Carla Forbes set a new meet record of 19'9" in the long jump. (File photo)
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Massachusetts (MIAA) Division 1 Championships
Coverage
Team Highlights It’s no secret that major championships can be won with just a couple of incredibly talented athletes. If fact, the bigger the meet, the less depth you need as a team. This is definitely the case at Newton North where the Tigers are fortunate enough to have Carla Forbes and Kayla Wong to provide massive points in a variety of events. Forbes set a meet record in the long jump (19’9”) and won the 55m, while Wong was second in the 55m hurdles, and fourth in the long jump. But that’s where Newton North takes a departure from most teams. Newton North continues to accomplish what is unimaginable to most teams, and this time they may have outdone themselves. They scored 20 points in the long jump with four different girls contributing to the total (see the event highlights below). Most teams would be thrilled to score 20 points in a meet, or have one athlete in the finals of a major division championship. The depth was on display as a bevy of athletes assumed their role within the program for the greater good of the team. The entire situation speaks volumes about the character of the athletes and the trust they have in the coaching staff. Newton North ended the day with 66 points; a 22.5 point win over second place Lincoln-Sudbury. Although a majority of the total was the byproduct of Forbes and Wong, several girls contributed with smaller point totals and critical roles within relay teams. There was much more parity on the boys’ side as Acton-Boxborough had to seize any scoring opportunity that presented itself. A-B did not score a single point in the field events and Brian Sommers was the only sprinter to contribute to their 45 total points in an individual event. James Sullivan and Tim Cox delivered as expected —Sullivan won the mile and Cox was second in the 1000m—but it was two dead heat relays that decided the championship. A-B found themselves locked in a fierce race with Lowell during the 4x800m; an event with major implications because Lowell was in the hunt for a title at that point. Finishing just a fraction short, A-B would cross the line in second and have to settle for eight points. The setback would be minor, and the impact would only fuel a 4x400m squad that was hungry to close out the meet. This time, A-B would be on the positive end of the photo finish and winning the 4x400m sealed the team competition. A-B ended the day with 45 points, while Newton North and Lowell would tie for second with 40 points. It was one of the best team battles all season, and the intense drama created a fitting way to end a great weekend of competition at the Reggie Lewis Center
Event Highlights Catarina Rocha of Peabody opened the first scoring event of the meet by blasting the field to post a nearly 15 second win over Alex Giese of Franklin. Rocha crossed the line with a MA#3 time of 4:55.91, but still has the second fastest time in the state of 4:53.89 set at the McIntyre Elite meet last month. Giese (5:09.46) successfully held off Colleen Sands of Wachusett (5:10.50) to claim the silver. James Sullivan of Acton-Boxborough posted a MA#4 time of 4:15.33 to win the boys mile. Never afraid to run alone or control a race, Sullivan put a four second gap of Mike O’Donnell of Methuen who finished second in 4:19.86. Eight athletes ran under 4:30 and it took 4:27 or faster to score in the event. Maya Halprin-Adams of Cambridge R&L posted the fastest 600m time by a freshman this year (1:37.44) in winning section #4 of the event and it looked like she had a shot at making the podium. That is, until section #5 crushed the state rankings. Kendal Knous of Franklin won the event in a new meet record and MA#1 time of 1:34.15. Knous was followed closely by Laura Williamson of Wachusett who is now MA#3 with her 1:34.99 second place time. Five girls ran under 1:36, and Halprin-Adams ended-up 6th overall; a stellar showing for a freshman in such a deep field. Andre Rolim of Somerville made easy work of the boys 600m field, winning the event by over two seconds in 1:21.04. Hayden Frechette-McCall of Wachusett was second (1:23.21) and James McDermott of Xaverian was third (1:23.94). Rolim’s time is a new MA#1 and is currently ranked US#8. A pair