124 National Elite performances!
Rebecca Robinson (Arlington) was involved in two of the most highly anticipated events of the day; the 300m featuring Jen Esposito of Mansfield (who recently ran 56.62 for 400m), and the 55m featuring Carla Forbes of Newton North. She won both, and certainly earned her Athlete of the Meet award. Her 300m time of 39.27 was a new meet record and #7 in the nation. In addition, her 55m time of 7.19 is the #1 fully automatic time in the state.
Carla Forbes (Newton North) was named Field Event Athlete of the Meet. In addition to her second place finish in the 55m, Carla set a new meet record in the long jump at 19'1". Her mark is #2 in the nation.
Andrea Keklak (Lincoln-Sudbury) was named Runner of the Meet. After her amazing performance last week at the Yale Track Classic where she ran a 4:49 mile split, Andrea dropped back down to the 600m and set a new meet record and US#1 time of 1:32.95.
Kristen McDonagh (Mansfield) is now tied for the best high jump mark in the nation at 5'9". That event had 13 girls at 5'2" or better.
Maggie Mullins (Andover) and Megan Ross (Franklin) went to battle in the 2 mile. Ross took the lead after the first lap and paced the duo to a 5:27 mile split. Mullins took over with 800m to go and opened a 5 meter gap on Ross. That gap grew to 10 meters with 3 laps to go but Ross quickly countered. Then, in the final lap, Mullins exploded out of the bottom corner and pulled away for the win. Mullins remains undefeated on the season and her time of 10:59.82 is #1 in the state and #9 in the nation. Ross was a close second in 11:02.91 for the #2 time in the state and #11 time in the nation.
Freshman sensation Colleen Sands (Wachusett) ran like a veteran against two of the best milers in the state. Viviana Hanley (Bishop Feehan) and Catarina Rocha (Peabody) seemed overly concerned with each other and forgot that Sands was quietly sitting 3 meters back. Sands set-up a move in the top corner and took over the lead heading into the final lap. She split 75 seconds for her final 400m en route to a 5:06.29 winning time. Rocha was second (5:08.14) and Hanley was third (5:10.07).
Jen Esposito (Mansfield) would avenge her loss in the 300m by anchoring her Mansfield team to a 4x200m win. She ran an unofficial split of 25.0.
No Massachusetts invitational is complete without a big performance from Kathy O'Keefe (Newton South). O'Keef won the 1000m in 2:55.54 and then anchored the Newton South 4x800m team in 2:14.1. Her 1000m time is #4 in the nation.
MileSplitMass will be back on-site tomorrow with live results and meet coverage of the boys events. The top 24 athletes in each event from today's meet qualify for the McIntyre Elite meet on February 6, 2011 at the Reggie Lewis Center.
124 National Elite performances!
Rebecca Robinson (Arlington) was involved in two of the most highly anticipated events of the day; the 300m featuring Jen Esposito of Mansfield (who recently ran 56.62 for 400m), and the 55m featuring Carla Forbes of Newton North. She won both, and certainly earned her Athlete of the Meet award. Her 300m time of 39.27 was a new meet record and #7 in the nation. In addition, her 55m time of 7.19 is the #1 fully automatic time in the state.
Carla Forbes (Newton North) was named Field Event Athlete of the Meet. In addition to her second place finish in the 55m, Carla set a new meet record in the long jump at 19'1". Her mark is #2 in the nation.
