"I thought our field events would be very strong and we'd do some special things in the running events," said North Attleboro head coach Scott Holster. "I thought we could win it. It was just a matter of how good a team Amherst-Pelham had to challenge us." North Attleboro beat Amherst-Pelham in the long jump (17.86) to clinch the team win with 46 points for its first win since 2010.
North Attleboro owned the infield with a 27.96 in the 4x50 hurdles, well ahead of runner-up Hopkinton's 30.27. The team also won the high jump at 17-2-1/4. Fitchburg took the shot put win with a school-record mark of 127-4-1/2.
Bishop Feehan's girls dedicated the meet to former coach Dom Curano who passed away last year and came away with a win over Hingham with 58 points. The Harbormen put up 48 points for second. The Shamrocks had big wins in the 4x50 dash (24.74) and sprint medley (4:13.77).
"It really meant a lot," said Bishop Feehan head coach Paul Powell. "It's been a long time since we won this thing. About halfway through I figured it would come down to us and Hingham."
Notre Dame head coach Rick Kates loves the two weeks of divisional relay meets near the midway point of the winter season because of the "team environment" that descends on the Reggie Lewis Center.
Of course sterling performances by his Cougar squad, Kates admits, makes the State Div. 3 Relays all the more sweeter.
After capturing the 4x55 hurdles the night before at the Eastern Coast Invitational where they defeated strong Andover and North Reading clubs, the foursome of Julia Marshall, Isabella DiMare, Gabby Sillari and Katie Mohr was at it again yesterday morning. The talented quartet blazed its way to a division record of 29.93 on the RLC infield to cap a enormously succesful weekend.
"They were nervous last night," said Kates. "It was really competitive. We were excited with the win. They're all really good hurdlers and were pretty confident coming in (today)."
Notre Dame never trailed on the way to easily defeating runner-up Hopkinton (30.60) and Belmont (31.25) for the gold medal. Cross-town rival Hingham also stamped its mark by capturing the 4x200 in a meet record 1:44.40. North Attleboro got into rewriting the record books as well, winning the girls' long jump with a mark of 47-11.
Hingham also had a huge win in the 4x400, blazing its way to a 3:59.79. Winchester was a distant second in 4:06.39 and Bishop Feehan clocked a 4:07.40 for third. Notre Dame (H) won the distance medley by 10 seconds in 12:31.13 and Hopkinton clocked a 9:42.69 for a win in the 4x800. Belmont took the high jump at 14-4-3/4 and Dartmouth put up a 99-1 to take the shot put.