BOSTON – Amherst Regional High School's Audrey Gould and Chicopee Comprehensive's Alex Niemiec went to the Division II state meet looking to do one thing: win.
Winning at the state level isn't easy/ Gould, however, made it look easy, while Niemiec saved his best for last.
Gould took the 2 mile in 11 minutes, 31 seconds, while Niemiec won the long jump on his final attempt with a leap of 21-feet-10 as they were crowned champions at the Reggie Lewis Center Thursday night.
The Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference automatically advanced three athletes to the all-state meet, and 10 other locals put themselves in excellent position to extend their season.
In order to proceed to the all-state meet, an athlete must place in the top three at a divisional meet or have one of the next-best 12 times from the four divisional meets combined (for a total of 24 athletes in each event).
Along with Gould and Niemiec, Cody Hodgins of Holyoke placed third in the mile to advance to the all-state meet, which will be held Feb. 26 back at the Reggie. Hodgins ran a 4:24.
Other athletes who are in position to move on are: Agawam's Ashley Monahan (fourth, 600, 1:39), Holyoke's Rachel Brochu (fourth, shot put, 36-11), Minnechaug's Jack DeVine (fourth, high jump, 6-0), Chicopee's Annmarie Flores (fifth, 55, 7.51), Amherst's Mel Delvoney (fifth, 2 mile, 11:57), Holyoke's Tyler Brunelle (fifth, 1,000, 1:25), Chicopee's Chris Roy (fifth, high jump, 6-0), Amherst's Sara Vannah (2 mile, sixth, 11:59), Amherst's James Traester (sixth, mile, 4:29) and Amherst's Jesse Coull (seventh, mile, 4:29).
Gould, competing at the divisional state meet for the fourth time, put her time aside and went for the win. She took the lead a half-mile into the race and led the rest of the way
“I was trying to win more than anything else because if I could get that done I could focus on time at the all-state meet,” said Gould, who entered as the top seed with an 11:16. “It worked out pretty well.”
It worked out more than pretty well, as Gould stayed strong the whole way and was never seriously threatened en route to earning the high spot on the podium.
“It's awesome,” Gould said. “I've been coming to the state meet since I was a freshman and I didn't think I'd make it this far. This is the first time I've made it to all-state.”
Niemiec, as usual, was busy. After tying for second in the high jump at 6-feet, he went right to the long jump, where he beat the field by 4.5 inches with a personal-best. He later ran on the 4x200 relay.
“I'm going to all-states for long jump and high jump,” said Niemiec, a junior. “I was disappointed after my high jump until I realized I'll have another chance at all-states.
“I'm pretty satisfied. I'm excited for all-states.”
In the boys mile, Hodgins got boxed in a bit at the start, fought his way into second and stayed there for the latter stages of the race before being passed in the final home stretch to settle for third. Hodgins missed the school record by one second, but the senior did advance to the all-state meet for the first time.
“My goal was to get the school record, but even though I didn't I'm still happy because making all-states is awesome,” Hodgins said. “Not many kids get to do it.”
Brochu had one of the biggest surprise performances of the meet, coming out of the 10th seed to take fourth in the shot put. It was her best throw by 2 feet, and she said she made the throw in honor of a former Holyoke athlete, Jonno Gray, a 2011 graduate and track athlete who died unexpectedly over the winter.
“He was like my coach, pretty-much, so I did it for him,” said Brochu, whose fourth-place finish was the best in Holyoke history for a girl at a state meet. “I thought of him when I was throwing.”
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