Massachusetts (MIAA) Division 4 Championships
Coverage
- Results
- Race Videos - More will be added as they become available
- Photos - Will be added as they become available
Team Highlights
Norwell has approximately just 20 girls on their indoor track team. But winning championships is about quality not quantity. Two athletes from Chuck Martin’s squad had a massive impact on the team point totals and distinguished themselves as dominant competitors in the division. Danielle Griffin won the 600m (meet record), 300m, and finished 5th in the long jump. Nikki Dempsey won the long jump, the 55m, and helped her 4x200m relay team finish third. Together, they were responsible for 50 of the team’s 52 total points. But they were not alone on the day. Allie DeBenedictis contributed the remaining two points to the team total with her 7th place finish in the 55m hurdles, and several other Norwell girls finished just outside scoring contention. Ursuline Academy finished second in the team standings with 35 points and Weston was thrid with 31 points.
As usual, the Newburyport boys were impressive in the distance races; collecting 15 points in the 2 mile, 16 points in the mile, and 8 points in the 4x800m. But they were not one dimensional in their attack. The Clippers received much needed points from Steve Preston in the shot put (4th place), John O’Neil in the 55m hurdles (2nd place), and a 4x400m relay team that closed out the win with a third place finish. Weston put a scare in the rest of the field when they collected 20 points in the long jump, but Newburyport stayed the course, scoring in 9 of the 13 contested events for 67 total points. Weston finished in second with 39.5 points and Whitinsville Christian (32 points) grabbed third from Doublas by a point.
Event Highlights
Alexia Lipman of Bromfield held-off a slew of challengers in the 1000m to win the event in a MA#2 time of 2:57.67. She now trails Marika Crowe of Lincoln-Sudbury for the top spot in the state by just .01. Lexi Buonfiglio (Lynnfield), Jennifer Markham (Lunenburg), and Meghan Grela (Ursuline) all ran sub 3 minutes, while freshman Brooke Hansel finished 5th in 3:05.82 to give Lunenburg two athletes in the top ten.
A pair of freshman dominated both mile championships. Olivia Lantz (Manchester Essex) held off Olivia Brackett (Weston) by less than a second to secure the title in 5:10.05. On the boys’ side, Nick Carleo of Newburyport posted the fastest time of the year for his class (4:26.92) to edge Nickolas Kronauer of Bromfield (4:27.50) for the win.
Sabrina Silva continues the fantastic season that has included several revisions of the Mahar High School record books. This time, she won the shot put by almost four feet with a toss of 36’8.5”.
Emily Cahill of Uxbridge is now tied for the top spot in Massachusetts with her winning clearance of 5’6” in the high jump. Cahill also finished second in the 55m hurdles to Ally Saccone of Old Rochester who posted an 8.41 in the prelims and then returned to win the event in 8.50.
It was a blanked finish in the 55m with Kelvin Danquah (Holy Name) and Jake Foynes (Douglas) finishing with identical 6.71 times. Danquah would get the win when the time was broken down to 6.708 to 6.710. Adding to the drama, Conner McDermott (East Bridgewater) challenged for the win at 6.72, and Charley Petit (Norwell) was a very close fourth in 6.77.
Hamilton-Wenham was able to get the best of pre-race favorite Lunenburg in a very close battle for the girls 4x800m championship. H-W cruised to a MA#4 time of 9:39.96 to secure the win and hold off Lunenburg who finished second in 9:40.00. Narragansett was third in 9:42.41, but they retain the top spot in the state with their 9:35.40 clocking from the Division 4 State Relays. H-W's time just missed the meet record of 9:39.54 set back in 2001 by Bromfield.
Craig Shytle of Weston won the long jump by three inches over Tim Brutto of St. Peter Marian with a jump of 21’3.5”; but that was not the most amazing part. Weston put three athletes in the top five with Spencer Shea finishing third (20’1.5) and James Yan in fifth (19’6.25), providing the team with 20 important points.
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.