Coverage
Highlights
The Newton North girls needed the very last event to secure a close win over Andover. Carla Forbes contributed 20 individual points as she won the 55m (7.31) and the long jump (18'5.5). Then she anchored the 4x400m team, pulling away for the win and an additional 10 points. Their 4x400m time of 3:57.71 is a new meet record, new MA#1, and is #11 in the country.
The New Bedford boys, behind the inspiring performance of Phito Gondre, won the boys title by 10 points over Acton-Boxboro. Despite being visibly sick with pneumonia, Gondre won the 55m (6.61), the long jump (22'0"), and helped his team to a win in the 4x200m.
Kendal Knous (Franklin) set a new meet record in the 600m 1:34.43. Her time is #2 in the state and #6 in the country.
Vanessa Clerveaux (Brockton) set a new meet record in the 55m hurdles. Her time of 8.20 is just off her own state leading mark of 8.13.
Kathy O'Keefe (Newton South) won the mile in 4:59.59. She took over the race at 600m and continued to press the pace alone.
Tresley Dupont(Durfee) won the shot put over state leader Swardiq Mayanja of Newton North. Dupont's mark of 54'8" is second in the state. Mayanja was second at 54'7" and Don Caouette of Attleboro was 3rd at 53'4".
Sophomore Andre Rolim (Somerville)won his second consecutive 600m title in 1:22.05. He split 53.4 for 400m and just missed his own MA#2 time of 1:22.01. Rolim then ran a 49.2 split to hold off Brian Sommers of Acton-Boxboro and help his team win the 4x400m relay.
Andrea Keklak (Lincoln-Sudbury) set a new meet record in the 1000m at 2:49.88. She improved on her US#2 time of 2:50.15 and is just over 1 second behind national leader Claudia Francis of New York. Keklak split 65, 1:40, and 2:14 along the way.
Nick Staley (B.C. High) won his second consecutive high jump title at 6'6". There was a tie for 5th in the event between Adrian Cruz (New Bedford) and Cory Babinski (Westfield) who both jumped 6'2" and had the same exact number of misses at previous heights.
John Murray (Shrewsbury) led the 2 mile wire-to-wire and made 9:23.35 look easy as he ran negative splits of 4:43 and 4:40. His time is #2 in the state and #7 in the country. David Melly (Newton South)was second in 9:26.64 and Chernet Sisay (Brookline) was 3rd in 9:29.85.
Megan Ross (Franklin) and Maggie Mullins (Andover) were locked in a battle in the front pack of the girls 2 mile. Ross made a move with 5 laps to go and put a gap of 10 meters on Mullins. Then with 4 laps to go she made another move and put enough space between her and Mullins to secure the win. Her time of 11:03.19 is 3rd fastest time in the state.
The Peabody boys destroyed the second section of the 4x800m and earned a spot in the awards ceremony. Nick Christensen ran a fantastic anchor leg with eventually resulted in a 6th place finish at 8:16.65.
In the final section of the 4x800m Andover's Simon Voorhees exited the exchange in 3rd and unleashed a huge move in the last 250 meters to secure the win. Andover now leads the state at 8:06.22.
The Lincoln-Sudbury girls continue to dominate the state rankings after they posted a new MA#1 time in the 4x800m of 9:27.00. That time is also #11 in the country.
The Boys 1000m came down to the wire as 3 runners were separated by under a second. Curt Owen (Acton-Boxboro)led a late charge for the win in 2:32.28.
Josh Quinnie of Attleboro ran the 3rd fastest 55m hurdles time in the state of 7.58 for the win.
Isaiah Penn (Newton North) won the 300m in an MA#4 time of 35.70. He also ran a fantastic leg of the 4x400m, taking his team from last to second. He may have pulled-off the win if he had another 10 meters. He was so far back when he got the baton that nobody thought to get a split.