Click here for photos by D. Fineman
Click here for Photos by S. Chari
Click here for Photos by George
Click here for coolrunning results
Story by John Huth:
The Andover Boosters Invitational is a yearly event -held during the same weekend as the MSTCA (Mass. State Track Coaches Association) Coaches Invitational. The MSTCA draws a lot of teams, but the Andover Invitational is a tradition up north, and we see a number of great teams that we seldom run against, except in State competitions: Andover, North Andover, Reading, North Reading, Haverhill, Methuen, Peabody. But, there were also teams like Brookline and Acton Boxoborough there.
The Cape Ann League was the scene of a recent tragedy, when Alex Farese, 17 of North Andover, collapsed after the finish of a 400 meter race against Hamilton-Wenham. His heart stopped beating, and was restarted with a defibrillator. He later died at Tufts Medical Hospital for Children. Here's a link to the Globe article:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/04/23/north_andover_runner_dies_a_week_after_collapse/
Hearing a story like that kind of puts things in perspective. But North Andover was out in force, and definitely had their mind on business.
There are some interesting features to this meet, sponsored by the Andover Boosters, who definitely have their act wired tight. Most races and events are named after various people - some of whom may have contributed to the Andover track cause. This might explain something about the quality of the facilities: Jon Frieze take note, I'll be expecting a "John Huth Javelin" event to be contested once we get the fields fixed up at South. In addition to this, there are team awards, and even an award for the highest scoring boys+girls team.
First up was the James Brown Girls Javelin. We had a mini-NS encampment with Maddie Willert (frosh/soph mile in 5:50) and Mary-Kate Cronin joining the javelineers. Sue Chari and Mimi Karys were also there for the early jav action. We seemed to have adopted AB's Courtney Bouland (see photo of Nalis, Kayla and Courtney by Sue Chari), whose parents were there, and was happy to see some friendly DCL faces. Courtney has the classic javelin shoes with one inch spikes - both Kayla and Nalis agreed that they needed a pair of those - no slipping whatsoever. Kayla threw in the first flight - winning that in 89'2" - just a smidge off of her recent PR at Westford Academy. Nalis threw in the second flight, along with the striking- looking Nika Oulette from Brookline. I had to spend some time convincing John M. that Nika was a girl - especially after her first 110'9" heave.
Nalis topped her long-ago PR with a throw of 116'9" - good enough for first place. Nalis was ecstatic and psyched to go right into the shot.
The gun went off in the distance (nearly always the case for the jav), and I went over to catch the Ken Seifert Girls Two Mile run. Newton South swept the first three places, with Bridget taking first in 10:46.72 - a new school record. Kelsey was in second in 10:53, and Madeleine Reed third in 11:17. If you want a contrast to the MSTCA coaches invitational - Alyse Rocco's winning time there was 11:16.
Then came the Gerry Ray Beven and James Christi Memorial Boys' Two Mile Run Moody (?). Talk about a loaded field! David Wilson from Brookline took first in a record breaking 9:19.95, followed by teammate Bob Gibson (9:21.81). Andrew Wortham took 8th with a PR of 9:40. Again, drawing comparisons with the MSTCA coaches invitational - the winning time there was 9:44.36 - which would've maybe gotten 9th place at Andover. Andrew didn't seem happy with his performance, but a big PR in a loaded field is nothing to complain about.
Back to the jav -in the Wallace C. Fiedler Memorial Boys Javelin, John Mitkevicius keeps improving and throwing PR's - this one was 135'11". First went to WA's Alex Pfister in 171' - huge throw for him.
We had some great marks in the Arthur Iworsley Girls Long with Candace Bailey taking first in a PR of 17'. Christie Lee took third in 16'8", which is also a big PR. Yong Cho had a minor injury, and the coaches had him sit this one out - so we missed his long jumping, hurdling and canceled the 4x100 meter relay.
In the Albert Swenson and John Rooks Girls One Mile, Kathy O'Keefe ran a great race to take second in 5:13. Melanie added points with a fifth place 5:21.
Newton South seemed to be racking up a lot of points. Many of us Newton South parents sat behind some Reading HS parents, including the DiNitale's. Tom DiNitale is a strong sprinter from Reading, who took 2nd overall in the 100m dash. After his race, we congratulated him, and he said "yeah, thanks, but Newton South is basically a big point scoring factory..". Actually Reading was racking up points on the guys side, too.
Pebbles Banks took 2nd in the finals of the Homer Wadman memorial Girls 100 meter dash - in 12.96. In the boys 100m dash, James qualified for the finals, but the blocks they gave him had no spikes in them, and recoiled at the start. James managed to recover, but couldn't make up lost ground and took fifth, well off his PR. In the Rick Collins Boys 200m dash, Kwame Francis-John also took fifth, adding a couple more points on the board. It's always a bit of an amusing exercise to hear the announcer struggle over Kwame's name - sometimes cited as "John Kwame..." etc etc.
