MSTCA meets at Reggie Lewis Track, 25th and 26th Jan.

The MSTCA Coach's Invitational Meet on Saturday:
Click here for full results
Click here for photos by Dave Fineman

The MSTCA Coach's Elite Meet on Sunday:
Click here for full results
Click here for photos by Dave Fineman

Steven M's report:

The state coaches Invitation weekend is in two parts.  Saturday was the MSTCA Coaches Invitational which is open to athletes that have met state meet standards.  The Coaches Elite meet on Sunday is limited to the top 24 seeds in the state and is a tune up for the All State Championship.

Our girls had a great weekend with person records and a school record.  I was very happy that all of our kids handled meets of this caliber going against the best in the state.  We have improved a lot as a team in performance and I feel we have improved even more in how we handle competition and meet preparation.   As a team we are in a good place moving into the championship part of the season.  The kids were excited about their achievements and I feel that we have gained a lot of team confidence.

MSTCA Coaches Elite meet on Sunday.

Our performer of the month has to be our 300 meters girls.  Lizzie Walkes only started running the 300 two weeks ago and she set a school record of 42.05 placing 11th.  She went in seeded in the 20s and knocked off 7/10s of second which is a lot for a race of that duration when her time was already stellar.  She then split low 26 on the opening leg of our 4 x 200. My feeling is that Lizzie is just getting started.

Lizzie is very special in that she has a true sprinters range and can blast a 55 meter and give us a great 400 meter leg on relays.

Our milers had a wonderful day setting two mile personal bests.  From the slower heat Lucrecia Aguilar went in with a best of 5:21 and she looked very strong with a great finishing kick placing 15th in 5:18.85.  Freshman Clare Martin ran in the seeded heat and they went out extremely fast as Clare passed the half mile in under 5:00 minute pace.  She did a great job of holding on and finished 14th in 5:18.51. While that early pace may not be ideal for the best time it is a very positive sign in that Clare knows that she can now run a very successful race that way.  Both milers looked very tough and both had great races.

Rebecca Grusby got stuck leading the 2nd pack for much of her two mile and ran a very solid 11:39.86.  This race went out very fast and then the pack split up and Rebecca did most of the work for the 2nd pack.

Our 4 x 200 of Lizzie Walkes, Allie Arruda, Yuriko Fukumura and Charlotte Huth placed 16th with a near person best of 1:50.91.  

Yuriko had a personal best split of 28.57 and Charlotte ran a brilliant anchor leg in 26.25.

MSTCA Coaches Invitational on Saturday.

Charlotte Huth and Liza Hochberg got us off to a great start in the 300 meters.

Charlotte Huth ran a text book race and had a huge 7/10s of second PR to take 4th in 42.56.   Charlotte got out fast and beat everyone to the break, but there was a girl to her outside that tried to cut her off.  Charlotte did a quick step pick up and held her off to keep position and run clear.  Liza Hochberg followed with another PR of 45.25. 

Lizzie Fineman went out blazing in her 600 heat to run a PR of 1:44.31.  Lizzie went through the first 200 in 30 seconds and had a straight away lead on the field.  She hung on and looked good finishing doing the event the hard way.
Alekhya Chaparala looked very good running a season best of 1:47.19.

Our 55 meter crew had a stellar day.  Yuriko Fukumura and Allie Arruda both broke 8 seconds for the first time.
Yuriko ran 7.96 and Allie ran 7.97.  Katherine Cullen ran a solid 8.26.

Anna Alsop put the shot 27'6.  Anna has been solid all season long.