Click here for Photos by George
Click here for Photos by M. Hergrueter
Reporting by John Huth:
We knew the Westford meet would be tough, and it was a real thriller. To cut to the chase - boys lost, girls won. The performances were huge - if I look at random dual meet scores around Massachusetts, there's no comparison - except perhaps New Bedford, who seems to be on a roll like NS and Westford. Both teams - or rather all four - WA boys and girls, and NS boys and girls, went into the meet undefeated. Streaks would be broken for sure.
I had to drive directly from Harvard, and found the usual snafus with the bus company not delivering on time. From data analysis on the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva to the physics of javelin throwing in an hour or so. The javelineers assembled and we marched over to the jav field, which is invariably off in some distant corner, where no one is going to get hurt from the spears. This one had some shade, and was far out of sight of the track. You couldn't hear the loudspeaker and calls for races, so I had to run back and forth a couple of times to find out what was going on in the oval. We rested in the shade a bit and started to warm up.
Going into this, Westford looked ferocious on both the boys and girls side - I fully thought they'd walk on water. The official showed up, and began to take down the girls names. Westford had five throwers to our three, and I thought "oh my god...". But once we got throwing it didn't look so bad - Kayla threw a huge PR of 90', and is getting a lot more consistent. The Westford ladies seemed to approach the throws in an uncertain manner and seemed to treat the jav with some delicacy. Our girls just heaved it - and put it out there. The work in practices seems to be paying off. Nalis 102'4", and, by the end of the rounds with the ladies, we had taken 1-2 in the girls jav. Then the boys came up, and we got PR's from three guys - Joey Needleman threw 25' farther than his previous best in 115'4", Frankie Rand threw 123'7" for an 8' PR, John M threw 132'9" for a 1" PR. Chris Kim threw 149'8" and it looked like we were taking 1-2 also in the boys jav.
In the distance, we could hear the starter's pistol going off repeatedly, but I couldn't find out what was going on in the meet, staying focused on the jav. About this time, Cliff Bargar (aka Cliffbar) came over to see how things were going in the jav. I said "surprisingly well....." He said, "that's good, because we're getting hammered everywhere else." I was a bit surprised, but didn't have time to ask questions. A guy named Alex Pfister from Westford jogged over and said he had to run the 400m, and had to jump in. He fouled on his first throw, and then hit 156' in this second throw, shrugged his shoulders, threw another one 151', and just jogged off. Meanwhile, the NS kids ended up helping the official do all the measurements. So, we took 2-3 in the boys jav, anyway, with basically a crew of newcomers. I thought that was pretty good.
I got back over to the oval to check in with Steven M, and he asked me how it was going. I said "not bad, we got 1-2 in the girls jav, and 2-3 in the boys, and we had four PR's overall..." He looked at me and said, "can I touch you?" I said "what?" He said, "can I touch you? I need some of that magic." - and made a pantomime of touching me. I said "huh, what's going on?" It turned out we got blanked in the boys shot put - zero for three, losing 9 points, there. We only got third in the girls long jump, with nothing remotely approaching our PR's. Kyle Remy managed to take third place in the 300m hurdles. Ben Seifer got a huge PR in the 300m hurdles of 42.6, but only snagged 3rd. The jav and the mile were the only events that looked even close to helping us score points at that moment. Cora Visnik, our pole vaulter, was still on crutches from the Weston Twilight meet. Ellie Ellis had a rolled ankle and couldn't high jump.
We got 2-3 in the boys mile, losing a point there. We *did* sweep the girls mile, with Kelsey, Kathy and Melanie running strong. We only managed second in the 800 despite a strong effort by Sasha long in 2:03.3, which is a PR. The only problem is that WA's Greg Hartofelis PR'ed by about 6 seconds to win in the 2:02 range. Gerald Arneaud managed to take third in the triple jump - but you get the idea - first is equal to five points, second and third combined is only 4 points. Joey Needleman got 2nd in the discus for 3 points. We'd been gored and it was only a question of whether the wounds were fatal, or whether the guys could rebound. Kwame and Georgiy took 2-3 in the 200, Candace Bailey and Andrea Braver took 2-3 in the 200 for the girls - with 26.3 and 26.9 - smoking times - but not enough to catch WA's Karen Nallem, who was also doubled in the 400.
In nearly every event, we were falling behind on points. A first in any event meant at least one point up, nothing but seconds and thirds means a long slow bleed. The girls' 800m, we took 1-3 with Juliet Ryan-Davis and Julia Freize. This along with the sweep in the mile helped turn to begin to turn the tide for the girls.
In the hurdles, Yong Cho PR'ed by a huge amount, running 14.3 to take first. Azeezah Gray had a huge PR of 16.6 in the hurdles, but WA's Cassie Ryding took first.
