It certainly was another action-packed weekend of track and field across our state and region. Mother Nature presented us with ideal weather, and the state's top athletes held up their ends of the bargain by posting big marks across all events. The two major focal points of the action this past weekend were the boys' and girls' Coaches Invites, as well as the Andover Booster meet. Between these two meets alone, we saw an astounding 17 performances that now sit at the top of the state rankings. Playing their part down in NY, we saw a handful of MA athletes also representing us very well at the legendary Loucks Games. It's pretty obvious a lot of track and field went down this weekend, so we understand if you missed a couple big performances. Though by Monday morning we hope to have you covered by with this weekend rundown!
COACHES INVITATIONAL (Girls & Boys)
Making her first 800m outing of her final high school season, Sarah Edwards of Bellingham did not disappoint. As one of the finest half-milers in New England, she opened things up with an excellent MA#1 2:11.16 victory. It's performance that ranks as the 2nd-fastest 800 in her career and well ahead of her previous season openers. This certainly bodes well for the 2:09.4 800m runner and her quest for big things in June. In an equally impressive outing, Colette O'Leary of Milton finished runner-up to Edwards with a big PR of 2:12.15. Samantha Friborg of Acton-Boxborough took 3rd with a 2:15.42.
Continuing to defend her role as fastest girl in Massachusetts, Brooke-Lynn Williams of Norton set out to take both the girls' 100m and 200m in Acton on Saturday. Making her way easily through the 100 prelims, Williams also walked through the finals with a strong 12.24 victory. Things would be a little tighter in the 200, as the Norton speedster would have her hands full with Alyssa Zee of Ashland. Zee was the fastest out of the prelims and, while it would come down to a photo finish in the finals, the Ashland junior took the 200 in a MA#1 performance of 25.00. While Williams was the runner-up, she was also awarded the the same time of 25.00.
Making it their own race early on, Grace Connolly of Natick and Bridget Mitchell of Milton remained on each other's hips until the final homestretch of Saturday's mile. Hammering down the final 100 meters, Connolly was finally able to secure a slight lead and crossed the line under 5:00 for the first time in her career, posting a winning time of 4:59.05. Mitchell was still right behind in 2nd with a great performance and slight PR of 4:59.50.
Owning the throws for another weekend in a row, Skylar Barthelemes of Dartmouth picked up convincing victories in both the javelin and shot put. On the javelin runway, Barthelemes was able to launch it to a new 5' personal best mark of 128'5" and secure the state lead by two inches. In the shot put, she put down a respectable throw of 38'11 to win easily.
The highlights of the jumps was Liana Reilly of Newton North clearing her personal best of 5'5" to take 1st and sit at #2 in the state, while Sarah Endyke took the long jump win, going eight inches further than her personal best and winning in a MA#4 mark of 17'8".
Perhaps stealing the spotlight from the events going on the track, the boys' field events at BC High proved to be sensational across the board on Saturday. Doing his part on the long jump runway, Jared Prior of Newton North continued his strong start to the spring season with a big new personal best leap and MA#1 mark of 23'0.75". If Prior continues his hot streak of big jumps, he could find himself on the MA top 10 all-time list in the coming weeks. Doing his part on the triple jump boards, Dereck Perkins of Milton soared out to a new MA#1 mark of 45'6.5". This was certainly a huge day for Perkins, as he entered Saturday with a personal best of only 43'4" and had started triple jumping just this spring! Keeping the sensational day of jumping going on in the BC High infield was the duo of Ian Dolaher of Malden Catholic and Nate Hobbs of St. Johns Prep in the high jump. Pushing each other to new heights, they both cleared 6'6" and walked away with big new PRs. Though Hobbs took the W based on missed attempts.
