Despite the chilly temperatures for early May and periodic rain showers, we were still treated to many fine performances across the board on Saturday. Certainly many eyes were on the premiere meet of the weekend in Weston, but hopefully fans didn't overlook the results from the numerous other very respectable meets taking place yesterday. If by chance that is the case, then we have you covered with our full rundown of all the fast times and big marks put up this weekend across the state.
Weston Twilight Invitational
As expected, Brianna Duncan of Cambridge did what she does best and that's going fast! Duncan easily defended her 100m Weston Twilight victory from last year and clocked in the MA#1 time of 12.35. Seeing as it was a tad faster than her 12.39 from last year and it wasn't ideal sprinting weather, we can certainly expect more big things from Duncan this spring. The Cambridge RL senior would also return later in the night to take the triple jump in 36'04". The girls 400 was highlighted by a strong start to the spring season by Avery Leydon of Woburn handily winning in a near PR of 57.99.
Also keeping quite busy in the sprints, Nikolas Smith of Northampton would show his heels to the competition and take the 100m with a new personal best of 11.12. Continuing the trend, Smith closed out his night with a personal best in 400m by taking 2nd overall with a time of 49.72. The only person usurp in that race was Dartmouth bound, Myles Holt of Natick running a fantastic new PR / MA#1 time of 48.60.
Stealing the show in the distance events, Rachel Sessa of Tewksbury made a big statement in a competitive Girls 2 Mile. Hitting the first mile in a respectable 5:25, Sessa remained patient in the pack until about 1K to go in the race. As the race hit a half mile to go at 8:05, Sessa left behind Demarco of Ispwich and began to unleash a fantastic final 800 meters. Sessa's punishing move in the final stages left no one on her heels and she went on to win in 34 second PR of 10:39.01. As only a sophomore, Sessa has certainly sent an early message to the elder heads of distance in Massachusetts and should result in some fantastic duals in the weeks to come. Fellow youngster, Grace Connolly of Natick came out on top in a close mile battle with Rebecca Grusby of Newton South and won in 5:02.25 over Grusby's 5:02.29.
Standing well above his competitors, Grant Hauver of Wachusett used his long strong stride to power home over the last 200m of the 800m and come away with the victory in 1:55.5. In a tight battle behind Hauver, George Papoulis of Haverhill was 2nd in 1:56.40, Esu Alemseged nabbed 3rd in 1:56.43, and Greg Moschella of Saint John's took 4th with a 1:56.49.
Zachary Manickas-Hill of Lexington would pull away from Peter Monahan of St. Johns down the homestretch of the mile and secure a win with a time of 4:20.69. Monahan was the runner up with a 4:21.00 and Matthew D'Anieri of Wellesley took 3rd with his 4:22.14. Doing his part for the Northampton Blue Devils in the 2mile and flexing some Western Mass. muscle, Liam Sullivan squeaked out a small PR to win in 9:27.48. After falling victim to Sullivan's hard last lap, Thomas D'Anieri of Wellesley took 2nd in 9:29.94.
Having no time to worry about the ongoings of the oval, Julia Valenti of North Reading was staying quite busy in her three events on Saturday night. The senior multi-athlete defending her pole vault victory from last year with a strong season opening mark of 11'6". Moving onto the throws circle, Valenti grabbed 2nd in the shot put and threw 82'5" in the discus. The victor in the shot put would be Roxann Wint of Newton North with a nice throw of 36'8.5", while crushed her competitors in the discus and won with a threw of 98'9". Also crushing her competitors and previous personal best was Katrian Rokosz winning the javelin with a throw of 121'01".
A majority of the boys jumps were also characterized by big time victories, as Eric Wicks of St. Johns easily won the HJ with a leap of 6'3", Aaron Corin of Lincoln-Sudbury shot up to a nice PR of 13'0" to win the pole vault, and Jared Prior of Newton North won by almost a foot with his very respectable early season mark of 21'8". In the shot put, Mike Munroe of Quincy would topple some big heavy hitters and win the shot with a huge personal best throw 56'8.5". Marc Umumbu of Framingham exerted complete dominance in the discus and won with a very big throw of 160'9".
MSTCA Freshman and Sophomore Meets
At the large schools meet in Easton, we got an excellent preview of the future leaders in the Massachusetts distance scene for boys. Separating themselves early into the race, Tristan Shelgren of St. Johns Prep and Andrew Mah of Newton North made it clear they were looking to go fast. It would be a tight battle over the eight laps at Oliver Ames HS, but in the end Shlegren came away with the victory in a 9:31.4 and Mah took 2nd running 9:32.6. Behind the sophomores, Lucas Aramburu of Brookline clocked in a massive 31 second PR to finish 3rd in 9:45.1.
Taking top honors in two events, Davonte Burnett of Needham soared to a big leap of 21'8" to win the long jump and also won the 400m in 51.04.
In the girls 400m, Japhi Gilliard of West Roxbury and Joanna Kennedy of Wellesley proved to be on a different level than their fellow underclassmen. Gilliard won the day with her 58.40 PR performance and Kennedy dipped under 60 for the first time to take 2nd with a 59.04.
Headlining the high jump, Julia Jordahl-Henry a freshman from Wellesley cleared the bar at 5'3" to win and match her lifetime best. Taking 3rd overall was Julia's twin sister, Anna clearing a respectable 4'11". Natalie Marshall of Newton North was runner up with her best jump of 5'1".
Shifting over to Norwell for the small schools meet, we witnessed a handful of strong performances by underclassmen ready to light up the future. First year speedster, Smith Charles of Milton is certainly one of those bright stars of the futures and it showed with his 11.29 run in the 100m prelims. In addition to winning the 100m, Charles also finished runner up in the long jump with his leap of 20'0".
Making her own noise on the long jump runway this Saturday, Emily Hall of Pembroke showed she is more than willing to continue strong tradition of jumping in the Hall family. Emily is the younger sister of one of the former top hurdlers / jumpers in Massachusetts, Berkeley Hall (Class of 2010) and she won the long jump on Saturday with a huge mark MA#2 of 17'8.25". She also lead the 200m prelims with a time of 26.65 and finished 2nd overall in the finals running 26.80.
Defending her title from last year, Bridget Mitchell of Milton ran away with the girls mile and won comfortably in 5:03.0. This was well ahead of her 5:10 performance, so Mitchell appears to be on track to really improve her personal best of 4:59.5 from last outdoor.
Greater New Bedford Sunset Invitational
Only a few weeks into the season and Brooke-Lynn Williams of Norton is wasting no time and already zeroing in on her life time bests. Coming off an historic indoor season, Williams took the girls 100m in New Bedford with a state leading time of 12.16. Fellow junior, Alyssa Zee of Ashland finished runner up to Williams with a new personal best of 12.30.
Skylar Barthelmes of Dartmouth owns the shot put circle in Massachusetts and that was evident with her strong winning throw of 40'2.5". In addition to a strong shot put performance, Barthelmes got the javelin out to a new personal best of 123'5" to finish 2nd. Julia Campezato of Dighton Rehoboth was the only one to stop Barthelmes, as she got the javelin out to a very nice mark of 128'3".
The jumps runway was certainly an exciting place to be on Saturday in New Bedford. For in the girls long jump, Ada Sackor of Worcester Technical opened up her spring with a winning jump MA#1 of 18'1". On the boys side, Brian Cherenfant of Taunton was well out in front of his competition and won the triple jump with a very impressive PR / MA#1 mark of 44'7".