Next up - the 400. In the girls, we had Bridget and Dani Pensack, who took 2-3. WA doubled back Karen Nallem in the 400m, who took first. In the discus, we took 2-3 with a strong showing by Hillary Bloom for 2nd. In the girls' pole vault, with Cora out, we managed a third - Avery Forrow. In the high jump for the girls 2nd
The jav thrower who took his first place so lightly, ran against Gerald in the 400m, and Gerald ran smoothly - taking first. Along with Cho, this began to give us some wins for the guys.
James H. had a rematch with Max Enos in the 100m. Recall that James beat Max in a tight race at the Weston Twilight. The good news is that James Pr'ed in a 10.95 - the bad news is that Max nipped him by a razor thin margin for first. Pebbles Banks took first in the 100m for the girls, in 12.7, which is a big PR for her, beating WA's Cassie Ryding, who was doubled in that event from the hurdles. Katie Sandson took 3rd in 13.1, also a PR. So things were beginning to break our way for the girls.
In the girls' 400, WA doubled back Karen Nallem from the 200, to take first, while Bridget and Dani Pensack took 2-3.
More comebacks - the boys took 1-2 in the pole vault with Ross (13') and Roy (10'6"). In the two mile, WA doubled back distance star Marc Boutin. Andrew and Cameron took the first 800 out in a blistering pace of 2:20. Marc fell back, and his coached yelled at him "They went out at a 4:40 mile pace, they're going to die, just sit tight and relax". Well, they didn't die and Andrew came through at 9:45, and Cameron in 10:05. The mile seemed to have taken its toll on Marc, who came through in third in 10:33, nearly caught by fast closing Marcus Schneider.
In the high jump, Gus Hergrueter took 2nd in 5'6".
The girls took 1-2 in the shot with strong performances from Nalis Mbianda and Liz Jeyaraj.
In the girls 2-mile, we swept 1-2-3 with Kelsey, Madeleine Reed and Hannah Westbook taking 1-2-3.
Next up, the relays. In the boys 4x1, our guys ran their fastest time ever this season, 44.23, but WA ran a new school record of 43.25. This seemed to sum up the meet - we have a huge performance, they have a huger performance. WA had a big celebration, carrying anchor Max away on their shoulders. Our 4x1 anchor threw away the baton in disgust - which didn't sit well with the coach who DQ'ed his own team. We'll get another shot at a time to get a good state-qualifying mark to get in a seeded heat at Andover and other meets.
In the girls relay, we began to get big breaks. Pebbles to Katie to Azeezah to Candace ran a state-leading 50.0 - utterly dominant. WA, unfortunately ran out of zone in the relay, and they were crestfallen by that result.
The boys 4x4 had Sasha to John M. to Tal inbar to Gerald Arneaud. The lead went back and forth many times, and you could hear the WA kids and parents screaming at them, although the meet was already in the WA bag at that point. The splits were spectacular for NS - 53.8, 53, 52.5 and 49.8 to win in 3:28.9 - our best time this season, or in recent memory. At least we ended up on a high note.
In the girls 4x4, we had Juliet to Dani to Julia to Bridget, who dominated to win in 4:10. Our B squad of Andrea, Madeline F, Dahlia and Emily Epstein ran very strong. In her anchor leg, Emily got the baton a bit behind the WA, but charged through her anchor, catching and passing, to take 2nd behind our A squad. WA had basically used up their top runners
And that was it.....at the end of the day, NS boys lost, despite some huge PR's and great effort. The NS girls won 80-65 - again with some huge efforts. The events that helped the win were the throws (jav and shot) and distance events (800, mile and 2 mile). But we had some strong performances. In order to get close, WA had to double up their best performers, leaving their relays vulnerable. The WA girls were crestfallen, as were the NS boys - but - no excuses - everyone did their best, as reflected in the huge number of PR's.
Evidently, we won't see a loaded WA at the DCL championships. There's a DisneyWorld trip that the WA seniors take, so many of their top performing kids won't be around. If you don't show, you can't score.
Next up - the Andover Invitational. Like the Weston Twilight, this is a good chance for kids to go against very tough competition. This meet brings together a lot of top schools - many of whom we haven't competed against this season - Andover with sprinters Christine Mucci, and Chris McConnell. Brookline will be there with their strong distance squad. NS now has very strong 4x1, 4x4 and 4x8 relays, which have a shot at big scores in the DCL champs, and also in the State meets - this will be a good preview of how things may unfold in the big meets. LS sometimes brings a squad to Andover - so we may get a taste of the dual meet to come.
After Andover - a thoug match-up with LS, who fell to WA in both the boys and girls events. They'll be looking for some redemption and will make for a very competitive meet. Then the Class A relays, then the DCL champs, then the State Class meets - all big ones.
Go Lions!
(From the Infield by John Huth)
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