After shaking off the rust at last weekend's Weston Twilight meet, Cole Stewart of Bishop Feehan was a force to reckon with in the throwing events this weekend. Flexing a lot of muscle in the boys' shot put, Stewart was able to launch the shot out to a new outdoor best and MA#1 mark of 57'5". He continued his day with a very respectable runner-up finish in the discus with another personal best mark of 148'7". Elmer Acuna of Newton North was the discus victor with a personal best hurl of 153'4". Securing the state leading mark by almost eight feet, Nicholas Kelly of North Quincy easy won the javelin with a big-time throw and personal best of mark of 181'1".
Shifting attention back to the track action at BC High, we have to start of with the exceptional speed coming from Smith Charles of Milton. He is only a freshman, but on Saturday he ran 11.00 in the prelims and then came back to take the 100m with a MA#2 time of 10.90. It's a performance that currently ranks him as one of the top 10 fastest freshman in the country.
Battling it out over one lap, Alex Rus of Newton North held off Nikolas Smith of Northampton to take the 400m in a strong MA#3 time of 49.06, while Smith took second with a new PR of 49.60.
LOUCKS GAMES
After a strong weekend double at the NY Relays a few weeks ago, Nicke Steele of Bromfield packed his bags and headed back to the Empire State for the highly competitive Loucks Games at White Plains HS. Toeing the line in the most competitive 3200m field assembled this year, Steele knew he just had to stick to his game plan and he would be in for a big performance. The star-studded race was eventually won in 8:47.6 by Noah Affolder of NY, who pulled two other runners under 8:50 and eight more under 9:00. While Steele came up just short of sub-9:00, he still finished 12th overall with a spectacular time of 9:04.20. We caught up with Nick post race and he shared a few words about the stacked race and his performance.
"It was awesome to be a part of the best 3200 in the country and the field really dragged me along. Not getting under 9 was a tough pill to swallow though. I was right on pace up until the bell but my arms died and I ran out of gas. I felt like I could run 8:55ish after my performances over the past month but I can't be disappointed with a 9:04."
-Nick Steele Sr. Bromfield, Post 9:04.2 performance at the 2016 Loucks Games
Not to be overlooked, Daniel Aschale of CRL competed in the unseeded section of the 3200m and walked away with a big personal best of 9:17.58 to take 20th overall. On the following day, fellow CRL runner Esu Alemseged had his own hands full in an equally deep mile field. Holding his own, Alemseged finished 2nd overall with a huge eight-second PR and new MA#1 time of 4:11.66
Continuing the trend of posting big MA#1 performances, Rodney Agyare-May of Burncoat HS was also present in NY this past weekend. After opening up his outdoor season with a relatively easy 50.15 victory at the New Bedford Sunset Invite, Agyare-May would need his A game if he wanted to walk away victorious for the second straight weekend. While he came up just short of the win, Rodney still took an excellent 2nd place with a near personal best time of 48.43!
Also taking advantage of the big-time competition in NY, Brianna Duncan of CRL was lights-out over the course of 48 hours. Starting things off in the triple jump, Duncan took a hard-fought 1st with a strong leap of 38'11". Returning twenty four hours later, Duncan was back at the track and out to secure wins in both the 100m and long jump. By days end, Duncan would not only have won both events, but she posted an outdoor best of 20'0" to win the long jump and an excellent 12.09 to win the 100m over a very competitive field. Due to Duncan's huge weekend, she would return to Cambridge with some serious hardware as the Outstanding Field Performer of the meet.
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ANDOVER BOOSTER MEET
You can find our full rundown on the Andover Boosters Meet HERE
NB TWILIGHT MEET
Taking on a slew of collegiate and post-collegiate athletes, AJ Ernst of Marblehead HS competed this past Saturday at the first NB Twilight Meet of the season at Bentley College. Coming off his thrilling 800m performance in Virginia, Ernst shifted up this weekend to toe the line in the 1500m. While he would be a bit off his personal best of 3:47.8, AJ still clocked in a respectable 3:56.5 to finish 18th overall. Equating to a 4:16.3 full mile, we imagine we will see Ernst back out in full force soon to try and improve upon his personal best of 4:13.5.