Division 4 Boys Recap
North Reading had two wins at the MSTCA Division 4 Spring Relays.
But the one victory that topped it all was a boys' team title on Saturday, a first in school history.
With depth that scored in 10 events, North Reading went home with the hardware, defeating 2015 titlist Norton, 79-54. Newburyport was third with 36 points.
"It's an amazing feeling," head coach Ryan Spinney said. "These kids really put in a lot of hard work. They really wanted this today. This was a focus for our season and they brought it today, and they certainly delivered. It's the first time in school history, which obviously makes it more special. It's a great group of kids and I'm really, really proud of them. "
North Reading got its victories in the shot put and long jump. The Hornets combined for a winning distance of 128 feet, 1 inch with the metal ball and finished at 26-6 in the horizontal leap. Both triumphs were added surprises for Spinney, and was just a sampling of what happened all day at Bellingham's George T. Anderson Field, site of the six-hour meet.
"I had (our shot-putters) maybe getting fifth or sixth. The long jump, maybe fourth at best," he said. "Our SMR team got (third). Literally just all over the board we had kids going all out and absolutely tearing it up."
North Reading, a third-place finisher in last year's meet, scored high points in the meet. It was third or better in eight events, including runner-up placements in the 4x200-meter, distance medley and shuttle hurdle relays.
Spinney was confident he had a squad that could get it done, especially with the way its spring campaign is starting off. So far, the Hornets are 4-0 in the league.
"Based on what we have done this season and what our kids have done for their events, we knew we had a good chance," he said. "We actually did better than I predicted, which is even better in terms of points. (That's) pretty awesome."
Newburyport captured the two longest relays, setting a Div. 4 state record in the 4x1,600m relay with a time of 18:15.59, nearly 34 seconds ahead of second-place Amesbury (18:49.53). The Clippers also took the distance medley with an 11:07.47 clocking. Junior Jack Carleo, a member of both squads, gave his teammates a lead it would not relinquish in the DMR with a quick 3:16 for his 1,200m leg. Joe Molvar, a senior, ran anchor for the two relays with a 4:28 for the 4x1,600m and 4:42 for the DMR."
"The 4:28 was tough," Molvar said. "I was running all by myself so I just tried to work the best I could."
Newburyport also won the high jump relay with a combined height of 17 feet, 4.25 inches. Alec Reduker, the state and New England indoor champion, led his teammates with a height of 6-4.
Watertown clocked a fast, early-season time of 3:30.53 to win the 4x400m relay, a race where five teams were within a second of each other with a lap remaining. Norton was second with a time of 3:31.80, while Cardinal Spellman placed third at 3:32.69.
Watertown was timed in 3:40.10 to also take the Sprint Medley.
Norton earned three victories for the day, winning the javelin (417-6), 4x200m (1:32.63) and the 4x800m (8:27.23). Senior Chris Wrenn set the tone in the 4x800m by giving her teammates a lead it would not lose. He hit his opening 400m at 57 seconds and was around 2:02 at the exchange.
"The plan was for me to take it out hard and gap the field as much as possible and run low two (minutes), sub two," Wrenn said. "And the plan was for them to just hold on."
Division 4 Girls Recap
North Reading girls' coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos feels he has a team that's capable of re-capturing the Division 4 state title it won in 2014. After a 4-0 start in the Cape Ann League and with its victory on Saturday at the MSCTA Division 4 Spring Relays, it's certainly on the right path to prosperity at the May 28 meet.
"We've won (the state meet) a few times. Last year we were third and it kind of left a sour taste in our mouth," Pintzopoulos said. "I think we stack up well."
North Reading stacked up well at the Relays, defeating runner-up Norton, 67-54, to earn their plaque. The Hornets scored a considerable amount of their points in the field events with victories in the pole vault (27-6), long jump (49-6.25) triple jump (99-0.25) and shuttle hurdle (1 minute, 5.26 seconds) relays. They also grabbed a pair of runner-up placements in the shot put (92-5) and javelin (264-2) relays.
"We were hoping for 45 points in the field events and another 30 in the running. That was our prediction," Pintzopoulos said. "We came up with 48 on the field and only 19 on the track, but it was enough."
Bellingham dominated the competition in the sprint medley with a winning time of 4:17.20. The Blackhawks were more than seven seconds ahead of second-place Ipswich (4:24.27).
Middle-distance ace Sarah Edwards led off the quartet with a solo 2:11 effort for her opening 800-meter leg.
"It was definitely difficult not feeling anybody close to me," she said. "But I felt strong and there was a lot of positive energy here so it wasn't as bad as it could be."
Bellingham's time earned them a qualifying standard for the Emerging Elite section of the New Balance Nationals, one of its goals entering the meet. The next standard is the 4:13 needed to get in the championship race.
One particular meet the Blackhawks are eying as a possible place to get that time is the Weston Twilight Invitational next Saturday night.
"We were very happy with (our) time today," said 400m anchor Julia Mazzulla. "We are just going to keep coming back with it and getting stronger."
Millis edged Austin Prep to capture the Distance Medley Relay with a time of 13:20.37 to its' rivals' 13:20.83 effort. For the four members of the triumphant relay, a victory was somewhat of a surprise.
"We have never run this relay as a team together," said 1,600m anchor Jess O'Reilly. "It was kind of thrown together at practice. Luckily we pulled it off."
Norton, last year's team champion at the Spring Relays, captured three events, winning the 4x200m (1:49.27), 4x400m (4:15.26) and 4x800m (10:02.71) relays. Katie Bradley, Kambrynn Bowman and Julia Palin lent their footspeed on both the 4x400m and 4x800m squads. In the shorter event, the Lancers were just a few meters ahead of second-place Millis, which posted a time of 4:15.29, just .03 behind the winners.
Seekonk went home with two gold medals in the field events, placing first in the shot put with a combined distance of 97-6.25 and taking the discus at 280-02.
Old Rochester took the high jump relay at 14-10. The top leap of the day was by Samantha Thompson of fourth-place Weston (14-2.5) Thompson cleared a height of 5-4.
Just a few weeks earlier, the talented senior copped her specialty at the New York Relays with an all-time best of 5-6, which is currently No. 1 in the state by four inches.
"Today I was doing the long jump and high jump so I had to go back and forth, but I feel like I did my best," she said. "I think with practice I can get 5-8."