MIAA Girls Recap
DiMare, NDA-Hingham All State Champs !
Based on the seed sheet, Notre Dame Academy was not among the favored squads to win the girls’ title at the MIAA All-State Meet.
But the one thing that longtime coach Rick Kates instills in his athletes are the numbers don’t always tell the truth.
“I always told them don’t pay attention to the seeds, always pay attention to results,” Kates said. “Results is the only thing that we can capitalize on.”
The Cougars lived by those very words at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center on Saturday as the Hingham school earned its first-ever team title with a narrow 29-28 win over second-place Bishop Feehan. The top 10 teams in the meet were separated by a mere nine points.
“We thought we would score about 24 ½ points,” said Kates, whose squad finished third to Feehan at the Division 3 Championship last week. “But as you know, the stars have to align, everything has to go right. We just took care of our own business. The team score is always our last objective. We always want the kids to run their best, their personal best, and they did today. We had (three) school records. They rose to the occasion. Hats off to all of them.”
Things went well for the Cougars right from the start with junior Isabella DiMare setting the first school mark of the day with a victory in the 55-meter hurdles. DiMare, who was ranked sixth in the event, won with a time of 8.32 seconds, a PB by .23! She came back later in the meet and set her second school record of the day by finishing third in the 300 with a 40.0 clocking.
“They all shined in their own moment,” Kates said, “but winning the hurdles was a big surprise.”
In the hurdles, DiMare defeated Marshfield senior Ellen DiPietro, who was timed in 8.41 for second place. Milton’s Adrianne Higgins, the top seed, was in contention for the title until the senior stumbled over the final hurdle and never made it back up.
“I have been focusing on the 300 this season,” DiMare said. “This is just icing on the cake.”
The Notre Dame Academy runner had the fastest time in the prelims with a then-best of 8.40. She realized the chances were good for a win once the smoke cleared the starter’s gun in the finals.
“Coming right out of the blocks, I felt so great. I felt really great,” DiMare said. “All the hard work we put in since Day 1 has finally been able to pay off.”
Senior Amanda Reilly broke the third school record for Notre Dame with a third-place finish in the 55 dash. She was clocked in 7.15. Hopkinton senior Jessica Scott won the race at 7.04, a time that ties her for No. 11 on the national list.
Reilly also finished seventh in the long jump at 16-4 ½. Notre Dame solidified the crown by taking fourth in the 4x200 with DiMare, Reilly, sophomore Gabby Sillari and senior Gabby Kenyon combining for a season-best time of 1:45.98. Cambridge Rindge & Latin won the race in 1:44.07 with the quartet of Sydney Fisher, senior Jordan Poindexter, senior Kenlee Presume and junior Maya Halprin-Adams.
“I am just ecstatic for the girls,” Kates said. “They work hard. They do everything they have to do. Obviously today, they shined.”
The five-plus hour meet featured a number of outstanding performances, including a record in the 300 by Hingham junior Sierra Irvin. The talented speedster, who ranks seventh nationally in the event, broke the tape with a time of 39.04. Shrewsbury senior Dominique Hall was second at 39.88.
Although not a record, Dracut senior Karina Shepard won the 1,000 in a time that moves her to second in the country. The Stanford-bound runner posted a more than four-second win with a personal best time of 2:48.70. Finishing a distance second was Cambridge Rindge & Latin junior Maya Halprin-Adams at 2:53.17 (US #4).
Shepard was on a mission the second she left the starting line. She hit her first 400 at 66 seconds and was 2:14 at the 800.
“I was shooting for those splits,” she said. “I was probably aiming high for a 2:45ish. I saw that (800) split and was very excited. I was by myself so it was a little hard to push on that last lap so I ended up falling off the pace a little bit.”
Shepard is unsure whether she will compete at next weekend’s New England Championship. If she does, there’s a great possibility that the race will come down to the final stretch between the Dracut star and two-time defending champion and meet record-holder Maddy Berkson of Classical in R.I., Shepard’s future teammate at Stanford.
“I would love to race her because I think that we would both get a really awesome time,” she said, “but I don’t know if the New England’s is a best fit with my training for nationals (March 14-16) and stuff so I haven’t decided yet.”
Shepard also ran the anchor leg on her school’s first-place 4x800 team that was timed in 9:26.19. The foursome also included sophomore Rachel Fiores, junior Katie Colfer and senior Kaylee Shepard.
Marshfield’s Ellen DiPietro, the nation’s top high jumper, won her specialty with a leap of 5-8. She was close on all three of her attempts at 5-10, her all-time best set this year.
In the 600, Ursuline Academy junior Amy Piccolo defended her title with a winning time of 1:34.81. Senior teammate Merissa Wright was second at 1:35.75.
“I am pretty happy with it,” said Piccolo, who ran a best of 1:33.86 (US #8) at the MSTCA Elite Meet last month. “I was really sick this week so I haven’t been sleeping. I haven’t really been able to train at all. I was kind of just happy I finished.”
The Ursuline standout is focusing on another strong effort at next week’s New England’s, a meet she was second at last year. This year’s field includes three runners among the top nine in the country, Bishop Guertin (NH) senior Molly McCabe (US #7, 1:33.49), Barrington (RI) senior Abby Livingston (US #9, 1:33.96) and Piccolo.
“I am a little nervous for that meet because there is a lot of good competition,” she said. “But I am just hoping that everyone pushes each other to faster times.”
Distance ace Abbie McNulty of Bishop Feehan collected 18 points for the runner-up Shamrocks by winning the mile run with a PB of 4:55.25. She was also second in the two mile with a time of 11:02.53. Lowell sophomore Kaley Richards was second in the shorter race with a best of 4:57.8. She came back and defeated McNulty in the deuce with another best of 10:59.97.
In the mile, McNulty led the pack through the 800 at 2:31. She broke away from Richards with about two laps remaining.
“I didn’t want to go out too hard because I wanted to have enough energy at the end,” she said. “On the last two laps I really tried to kick it in. I felt good.”
Richards and McNulty turned the longer race into a two-person battle in the late stages. The Feehan star did most of the pace-setting with Richards hanging just a few meters behind. The tenth-grader made her move on the bell lap with an impressive kick.
“I ran the mile earlier so I wasn’t sure if I was going to do this but I figured, ‘Why not, I might as well do what I was capable of,’” she said. “I wasn’t going out there to lead it or anything. I was just going into it to see what I can do. I felt good staying with her. I just went at the end because I had a lot of energy left.”
Jessica Scott, a senior from Hopkinton, captured the long jump with a distance of 18-2.5. In the shot put, Newton North senior Michaela Smith earned the title with a heave of 42-0.75.
Mansfield won the final event of the afternoon by taking the 4x400 relay. The quartet of senior Maddie Oldow, junior Lindsay Goulet, sophomore Rachel Stier and junior Mikaila Amrantee combined for a time of 3:58.65. Lexington was second at 3:59.24.
Check out more MIAA All State Newton Sports Photography Images here