but not all the way there, yet. Wayland has an amazing javelin crew on both the boys and girls side. To give you some idea of distances - qualifying for states for girls is 93', and for boys 152'. Liz Ogletree from Wayland unleashed a 125 foot boomer, which impressed the heck out of me. The best boys throw was J. Spinelli from Wayland, 147'2". In the end, we didn't give away nine points - only eight on the boys side, with John Mitkevicious throwing 132'8" for third - not bad! Chris Kim, who we lured from lacrosse kept hooking his javelin to the right and out-of-bounds in all three tosses. I have to admire the precise reproducibility of the result - it seemed like the jav landed within three inches of the "inbounds" line every time. We fared a bit better on the girls end with Nalis Mbianda throwing 106' to qualify for states, and take 1st against CC, and 3rd against Wayland. Kayla Jackson threw 86'10" to take third against CC. There's a lot of "upside" as the throwers have a lot of talent - they just have to put all the pieces together. In other throwing events, Liz Jeyaraj threw 33' to take first in both dual competitions and Nalis threw 31'6" - both qualifying for states.

At that point, I hustled over to the running events, where the 400m dash was just winding up. According to my many informants at the track, the events were mostly a sea of royal blue runners. I'd heard that Bridget Dalhberg had nearly lapped one of the runners in the mile. I can't keep track of all the kids who qualified for states in this first meet, but it was pretty impressive. In point of fact, by far we took our worst beating in the javelin.

I don't have as many results as I'd like because I was over at the throwing field, but I'll try to capture some of the highlights.

Gerald Arneaud took first in the 400m with a smoking 49.7 - his first official sub-50 mark. Diana Braver took first in the 400m in 61, with Julia Frieze taking second. I don't have the time for Julia in front of me, but I'm pretty sure all three qualified for states. In the 100m dash, James Huth took 1st in 11.2 - one tenth off his PR and qualifies for states. Pebbles Banks took first in the 100m dash, in 12.7, also state-qualifying, followed closely by Katie Sandson.

In the two mile - holy cow - Kelsey Karys cruised in with a 10:50.2 school record. This would be a jaw dropping time in a State Championship, but Kelsey looked so smooth that you'd think she was just taking a stroll in the park. Sara Chari and Sonya Freeman took 2-3, against the lone Wayland runner, who had been lapped so many times, that I think she had two laps to go after Sonya crossed the finish line (that's how I feel when I do my swimming workouts at the Y).

In the 4x100meter relays - we have the makings of hot squads for the boys and girls. The boys team (James Huth to Yong Cho to Georgy K. to Kwame F-J) ran a hot 44.8 (state qualifying is a pokey-slow 46.2) despite some ugly baton handoffs. James said of his handoff to Yong: "I just couldn't hold my hand steady enough to get it into his hand.", pulling off to the side and banging his fist against the turf. Anyway, they got it around, and legit, too.

The girls - Pebbles to Katie to Ashley to Candace also ran a fast race, again with an early season - ugly handoff. Candace came from behind against CC, with a time of 52.3 - (state qualifying is 55.6).

In the boys 4x4, (John Beck to Sasha to Tal to Gerald) the A squad had to come from behind against our B squad and also Wayland - getting the baton to Gerald within striking distance of Wayland's anchor, he just chewed them up. I think the winning time was 3:35 or so - anyway, again, good enough for States.

In the girls 4x4 - again a dominant performance, Julia (63) to Diana (62) to Juliet (62) to Bridget (62.5) for 4:10 - again, as State qualifier (4:30 is the mark). I incurred Diana's wrath when I didn't quite get her split right - I was trying to time both the A and B squad. The B squad of Kathy O'Keefe, Andrea Braver, Amrita Rao and Madeline Frieze - nearly qualified for States in their own right - a 3/4 freshman squad!

That's all I got to see on the oval, but relying on reports, here is some more info on the meet. Bridget D. ran a 5:06 mile - that's up there with some of her faster indoor times this season. Kathy O'Keefe ran a 5:24. The varsity distance runners have been doing some amazing workouts on the track this season - so I'm expecting great times as the weather improves.

Candace Bailey ran a 27.2 to take the 200 (needless to say, both qualify for states). The Ellis sisters took 1-2 in the high jump, with Ellie clearing 5'2" and Kathy in 5'0" - just picking up where they left off in indoor. Azeezah Gray took first in the hurdles with 16.9. Yong Cho ran a incredibly fast 110m hurdles - 14.8. Pebbles Banks triple jumped 34'5", Candace jumped 16" 6.5". Everyone I'm mentioned above qualified for states.

Cameron Fen took 1st in the 2-mail, followed by Ben Finch (10:07 and 10:12). John Beck took 1st in the mile - 4:44. Sasha long 1st in the 800 - around 2:04, I don't have the final score, but just by looking at the results of the races, it must be pretty lopsided.

Sorry if I don't have more details on the early races contested - but I was off javelining.

In other news around the DCL - things are really heating up. Westford Academy beat both Acton-Boxborough and Lincoln-Sudbury, with some amazing performances by Marc Boutin and Max Enos. Marc ran a 4:31 mile, Max ran an 11.0 100m and triple jumped 40'1", and there was a jav thrower who went 158'. I believe Westford also beat LS and AB on the girls side - so watch out - Westford is kicking off the season as a real powerhouse.

Other notes - the rumor mill has it that LS'es star Dana Jamieson is *not* competing in the outdoor season, which may explain how they got nipped by WA - not to take anything away from WA's team, which is awesome this year. Coming up - lessee, here....vacation week, but not for all.

On Saturday is the Freshman-Sophomore meet at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham. If you want directions, let me know and I'll send them around. I'll probably be accompanying the Fresh/Soph team, along with Steven. It's a great meet, where I hope some of our up-and-coming fresh/soph's can really shine.

Toward the end of next week is the Penn Relays. Forget that silly road race that they have down Commonwealth Ave - the Penn Relays is the big time.

At Penn: LS has a girls 4x8 running, Brookline has a distance medley relay team running, Woburn has their crack 4x400m squad running. Emily Jones from Bromfield will be running the 3k, and *isn't* seeded first. Yeooo! Omar Aden from Charlestown is running in the boys open mile. As if that isn't enough - it seems like the entire population of Jamaica comes up to Philadelphia for the big party at Penn. So far the leading boys team is St. Jago, anchored by the amazing Yohan Blake. St. Jago has already run a 3:08 4x400m relay, and a 39.8 4x100m relay - times that most colleges would be proud of. Then, there's lil ole me, running in a masters 4x400m relay, and perhaps also a 4x100m relay. My goal: beat the time set by the girls in the 4x4 at CC - which would be 4:10 - the time to beat. Watch out! So, that'll be fun.

The first meet after vacation is Weston/Tyngsborough/A-B AT NEWTON SOUTH!!! But....the track - egads - it's already unraveling. But...Jon Frieze is on it, and is trying to get it patched before the meet on April 30th.

A-B has a tremendous team - so they'll provide very stiff competition. Let's hope for good weather for that, and enjoy something that seems to happen only once every four years or so: a home meet at Newton South (who would've thought?).