Newton South had a spectacular day at the large schools division of the MSTCA Relays with the girls winning and the boys finishing strong (9th). There were 34 schools entered for boys and 30 for girls. Newton North finished 2nd for the girls and 3rd for the boys. I could only be at the meet for an hour in the beginning. Check back later for a story and more photos.
Here are the unofficial top team scores for the girls:
1) Newton South 60
2) Newton North 56
3) Lincoln-Sudbury 48
4) Weymouth 33
5) Acton-Boxboro 28
Results have been posted at:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/08/ma.shtml
Scroll to MSTCA Div 1 Relays in Andover.
Click here for direct link to results
Click here for photos by S. Chari
Click here for photos by George
Click here for photos by D. Fineman
Story by John Huth:
Yesterday, the Mass Track and Field Coaches held relay meets around the State. The Emass Division 1 meet was at Andover, site of last week's Andover Invitational, where the NS ladies were vacuuming up points left and right. The relays saw some matchups with Newton North, who always show up with strong teams. We had some great performances for both the guys and girls.
The remnants of a low pressure system caused some drizzles in the morning, and a considerable wind, which the athletes definitely felt. Javelins were deflected from their intended course and some runners could really feel its impact. The wind, up to 20 mph at times, was blowing down the final straightaway. It made for some interesting 400 meter legs on the relays - runners would zip down the backstretch, aided by the wind from behind, and just about the time their legs were beginning to give out, they came off the last turn and ran into a brick wall of air, trying to push them back.
Around 11, the sun came out, and most folks were unprepared with sunblock, and we all got our farmer tans for the day.
In addition to the stresses of the wind, the juniors were in a semi-recovery mode after the semi-formal the night before, along with some of the seniors who were playing the game of assassin in their copious spare time.
In the morning, we had the guys relay, with the girls 4x 1 mile (I think it's really a 4x1600....a mile is 1609.344 meters) stuck in there. The girls field events went first and then, around 12:30 the order flipped to girls relays and guys field events.
The field events are scored with three athletes competing from each school. All three distances are added together. The results are reported in meters, probably because adding meters is easier than adding feet and inches - so some of us were off converting marks from metric to english throughout the day. We had Kathleen Capstick, Kayla Jackson, and Nalis Mbianda in the jav. While they were warming up, we found out that we were short-handed in the discus relay, and needed a third. Kayla, who hadn't thrown the discus this season, was drafted as our third, and Matt quickly gave her a clinic on discus throwing. Even with a last minute substitution, the team of Liz Jeyaraj, Kathleen C. and Kayla managed to snag 6th for a point.
The girls jav was good enough for 5th place. The distances in all jav events were not huge because of the wind - but as the coaches are fond of pointing out - the weather affects everyone. I recall one in-bounds throw from a Plymouth South competitor that was grabbed by a strong gust, and steered outside of the sector lines for a foul. Elsewhere in the State, Wayland set a new All-State record of 314 meters in the jav relay at the D3 competition. Like many events, the DCL's are strong in the jav.
If you're trying to cover both the field events and track events, there's a lot of running around. Both Matt and Steven were out there, taking care of business, catching splits, making last minute decisions, etc. It was pretty frenetic, but worth it, because at the end of the day, the girls had taken first, for yet another trophy. Steven was interviewed by a reporter from the Globe - the article is in today's (Sunday) paper.
In the boys 4xmile (really 4x1600) relay, Brookline showed up with their crack squad that included Bob Gibson and David Wilson. Andrew Wortham ran leadoff for us and did an amazing job, coming around for the handoff in the lead, splitting about 4:27. Eventually, Brookline managed to grab a commanding lead, from Gibson's second leg, setting a new All-State record of 17:50.11. The boys team of Andrew, Yuji, Ben Finch and John Beck ran 18:34.71, dueling with Xavarian and St. John's Prep (Danvers) for most of the relay, in their own mini-race. They took 3rd overall.
