more photos to come.
Click here for photos by George
Click here for photos by M. Hergrueter
Story by John Huth:
Are the coaches of LS, NS and Westford conspiring to sell tickets at the DCL championships next Wednesday? Unlikely, but it sure felt like it.
The NS girls lost a squeaker to LS 73-72 - as close as they come, the NS boys won in a slightly more comfortable margin of 82-63.
For the ladies, this means a three way tie of LS, NS and Westford, all of whom have a 7-1 record. Bragging rights will be decided in the DCL Championships next week.
It turns out that they were short on officials during the meet, and when I arrived, I was immediately asked if I could officiate javelin, so my spectator status was compromised. I have to confess that I was surprised when I was told that I'm getting paid for this, however. It was a nice, sunny day, with a fairly strong wind that affected some marks. There was a steady head/cross wind in the jav, which made throwing difficult for some - but there were large rosters from all three teams, and I was pretty happy that the jav attracted a large crowd of spectators. I'm enjoying this event greatly - there are a lot of subtleties to it, and it takes a while to tune into all of them.
We still have Cora Visnick out with her rolled ankle - she's progressing and healing. Bridget Dahlberg was out with what I hope is a minor injury. Lest you think that I'm making excuses for NS, LS'es roster was also lighter than they may have hoped: their star 400/800m runner Dana Jamieson is not running outdoor, and also Molly Binder, a strong 400/800 meter runner was used sparingly because of a nagging case of shin-splints. Molly only ran in the 4x4.
There were huge performances on all sides. One notable from LS was Andrea Keklak, who won the mile, 2 mile and javelin - talk about athleticism.
Candace Bailey had a great day, winning the 200m in 26.4, the long jump in 17'0", showing that her performance at the Andover Invitational was no freak accident. Candace also anchored the winning 4x100m relay - taking first in 50.0. This was a razor thin victory, and unless you were right at the finish line, you couldn't tell who got first.
Nalis won the shot in 32'3.5", but had trouble putting it together in the jav, taking third. Kayla Jackson took 2nd, again throwing close to her PR.
Liz Jeyaraj took first in the discus with 79'1". Joe Needleman took first in the disc on the guys side, but thought he could throw farther.
NS seemed to own the dashes this time around, although many of the races were close. Pebbles Banks won the 100m dash in 12.7, and Candace first in the 200m in 26.4, Dani Pensack third.
On the boys side, James H. won the 100m dash, in a school record-tying 10.9. He was pretty happy about that one. Kwame took first in the 200m, and Gerald took first in the 400.
In the girls 400m, LS'es Emily Mepham again demonstrated her versatility by winning in 60.4. Emily runs races from the 2 mile to the 400. Julia Frieze took second, and Andrea Braver took third.
Gerald again gave a strong victory in the 400m.
Kathryn Ellis took 2nd in the high jump with 5'2"
In addition to Candace's first in the long jump, we had Christie Lee second in 16'9", which is a PR for her. Ross McDonald took the boys long jump.
Pebbles took first in the girls triple jump with 35'10".
The ladies took a hit in the 800m, where LS went 1-2 with Ellis Hylton and Claire Arthur. Frosh Kathy O'Keefe is showing real promise in the 800, running a 2:25 - add to this her strong showings in the mile, and we have yet another great distance runner for South.
In the 2 mile, Madeleine Reed led most of the way, with Keklak tucking in behind her. The only way to win against Andrea's kick is to crank up the pace a bunch with maybe 600 meters to go - which is not always feasible. Madeleine couldn't keep up with Andrea's strong kick, but had another big PR of 11:12 - her 11:17 at the Andover Invitational was already a 25 second PR. Great efforts, there.
In the guys 2 mile, Jake Shumaker from LS, running in funky sunglasses, took it out in an early strong lead, but Andrew and Cameron hung in there, patiently. Andrew passed Jake with maybe three laps to go, and, right at the end, Cameron caught Jake for a 1-2 NS finish. Andrew's winning time of 9:47 shows he's now very consistent in the 9:40's - I'm hoping we'll see some more breakthrough races by the end of the season for him and Cameron.
The big story of the day belonged to the relays. The scores all hinged on the relays, and nothing was certain coming into them. While a Bedford runner was finishing up her last couple of laps in the 2-mile, a calm descended on the field. James was waiting patiently on the sidelines, with his starting blocks ready. On the "take your marks command", he did his downward-dog/upward-dog routine - the gun went off, and the guys ran a hard relay against LS, finally winning in 44.0. This is only 0.2 seconds off the school record, and the baton passing still can use some tweaking. This is one of the things that are tough in a 4x100m relay - the handoffs are a real high-wire act, and it takes time for teammates to get used to each other. At the Olympic level, you'll see the best runners in the world struggling with handoffs, mainly because they don't have adequate time to practice and get used to each other's quirks. We've had the same squads in the boys and girls 4x1 all year, and this familiarity is paying big dividends.
The girls 4x100 was a thriller - Pebbles to Katie to Azeezah to Candace. It looked for a while like NS had fallen too far behind, but a strong leg from Azeezah got us within shooting distance, and Candace ran an amazing anchor to just barely nip LS. The winning time of 50.0 is their season best, and is only second this year to Andover's performance last weekend at the invitational.
Then the boys 4x400 was up next, with Will to John M. to Tal to Gerald. The first three legs split in the 53's, and, when LS'es Alex Linden got the baton, it looked like he had an untouchable lead. I didn't think there was a hope in hell that Gerald could close that gap - but when he came around the last curve, he was in the lead, and was actually opening up a sizable gap on Alex. The winning time of 3:30 was their second best all year. I caught Gerald's anchor in 49.6, although others had him in 49.1. I might give him the 49.1 because it was such an astonishing performance.
The girls 4x400m was Juliet to Julia to Andrea to Diana. LS put in Molly Binder because the whole meet came down to that. Juliet managed to get off the baton roughly even with LS'es Ellie Hylton. The last two legs for LS were run by Mepham and Binder. When Molly got the baton, she had too large a lead for Diana to close, so LS took that one. BUT - the times were amazing - the girls ran a 4:02.6, each one splitting in the 60.X range - unbelievable. We also had little sister Andrea handing off to big sister Diana in this relay.
Overall, a strong day from all four teams. The guys seemed to be getting their groove back after the Westford meet. It was a tough break for the girls - particularly considering that any shift of one event from a third to a second, or someone squeaking in for a third place would've changed the result. This will make the DCL's all the more thrilling, though.
Next up: on Saturday are the Class A relays, at Andover. In addition to the standard relays you see in big meets (4x1, 4x4, 4x8), you have the 4x2, the distance medley relay, the sprint medley relay, the 4x1600 meter relay (probably Steven's favorite, although I won't put words into his mouth). Then there is the shuttle hurdle relay, and relays in the field events. No, the field events don't have batons that they hand off, the marks are added together - typically the top 3. This should be great fun - I have no idea what the coaches will run - but there will be some surprises for sure. I have my own personal favorite line-ups I'm hoping to see, but I won't jinx it by spilling the beans.
Then, next week we have the DCL championships on Wed, and JV DCL's on Thursday. In the DCL's, the scoring is 10-8-6-4-2-1 - and, because it's not a pairing of schools, the scoring strategy can change. Some teams can act as spoilers, and the coaches have to think through many possible scenarios.
Finally - the cookie dough orders are coming in. We may distribute it today. Depending on which kids show up or are absent, we may need help storing some of the orders in friendly refrigerators. I may make a call for help later today, if we need it.
Go Lions!
from the infield by John Huth.... or would that be the javelin runway?
No comments:
Post a Comment