NEW ENGLAND NBON: GIRLS RECAP

New Balance Outdoor Nationals
Mike Miller

 

    Greensboro, NC is a long way from TF Green, Manchester, Logan, and Bradley International Airports, the most likely beginning points for the Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut contingents that headed down to New Balance Nationals to run this weekend. The distance didn’t seem to deter any of them from traveling, competing, and then dominating. For a part of the country that makes up a small fraction of its population, the damage it did was significant. Here are just some of the highlights from those states’ athletes that made the journey and competed in the championship events.

 

Girls Sprints/ Hurdles:       

  • Mansfield, MA's Jen Esposito took her section of the 400 meter hurdles in a PR 1:00.35, and then had to wait almost four hours to see if it would be enough. It was enough for 3rd, a fantastic effort and great finishing performance for the Elon-bound senior.
  •  Jaimee Dorsey (East Greenwich, RI) finished 10th in a deep 400 meters, running 55.60, just .5 seconds out of 4th place.
     

 Girls Distance       

  • The 800 was littered with New Englanders, including three in the top 10 and 6 in the top 20. Sydnee Over of Windsor, CT (2:08.66) was runner-up, behind only Raeven Rogers of Texas. Madeleine Berkson (2:10.82, Classical HS) and Molly Keating (2:11.21, LaSalle Academy), both of Providence, RI were 9th and 10th, respectively.
     
  •   Sarah Gillespie of Manchester, CT nearly made the podium out of the unseeded section of the Championship 1 mile, running 4:54.79 in taking 2nd place in her section. She was 8th overall, just ahead of Berkson, who completed a tough double in 5:05.97, good enough for 16th.
     
  •    Catarina Rocha (Peabody, MA) won her section of the Championship 2 mile, taking 13th overall (10:39.77). She was just ahead of Emily Stark (Concord, MA) who was 19th in 10:44.79, Paige Ethier (Wakefield, RI) in 22nd in 10:46.68, and Annika Gompers of Newton MA and Gann Academy, who was 27th in 10:48.09.
     
  •   The girls were also well repped in the 5000 meters on Thursday night, with Ella Martin of Woods Hole, MA and Falmouth Academy finishing 20th in 18:18.21 and Colleen Sands of Princeton, MA and Wachusett Regional taking 31st in 18:39.11.
     
  •   Bellingham, MA's Brittany Gappa (7:15.14) was 10th in the 2000 meter steeplechase on Saturday, just ahead of Annemarie Tuxbury (New Hartford, CT) in 14th (7:26.35).
     

Girls Jumps:

  •  It's hard to imagine there's anything left to say about Carla Forbes (Newton North HS, MA) that hasn't been said, but her successes keep writing themselves. Forbes used her 2nd jump of 42'9.5", a personal best, to take the triple jump by 7 inches on Friday. How about an encore? Jumping 19'9" on Saturday to win the long jump will do just fine. The incredibly consistent Forbes had five jumps over 19 feet. Janae Wilson of Windsor, CT was 7th, jumping 18'8" as well.
     
  •  Dakota Dailey-Harris of Providence, RI (LaSalle Academy) was the only high jumper perfect through 5'8.75", which was good enough to bring home the gold for the senior. Wachusett, MA's Amy Collins and Uxbridge MA's Emily Cahill were tied for 10th, each clearing 5'4.5" in the event.

Girls Throws:

  • Leia Mistowski (Narragansett, RI) took 8th in the Championship Hammer throw (149'5"), just one inch and one place ahead of neighbor Ann Dagrin (Providence, RI).    
  •  Ellie Garivitte (Ridgefield, CT) trook All-America honors with a 6th place 132'4" heave in the javelin. Allison LaPorte (New Milford, CT) and Elyse Rubchinuk (Newport, NH) finished off the top 10, tossing 123'9" and 121'6" in the process.
     
  •    RI continued its strong showing in the throws with Katja Neves of Providence, taking 8th in the discus (129'11"). You know what they say... small state, big throws.
  •    Elizabeth Bray (Mattapan, MA) out of Wakefield HS took 8th in the shot put, tossing it 41'1", just inches away from the podium. Stealing the shot put show, though, was Katja Neves, who won the Emerging Elite section of the event in 42'6.75", a toss that would have given her 4th place overall.

 
Girls Heptathlon:       

  • Betsy Garnick (Pelham, NH) rode a 14.27 100 hurdles and a 25.56 200 meter time to 5th place in the Heptathlon, good enough for 4475 points and an All-America crown. The Bishop Guertin junior did what every god multi-eventer has to do- avoiding that one bad event.

Girls Relays:
 

  •  Concord-Carlisle, MA (1:05.39) and New Bedford, MA (1:02.25) won the first two sections of the shuttle hurdles, with NB taking 8th overall. A fantastic anchor leg from Melissa Isidor sealed the fate of the NB girls team
  •  Bloomfield, CT ran 48.44 to qualify for the finals of the 4x100 meter relay, finishing 8th, the same as their finals seed. The foursome of Hamilton, Jones, Red, and Relerford did make the podium in the 4x200, though, finishing 5th in a scorching 1:42.28.
  •   Norwich Free Academy (CT) was the top regional finisher in the girls Championship 4x400, coming in 15th in 3:55.32. They won the first section, thanks in part to a fast 57.15 closing leg out of Dyshelle Pemberton, and the whole group retuns for another shot next year.  
  •  La Salle (RI) led the girls 4x800 brigade, with three N.E. teams in the top 10. Molly Keating's scorching 2:08 leg anchored them to 5th in 9:07.30. Sarah burke and Molly McCabe each ran 2:11 splits for Bishop Guertin, who took 5th in 9:10.30, and Hamilton-Wenham (MA) used great balance and a 2:13 anchor from Emily Senning to finish 10th in 9:11.52.

  • The 4 x mile featured three Mass. teams in a row, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Leading the way were the All-Americans from Lincoln-Sudbury, running 21:17.25. Weston's Wild Kittens put together an outstanding race for 7th in 21:22.27, and Hamilton-Wenham came back from the Friday night glory to win the slow section, taking 8th overall (21:28.28).        
  •  Wachusett (MA) Regional won their section of the 1600 meter sprint medley in 4:01.75, hanging on for 3rd overall. Laura Williamson's 2:11.48 anchor split sealed an excellent run. CT's Norwich Free Academy took 9th in 4:04.28.
  • Three Mass. teams ran strong DMR races in the early section on Saturday AM, all waiting for the evening race, sitting top 4. Peabody used a Catarina Rocha anchor split of 5:06 to 12:21.56 for 9th. Concord-Carlisle ran 12:35.10 for 11th, holding off a hard-charging Molly Barker of Weymouth (5:17 split), who took 12th in 12:36.67.