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For the first time in the five years Weymouth has played host to the Bay State Conference Championship, a welcome guest peaked his head in on the festivities- the sun. Normally contested under cold and rainy conditions, this year's conference meet was run in near perfect weather at Weymouth High School, giving way to a slew of impressive performances on both sides.
The meet began with the girls 2 mile, an event not very hotly contested by the league's top runners, and dominated form start to finish by Weymouth freshman Ashley Betts (11:50.67), finishing 34 seconds ahead of the field. Betts led from the gun, and the early fast pace may have led to sower times, but a dominant effort from the young Wildcat nonetheless. A much closer finish was in store for the boys race, as Chernet Sisay 99:48.96) outlasted Walpole's Zach Ganshirt (9:53.09) and Warrior teammate Mark Perry (10:00.39) for the win. The three maintained contact throughout the race before Sisay made a late move for the win, in what might prove to be a nice tuneup for a big race a week from Saturday.
The girls 400 hurdles proved to be the closest race on the day, as top seed Jen Kimball got off to a slow start (65.54) and gave way to a two-way finish line lunge between eventual winner Ali Hurwitz of Newton North (64.98) and Wellesley's Karla Ganley (64.99). To demonstrate how impressive Hurwitz's win was, she had just a week earlier been beaten by Kimball by almost 3 seconds, before regaining her form to win a league title. Hurwitz (35'7.5>") and Kimball (35'6") would duke it out again at the triple jump pit for 2nd and 3rd, well behind winner Carla Forbes (39'6.5"), who looked locked in from the start. Forbes also returned to win the long jump (18'.75") and Ganley bested the field in the high jump (5'5"). The boys 400 hurdles was all Tyler Mulcahy from start to finish, taking the win in 55.29, 2 seconds ahead of Natick's Andrew Culkin. Mulcahy would come back to place 2nd in the triple jump (42'2.5") behind only Newton North's David Oluwadara (43'1"). Weymouth's Khary Bailey-Smith (6'4") was the winner in the high jump and long jump (21'9.75"), winning the latter by over a foot ahead of Dedham's Colby Flis.
Another nip-and-tuck race came in the girls mile, where Newton North's Evie Heffernan (5:18.07) and Weymouth's Julie Tevenan (5:21.62) battled early on, before each giving way to a furious kick from Walpole's Gina Conti (5:16.62), who was able to hold on for the win, thanks in large part to a move she made with 200 meters to go. After drafting off Tevenan and slipping by her on the final lap, Conti hunted down Heffernan, easily moving to her outside at what seemed like the perfect time. The boys mile saw a similar race develop, as Ben Groleau of Framingham (4:16.34) and Justin Keefe of Newton North (4:22.12) were stride for stride with a lap to go before Groleau opened up a 30 meter lead in the final 300 meters. Groleau looks to be in frightening shape at this point, as he even came back to run the 400 (51.43) for good measure.
Meghan Bellerose (58.98) dominated the 400 meters over Brookline freshman Rhyanna Freeman (60.07) and Natick standout Laurie Femmel (60.84), who is returning to form after battling a tough ankle injury for much of the season. The boys 400 was quite an affair, with Newton North's Ryan Lucken (50.33) outdeuling surprise Kevin Walsh of Needham (50.73), as well as Bo Lewis of Framingham (50.80) and Weymouth's Dave Harrison (50.99). Lucken has the league's fastest time this year, and is a top contender in Division I, behind Waltham's Pierre Louis, who has now dipped below 48 seconds.
The girls 800 was a unique race, in that the 3rd place finisher, Weymouth's Morgan Fitzgibbon (2:24.99) came out of the unseeded section, nearly stealing the whole thing. Instead, Wellesley's Carlijn Wagenaar (2:23.86) beat Sonja Jampel of Newton North (2:24.17) and the ghost of Fitzgibbon to take the win. North's Maeve Greeley and Cookie Koch (2:25 apiece for 4th and 5th) and Weymouth's Molly Barker, Allison Brady, and Bridget Jaklitsch (2:27, 2:27, 2:28) made up the rest of the placers, showing impressive depth from these two teams. The boys 800 was another solid race, with Brookline teamates Evan Sternstein (2:00.17) and Matt Goroff (2:00.46) taking the top two slots over Wellesley's James Eisenstein (2:00.93) in a furious finish. It should be pointed out that Brookline wins the Gentlemen Award, as Sisay and Sternstein always go out of their way to compliment the meet hosts, something Coach Mike Glennon, whose MSTCA Hall of Fame induction os this Sunday, should be very proud of.
The sprint races went essentially to chalk on the girls side. Natick's Danielle Mitchell (12.50) was able to run away from the field in the 100, ahead of Wellesley's Emily Ryan (12.80). Ryan took another silver in the 200 (26.61) behind only teammate Carly Daniel (25.76), who was within range of Sarah Meeks's 1992 BSC record of 25.0h. Kayla Wong (15.19) was also an easy winner in the 100 hurdles. Newton North also took the 4x100 (50.61) and 4x400 relays (4:12.25), taking both out of unseeded sections due to a clerking error.
The boys 100 was dominated by PJ Hayes of Walpole (11.14), who was never threatened in either of his runs. Matt Powers of Natick won the 200 in 23.16, well ahead of Weymouth sophomore standout Tyler O'Brien (23.74), and Powers helped the Red and Blue win the 4x100 in a dominat 44.50. Walpole's Connor McCarthy made it a straigtaway sweep with his win in the 110 hurdles (15.76), nearly a second ahead of the field. It was Chuck Ajemian's Milton squad that stole the show in the 4x400 (3:32.48), which should be no surprise, as Ajemian makes no bones about what his favorite event on the track is- the 400.
The throwing events were spirited affairs as well, as 5 girls over 108' battled it out in the javelin, with Norwood freshman Amy Duggan (118'6") taking the win ahead of Natick's Liz Bruns (115'). Newton North's Lucia Grigoli completed the rare high jump-discus double, winning the disc in a PR 103'9", three feet ahead of natick's Amanda Singer. But the throw of the day, and perhaps the performance of the day, came from Weymouth's Nostia Amazan in the shot put. Amazan led from her first throw of 37'1, but dug deep on her final toss to go 39'4", ahead of the field by three feet, despite a great last toss from Newton North sophomore Michaela Smith (36'7"). Amzan used a downhill slope to her benefit, but the final throw was one of the best in Mass. so far this season.
Perhaps the boys most outstanding athlete should go to Swardiq Mayanja, winning the shot put in a return to indoor form, tossing it 56'3", a bit better than Dedham's Reggie Laroche, who went 54'6" himself. The North senior then came back in the discus to throw 148'8", a 23 foot win in that event. Newton North throws coach Mike Bower made it a sweep when sophomore Nick Fofana (161'10") narrowly defeated Ian Riley of Needham (159'5") in the javelin.
The meet is not team scored, although if it was, it would be hard to argue with Newton North's boys and girls teams as winners. The girls would have garnered 147 points, with the boys taking 103 of their own.
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