Speaking of names - Nalis is pronounced "Nah-Liss", not "Nah-Leese", despite what the coaches say. You say Nahliss, I say...Nahleese....but she took first in the Charles W. McCullom Memorial Girls Shot Put with a throw of 34'8.5" - to add more hardware to her first in the jav. She was one happy camper at the end of the day.
[Ed - I'm going to omit the names on these events from here on out]
Ross McDonald tied for second in the pole vault, with a jump of 12'6" - well off his PR of 13'6", though. Gerald Arneaud took second in the 400, with a 50.82 - again well off his PR of 49.6.
Frosh Andrea Braver took first in her heat of the 400 with a 1:01.46, good enough for 4th overall. Dani Pensack, also in that heat, took 6th overall.
Andrea's big sister, Diana Braver, put one together in the 800m, taking 2nd in 2:21, and Julia Frieze took 5th in 2:24.8.
A notable PR in the high jump was Gus Hergrueter jumping 5'8".
The team of Pebbles to Katie to Azeezah to Candace took 2nd in the 4x100 meter relay - to host Andover's record breaking 49. We didn't run a boys 4x100 because of injury.
The girls 4x800 meter relay team of Juliet Ryan-Davis to Kathy O'Keefe to Julia Frieze to Bridget Dahlberg, took 2nd in 9:51.65 - racking up points. But, given that our 4x8 had run a 9:16 during indoor, it felt a bit off. Each leg of the relay went out hard, but seemed to fade a bit. More on this later.
The boys 4x8, Sasha, John, Yuji and Will took 7th overall in 8:30
In the girls 4x400 meter relay we had Dani to Andrea to Emily Epstein to Diana Braver - with some great legs, taking 5th overall.
The boys 4x400 relay, like the girls, is a somewhat new squad, with John Metkivicius to Tal Inbar to Ben Seifer to Gerald. They were running against Westford, among other teams. They took 4th overall in 3:33.8. This team has great potential - where we may be able to field strong 4x1's, 4x4's and 4x8's on the boys and girls side. Of course, if everyone has an "on-day" for these relays, it would be amazing.
Whew! If there was a story to this meet, the NS girls show amazing depth, where if one competitor is having an off day, another steps in to take up the slack. At the end of the day, the girls scored 120 points. The closest team was Reading with 54 points. Indoor All-State Champ, Andover was 5th with 48 points. Not only did the girls take the team trophy, but the announcer said that the coed trophy also went to Newton South, where the combined ladies and gents score gave us an overall victory.
After the awards presentation, Peter, the Andover track coach came over and told the girls that he was really impressed with their performance and hinted that they had a good shot at the All-States. Well, we'll see (knocking wood and throwing salt over my shoulder).
Some of the athletes, juniors and seniors in particular, seemed to have off-days, however. Some ran well off of PR's and were disappointed, despite the big team trophies. I talked with some of them, and the general theme became apparent: "too much...". They're taking SAT's and AP exams - huge dual meets against Westford, the environmental challenges of the Weston Twilight - getting psyched up for meets, end of year recitals, parties, proms, sibling's graduations, parties, plays, etc etc . One summed it up this way "it feels like we're just taking a lot of incoming mortar rounds, and there's not enough time to rest..."
Hopefully they'll get some rest, and recharge their batteries. The next big dual meet is against Lincoln-Sudbury, who I'm sure are hungry after the upset with Westford Academy. Then it's the Class Relays. Actually, I hope that the relays are a source of fun for the kids, and not looked as a chore - anyway. I always love relays, and it could be a nice break from big team scoring and the pressures of individual performances.
As I was driving home, I noticed that the leaves had finally come out on the trees - the big meets, and proms and recitals were all a sign of the season. I remembered the inexplicable death of Alex Farese from North Andover. We're lucky to have the wonderful kids we do.
The Trees They Do Grow High (trad)
The trees they grow high,
the leaves they do grow green
Many is the time my true love I've seen
Many an hour I have watched him all alone
He's young,
but he's daily growing.
Father, dear father,
you've done me great wrong
You have married me to a boy who is too young
I'm twice twelve and he is but fourteen
He's young,
but he's daily growing.
Daughter, dear daughter,
I've done you no wrong
I have married you to a great lord's son
He'll be a man for you when I am dead and gone
He's young,
but he's daily growing.
Father, dear father, if you see fit
We'll send him to college for another year yet
I'll tie blue ribbons all around his head
To let the maidens know that he's married.
One day I was looking o'er my father's castle wall
I spied all the boys aplaying at the ball
My own true love was the flower of them all
He's young, but he's daily growing.
At the age of fifteen, he was a married man At the age of sixteen, the father of a son
At the age of seventeen, his grave it was green
Cruel death soon put an end to his growing.
(reporting from the infield, John Huth)
No comments:
Post a Comment