The South ladies were next up with Juliet, Kathy O'Keefe, Madeleine Reed, and Kelsey in their 4x1600 relay. The ran a commanding 21:07.08, breaking the old All-State record held by....Newton South....from 1999, by nearly fifty seconds. That's over 10 seconds faster per leg than the 1999 effort. Kelsey cruised in with a 5:10 split. They took first, by a margin of nearly 50 seconds, which was equally impressive - but the girls weren't pushed very hard for a substantial fraction of the relay.
Looking ahead to the Nationals, here are some interesting marks to keep in mind. Running as Newton Centre Athletics, the squad of Juliet,Madeleine, Kelsey, and Bridget ran 20:58 at the outdoor nationals last year, and with Kathy running, they did 20:52.48 at the indoor nationals this year. Last year's winning time from the outdoor nationals, was 20:23, but the winning time at the outdoor nat's is sure to be faster this year. So far, Burnt Hills Ballston NY, has run a 20:14.24 this year at NSIC, and Saugus CA has run a 20:20.63 at an outdoor meet. I'm guessing that 20:12 might be what it takes at the outdoor's - which is basically a 5:03 per leg (!). Also - I don't have the precise differences in front of me - whether these were all truly 4 x 1 mile, or 4x1600, which is short by 40 yards, and begins to be a substantial difference in comparing times. Caveat emptor. The 4 x 1 mile will probably be a thriller this year in North Carolina.
The women took first in the shot put, paced by a huge PR breakthrough for Liz Jeyaraj of 36'. This is coming at just the right time for the DCL's and States.
The girls took 3rd in the long jump, with yet another PR by Candace, of 17'9". OK, it might have been aided by the minor hurricane blowing down the runway, but she's now consistently in the 17's wind or not. We also took 6th in the pole vault, despite missing Cora with her injury.
In the boys 4x100 meter relay, the boys team of James to Jong to Georgiy to Kwame ran a 44:27, which is consistent with their 44.0 at the LS meet. That was good enough for 5th place. The top five finishers all had fully automatic times within 0.2 seconds of each other.
We had Sasha to John to Yuji to Will in the 4x800. Sasha ran a very strong leadoff, splitting 2:01.2, and the guys all ran strong legs, taking 2nd in 8:18.78.
The boys 4x200m was exciting. James had a blistering leadoff, making up the 2 turn stagger before even coming off the first turn. Georgiy and Kwame ran legs 2 and 3. Most of that relay was a duel between NS and Lexington, with a strong closing leg from Gerald. Brockton had a strong lead at the finish, and Lexington got DQ'ed on a lane violation in the first exchange. That was enough for a 2nd place finish in 1:32.24. Gerald and James both split in the low 22's.
We have a relatively young team in the 4x4 of John M. to Tal to Ben, teaming up with Gerald. John M and Tal both split their fastest 400m times yet in 52.X legs. They ran a 3:31.46, which was good for 6th. If I throw in a best-case scenario, with each guy splitting fast, it's conceivable they could run around 3:25 this year - which could be a point scorer in the States.
There were also guys teams from NS running in the shuttle hurdles, sprint medley and distance medley.
For the girls relays, we had our Pebbles to Katie to Azeezah to Candace running the 4x100 meter relay. Candace just got nipped at the tape by Andover's Christina Muccio. NS got second in 49.75, their best time all year. In the D2 relays, North Attleboro set a new All-State record of 49.0. This is going to make for an interesting State Championship, with LS and Westford also running strong teams.
We didn't run a girls 4x800 meter relay, but LS ran their strong squad, taking first in 9:20 - which I think is shy of an All-State mark. This is LS's Molly Binder's last race of the season, as she's sidelined with a stress fracture in her shin.
The 4x200m relay had 26.X splits by Pebbles and Candace, taking second in 1:48.66. Andover ran a 1:43.58 for a new All-Class record.
We took 5th in girls' SMR, with a huge 59.7 leadoff by Julia Frieze, her first sub-60 400m ever. Big PR. We also had 26.X splits by Andrea and Dani for 4:21.13.
