Shelby Aarden pretty much figured that the BAA Scholastic Mile would come down to herself and defending champion Lauren Hazzard, who just happens to be Aarden's Hopkinton High teammate. Both runners had experience in the unique race on the streets near the marathon finish line and they sported the fastest two mile times in the field.
The pair fronted a big pack through the first two laps and were side by side over the final 80 meters until Aarden pulled just enough ahead to win in 5 minutes, 25 seconds. Hazzard was two steps back in 5:25.7 with Natick's Sarah Lagan running well to take third overall in 5:29.6. "It's a good course, but you have to save your strength for the last lap," said Aarden. "You really got to kick and it's awesome to have the crowd cheering you on. We were planning to sticking together and seeing how it would end. I let my legs take over (on the final turn) and kicked to the end."
Hazzard would have liked to repeat her title, but was happy with the effort and Aarden's win. "It was definitely a big goal, but more important was winning the team award," said Hazzard. "This was our fourth year in a row (winning the team title). I tried to take it from the start and push it. It came down to a kick and Shelby had a better one."
Lagan, who was second her sophomore year, was ecstatic with her third-place finish behind the talented Hopkinton duo and made sure she savored the event. "It's such a great event and it's great that the BAA gives us the opportunity to run," Lagan said. "I feel so greatbul to be able to do it. I went out with the Hopkinton girl and she wound up winning it so I had the same strategy. I knew I had to stay with Hopkinton. It was nice just being able to tuck in behind them. I could just try to stick with them and pace myself."
Lagan has narrowed her college choices to Harvard and Notre Dame and would like to compete as a walk on. "I'll just have to see what happens."
Framingham's Kristin DeVellis was fourth in 5:38.8, followed by Newton's Cat Teasdale's 5:51 for fifth place.
Framingham's Mike McDonald forced the pace from the start and improved on his fourth-place finish from last year to take the boys' race in 4:41.2. Brookline's Emmanuel D'Agostino was second in 4:44.8 and Newton North's Siddharth Nizamuddin took third in 4:47.4 to make it a clean sweep for the Bay State Conference.
"My coach sent a mass email to my town saying I was going to win so there was a ton of pressure on me," said McDonald with a grin. "I felt good. It was a little easier than I thought it would be.
Nizamuddin, who was running for the first time, didn't want the leaders to get out of strking distance. "It's a really nice race," he said. "I was in there with my freiends so I was pretty comfortable. It was just a good time. I wanted to hang on and see what I had left. I'll run the mile, 800, 2 mile (this spring). Whatever they throw me in."
D'Agostino didn't leave anything on the table over the final 80 meters and finished strong for the bronze medal. "We're all in the same conference and I was terrified they were just sitting on me so I booked it at the end," he said. "It was great racing weather. I'm very happy with it (second) and I'm glad a great guy won it. Everyone loves Mikey."
John Lara was a strong fourth in 4:47.4, just a step behind Nizamuddin, and Newton's Ben Weingart was fifth in 4:50.3.
Girls 1 Mile Run Relay Scholastic
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Name Year Team Finals
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Finals
1 Shelby Aarden Hopkinton 5:25.0
2 Lauren Hazzard Hopkinton 5:25.7
3 Sarah Lagan Natick 5:29.6
4 Kristin DeVellis Framingham 5:38.8
5 Cat Teasdale Newton 5:51.0
6 Lucy Matzilevich Framingham 5:55.4
7 Matia Whiting Newton 5:55.4
8 Alannah O'Brien Boston 5:56.8
9 Alex Bardon Brookline 5:59.2
10 Madison Zeliff Ashland 6:03.3
11 Kylie Griffin Wellesley 6:04.4
12 Britney Firmin Boston 6:06.9
13 My-Linh DeBonis Natick 6:07.6
14 Lindsay Harris Wellesley 6:32.2
15 Anni Moore Ashland 6:32.6
16 Eliza McNay Brookline 6:32.8 |
Boys 1 Mile Run Relay Scholastic
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Name Year Team Finals
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1 Mike McDonald Framingham 4:41.2
2 Emmanuel D'Agostino Brookline 4:44.8
3 Siddharth Nizamuddin Newton 4:47.4
4 John Lara Boston 4:47.9
5 Ben Weingart Newton 4:50.3
6 Dylan Jones Natick 4:50.8
7 Graham King Natick 4:53.3
8 Andrew Harrod Framingham 4:55.7
9 Evan Park Hopkinton 4:56.4
10 Chris Schenker Hopkinton 4:56.7
11 Kenneth Holman Boston 5:03.1
12 Nick Davis Ashland 5:04.3
13 Alexander Mariona Ashland 5:07.1
14 David Segall Wellesley 5:08.0
15 Jeremy Margolis Brookline 5:08.1
16 Andrew Wink Wellesley 5:10.2