Last Week in Review: Wachusett, Lowell, Rockland and Newton North set relay records

May 02, 2011

Relays and records were the story of the week as the Penn Relays, District E Relays, and MSTCA State Relays all fell on the same weekend. Many teams were conflicted regarding what meet to attend, but several ambitious programs were not going to let a little scheduling overlap keep them from enjoying some of the best meets in the region.

Notre Dame Academy of Hingham started their week with the Catholic Conference League dual meet on Tuesday, and then boarded a train for the Penn Relays on Thursday. They returned to Hingham on Thursday night, attended school on Friday, and then loaded up the vans and headed for the Anthony Luciano Invitational in Hudson Falls (NY) on Friday afternoon. In four days, they traveled over 1,100 miles, attended 3 meets, and produced some impressive results.

Jen Esposito of Mansfield tackled a similar schedule; running at the Penn Relays on Thursday evening and then returning to Massachusetts to help her team at the Division 2 Relays on Saturday. Esposito ran a MA#1 and US#6 time of 61.54 in the 400m hurdles at Penn, and was an integral part of the Mansfield teams that won the Sprint Medley, the 4x200m, and the Triple Jump at the MSTCA Division 2 Relays. Despite the hectic schedule, Esposito posted marks of 58.4 (400m), 24.3 (200m), and 35’5” (triple jump) on Saturday.

Wachusett decided to stay closer to home, but their schedule was just as daunting. On Saturday they won the boys’ District E Distance Medley (10:49.8) for the first time in school history, and then on Sunday, they set a new All-Class record in the Distance Medley at the Division 1 MSTCA Relays. Their MA#1 and US#32 time of 10:25.98 just edged the 1972 record of 10:26.80 set by Norwell. In that record setting race, Colin Bennie split 3:10 for 1200m; Hayden Frechette-McCall split 50.3 for 400m; Alex Jagelsky split 2:00 for 800m; and Jeremy Bennie split 4:24 for 1600m.

Here are some other notable performances from the week:

Rockland broke a 36- year-old meet record in the 4x100m at the MSTCA Division 4 Relays. The team of Tim Fitzgerald, Ian Peuser, Tim Gibson, and Terrence Gibson crushed the field in 43.86; a time that is now MA#3.

Lowell set three school records at the Division 1 Relays. The 4x1600m team of Mike Giardina, Alex Andujar, Patrick Coppinger, and Nathan McCarthy won the event in 18:10.77 and broke the old school record by 19 seconds. The 100m shuttle hurdle team of Josh McGlauflin, Gilberto Brown, Josh Ouellette, and Ikenna Adigwe also won their event and set a new school record of 1:05.73. And finally, the DMR team of Coppinger, McCarthy, Giardina and John Bahou would combine for a third school record (10:42.19) and a second place finish.

Kyle Quinn of Somerset unleashed a massive 204'9" throw in the javelin to finish 3rd in the Championship section. His mark is US#4 and MA#1 by 34 feet!

John Murray of Shrewsbury appeared to be in control of the 3000m until Morgan Pearson of Delbarton School (IL) broke away from the pack and split the next 800m in 2:09. Murray would finish 3rd in 8:27.00; a time that converts to 9:07.41 for 2 miles.

The Lincoln-Sudbury Distance Medley team of Marika Crowe (3:38.3), Tori Kohler (61.8), Megan Broecker (2:23.3), and Andrea Keklak (4:57.73) finished 7th in the Championship Division at the Penn Relays. Their time of 12:01.15 is the fastest in the state this season.

Kalli Arbour of Monson won the pole vault and set school records in the 100m (12.5) and 200m (27.2) in their win against Palmer.

Rachel Ivil of Weymouth set a school record of 36’0” in the shot put in their win over Braintree.

Sean O’Brien of Algonquin broke his own school record in the 400m hurdles (59.4) in their win against Wachusett.

Carl Joseph of Brockton celebrated his birthday in style. The first year track athlete remained undefeated on the season in the high jump; winning the event in 6’4” against Dartmouth.

Viviana Hanley of Bishop Feehan won the 2 mile in 11:02 in a dual meet against Coyle & Cassidy.

Becky Stoyle decided to attend UMass Amherst in the fall and celebrated the occasion by winning the 100m (12.7), the 200m (25.7), the long jump (15’11.5”), and the triple jump (38’6.5”) against Middleboro.

Brett Buskey of Blackstone-Millville is quietly setting some impressive sprint marks this spring. He won four events against Whitinsville Christian; posting marks of 10.4 (wind aided 100m), 23.0 (200m), 42’1” (shot put), and 18’5” (long jump).

After taking the winter off from racing, Drew Beck of Oliver Ames made an impressive return to the track at the Division 2 State Relays. Oliver Ames would jump out to an early lead in the 4x1600m Relay and Beck would receive the baton with a 60m lead over Shayne Collins of Mansfield. Beck’s 4:33 split was enough to hold off a late charge by Collins who split 4:24. Beck would return later that day to help his team to another win in the 4x800m.

Newton North broke the 1979 New Bedford 4x400m record of 4:00.10 by winning the event in 3:59.61 at the Division 1 relays. Andover also finished under the meet record; clocking in at 3:59.94.

Here is a look at the rest of the week:

Anthony Luciano Invitational

On-Site Coverage

Photos: Anthony Luciano Invitational by MSMA

Meet Results

Girls Highlights

Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) finished 8th out of 30 teams with 25 points total.
Shauna Owen won the 400m hurdles in 67.62.
Marypat Henry finished 3rd in the javelin with a throw of 86'4".
Tori Kenyon finished 4th in the 100m; clocking in at 13.53.