of seniors were fairly dominant in their pursuit of the 1000m championships. Marika Crowe of Lincoln-Sudbury posted a MA#1 and NE#3 time of 2:55.82 to win the girls race by a significant margin, while Ben Groleau of Framingham put a two second gap on Tim Cox (Acton-Boxborough) and Michael McNaughton (Haverhill) to win his respective event with a MA#5 time of 2:30.10. Bryan Browne (St. John’s Prep) and Nathan Pierre-Louis (Waltham) needed every inch of the track to determine the 300m champion. Browne eventually edged Pierre-Louis by .06 to capture the title in 35.72. On the girls’ side, Maya Jarostchuk posted a MA#3 time of 40.94 to win by comfortable margin over Dominique Hall of Shrewsbury (41.65). Vanessa Clerveaux of Brockton, Nicole Genard of Somerville, and Kayla Wong of Newton North qualified 1-2-3 out of separate heats in the 55m hurdles. It was a sight reminiscent of the MSTCA Elite Meet where Genard edged Cleaveaux to set the state record at 8.00. This time, Clearvaux would get her revenge; posting the third fastest time in the state this season (8.05) and surpassing her own meet record of 8.20 from 2011. Wong finished in second (8.25) and Genard was third (8.36). As if doing battle in the hurdles wasn’t enough, Kayla Wong and Nicole Genard continued the fight at the long jump pit. Carla Forbes won the event with an astounding US #4 jump of 19’9”; followed by Melissa Darling of Weymouth in second (17’5.75”), Genard in third (17’3.5”), and Wong in fourth (16’10.75”). As impressive as Forbes’ jump was, it was almost overshadowed by the fact that Newton North put four athletes in scoring positions. In addition to Forbes and Wong, Kayla Prior finished 6th (16’7”) and Maeve Larkin was 7th (16’5.75”). All totaled, Newton North walked away with 20 points in the event! It looked like a rematch of the Division 1 Cross Country Championships with Mark Perry (Brookline), Chernet Sisay (Brookline), John Green (St. John’s Shrewsbury), and Nolan Parsley (Weymouth) loaded-up into the one and only section. Perry would get the win over teammate Sisay, 9:26.12 to 9:30.49. Green was not far behind in 9:32.01, and Parsley was roughly ten seconds back in 9:41.77. Noticeably absent from both distance races was Nick Christensen of Peabody who currently holds the #1 mile time in the state. Stephanie White of Billerica is now tied for the second best mark in the state after her winning toss of 39'3.5" in the shot put. Cambridge R&L teammates Brianna Davis (36’11”) and Anchella Bernard (36’7”) finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, to collect 14 team points in the event. Two miles of racing came down to a photo finish in the boys 4x800m relay. Lowell and Acton-Boxborough were separated by .05 at the line, but a look at the picture resulted in Lowell taking home the title. Both ran impressive times (8:00.62 to 8:00.67), with Andover not far behind at 8:05.17. The same was true in the 4x400m where Acton-Boxborough edged Newton North by .29 for the win (3:26.38 to 3:26.67). The two are now MA#1 and MA#2 with Franklin moving to MA#5 (3:28.50) after winning section #4 and finishing third overall. The girls 4x800m was not quite as eventful as Lincoln-Sudbury blistered the field to post a MA#1 winning time of 9:27.43. They are now ranked second in New England and the effort topped off an impressive double for Marika Crowe. Five athletes jumped over 21 feet as Yosa Nosamiefan of B.C. High took home the long jump title with a leap of 22’5.5”. Justin Callander of New Bedford was second (22’1.5”) and Kyle Darrow of Xaverian was third (21’10.25”). Gilberto Brown of Lowell improved on his season best by an inch when he cleared 6'8" to win the high jump. He moved up to MA#2 with the effort. Swardic Mayanja of Newton North now leads the state and all of New England with his 58’11.5” winning effort in the shot put. His mark also moves him up to US#11. Colin Hoey was an impressive second with a MA#3 mark of 55’5.25”. Hoey remains at MA#2 with his 56’3.5” throw from the MVC Championships last week. Chelmsford posted another incredibly consistent time in the boys 4x200m to retain the top spot in Massachusetts and win the event. Their 1:30.68 is a season best and just missed the meet record of 1:30.02 set by Andover in 2010.
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
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