We also had a great performance in the Distance Medley relay with Kathy O'Keefe to Julia to Juliet to Kelsey. Kathy split a 3:50 on the opening leg, with Kelsey closing in 5:13 to take first in 12:31.46.
The girls squad, minus Julia, who ran in the distance medley, took 5th in girls 4x400. The squad was led off by Andrea Braver who split a 60.8, followed by Emily Epstein, Dani Pensack and Diana Braver. The overall time was 4:08.9. Two teams were disqualified for throwing the baton, which, for some odd reason, I've seen more of this year than in previous years, but, then again, I'm going to more and more meets.
So, let's see...how did we do?
1st places: girls shot, girls 4xmile, and girls distance medley
2nd places: boys 4x800m, boys 4x200m, girls 4x100m, and girls 4x200m
3rd places: boys 4xmile, and girls long jump
5th places: boys 4x100m, girls 4x400m, girls jav, and girls sprint medley
6th places: boys 4x400m, girls discus, girls pole vault
Darn those elusive 4th places!
Pretty impressive - also the team scores had Newton South's girls winning with 60 points, and Newton North, who had a great day as well, second with 56 points. The guys took 9th, with 25 points, but this is without competing in the long jump, triple jump or pole vault. We had Cora, Bridget, Ross and Roy R. on injured reserve - soon to return, we hope!
The ways meets end is always interesting. In addition to being incredible athletes, the kids seem to becoming track and field addicts, and can't get enough -soaking up every drop of competition that's out there. As we waited for team scores to be tallied, a large contingent filtered over to the throwing circle to watch the last flight of the discus relay, with Joe Needleman, Julani and Thomas Li competing against teams from Andover and Haverhill. The NS spectators were a bit optimistic in their appraisals. In Thomas' first throw, he foot faulted on the ring for a foul - although the crowd clapped and yelled "Go Thomas!" This rattled him a bit.
I was standing next to Andover's Steve Moore, who was waiting his turn, and we talked about the effects of wind on the throwing events earlier in the day. Thomas stepped into the ring again, and the crowd hushed. Thomas' second throw went pretty far, but it was a sector foul (going outside of the painted lines). The crowd, not understanding some of the nuances of discus, cheered anyway. Steve Moore looked at me quizzically, and I shrugged my shoulders and said, somewhat apologetically, "hey, they're runners and don't get a chance to watch many throwing events..." Steve then stepped in the ring and threw a big PR of 10 ft beyond his previous best - which caused a minor celebration party among the Andover parents and teammates.
After two fouls, Thomas was getting a bit unnerved and looking for some guidance. It's times like this when I go to the well for sources of wisdom. In most cases, I always find that the movie Bull Durham is great for words of cosmic guidance. So, I said to Thomas, "you just gotta relax and concentrate..." (I can't give the full quote to this forum, but you can look it up). Thomas stepped into the ring for the third, and last time, and finally got one off to score. You don't score in field relays if one of the members of the team fouls out - just like rule number one in track relays is "you gotta get the stick around".
With the last flight of the final event over, the officials packed up their bags, and headed off, along with the "first-in, last out" crew of the Newton South Lions.
Next up - we're into league meet season, with the DCL meet on Wednesday at LS. It's scored 10-8-6-4-2-1 for the top 6 places. Like the Andover invites, and the MSTCA relays, every little point counts. Then there's the JV DCL meet on Thurday in Wayland, with a rain date for Friday. Then, on Saturday is the Last Chance to Qualify Meet at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham. The name should be self-explanatory, but the deadline for state marks is just after the Last Chance meet, and the coaches will bring athletes who are on the cusp of qualifying for States. I know a number who are in this category. Then D1 states, then All-States, then New Englands, then Nationals. Then...it's all over. This end-of-season series of meets is always bittersweet - kids who have been competing with each other all year, see an end of competition, sometimes abruptly. Each step in the way - DCL to D1 to All-States to New Englands to nationals has more and more athletes dropping until you're left with the best in the country, or maybe a few who want to pay their way to North Carolina to stretch out the season as long as possible. Then, on to the summer and new adventures.
Go Lions!
from the infield by John Huth
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