She felt rusty, more than a little off in her gazelle-like approach to the bar and sluggish on the Reggie Lewis Center infield. And prior experience on the indoor circuit tells Wachusett’s Amy Collins that’s exactly where she wants to be in the infancy of a new season. The real work is still in front of her.
The defending champion in the indoor and outdoor high jump, the Wake Forest-bound Collins didn’t approach her personal best of 5 feet, 8-1/4 inch, but her solid leap of 5-4 was more than enough to easily win her specialty at yesterday’s MSTCA Winter Festival Large Schools Invitational.
“I haven’t really started doing speed work yet,” said Collins. “I’ve been working on leaning into the bar. It’s early. It’s like; let’s remember how to do this. I’m just trying to get back into things.”
Collins is serious about defending her title this winter, evident by her new chiseled frame that she believes will give her an added edge in the high jump pit. “I do a lot of lifting,” she said. “I love lifting. It definitely helps me a lot in the high jump. If I’m jumping really well now, I won’t be doing it later.”
Lexington’s Cassie Peterson will have to reassess her goals for the season after slicing seven seconds off her personal best in the mile with a time of 5:29.88. Peterson ran comfortably behind the front runners before blowing past Jennifer Pisarik on the back straightaway and sprinting home. Pisarik held on for second in 5:30.66 and Kyra Shreeve of Algonquin was third in 5:32.87.
The ninth seed coming in, Peterson didn’t think she had a shot at a win until the final 400 meters. “I wanted to PR so I tried to stay with the pack,” said Peterson. “I wanted to see how I felt halfway then keep moving up. I stayed calm and relaxed on the back straightaway.”
The boys’ race wasn’t nearly intriguing as Tewksbury’s Thomas Cory pulled away at 800 meters and muscled his way to a 4:32.15 victory. Quinn Cooney of Chelmsford finished second in 4:37.99 and Liam Dow of St. John’s Prep took third in 4:40.43.
Cory didn’t panic after getting boxed in in the early going.
“It was a little slow in the beginning and I got boxed in. I picked it up after that so it would be a faster race. A couple of years ago my coach told me that I had to lift. Ever since then I’ve been going in the weight room and I can feel the difference. I feel so much better.”
Newton North high jumper Nick Fofana outdueled Revere’s Tarik Maddrey in a jump off, winning with a 6-2 effort. The victory came after a disappointing 5-11 leap earlier in the week in a Bay State Conference dual meet. “Yesterday I stayed after practice and put some extra work in and it paid off,” said Fofana. “I jumped 5-11 in a dual meet and was like, why is that? It’s early. I have to work on my takeoff and the run. My takeoff needs more explosiveness. I’m really happy with the win.”
Isaac Yiadom of Doherty lowered his best in the 300, leaning at the finish to win in 36.19, just ahead of Ryan Lucken of Newton North (36.32). Yiadom overcame a bad start to run a tremendous final straightaway in his win. “That’s (run from behind) not what I usually do,” he said. “I try to get to the break line first. It wasn’t in my favor this time so I tried to get in front of them before the second turn. I just try to stay relaxed. That’s (PR) big for me. I want to get stronger.”
In the 1,000, it was Lucken’s teammate Gabe Montague who ran away with a 2:34.17 victory, while Joe Breen of Algonquin took the shot put with an impressive heave of 55-1-1/2.
Joe Breen of Algonquin leapt 53-1-1/2 to win the shot put and Newton North’s Carl Whitham was second at 53-2. Rafael Guzman of Cambridge had a great day in the long jump pit, coming away with a 21-7-1/4 effort for the win. Chang-Bae Son of Wachusett took second with a 20-8 leap.
Mike O’Donnell owned the 2 mile, taking the lead over from Cambridge freshman Sam Stubbs three-quarters of a mile in surging ahead for the 9:31.26 victory. Peabody’s Drew Fossa was second in 9:51.92 and Stubbs held on for sterling third in 9:53.94. Ryan Maney of Reading won the 55 hurdles in 7.99 and the Boston Latin School’s Kevin Chen won the 55 dash 6.56 in front of Shrewsbury’s Jay Reynolds (6.64). Isabella Di Mare of Notre Dame of Hingham won the 55 dash in 7.40 and Courtney Comeau of Andover won the 55 hurdles in 8.98 for the girls.
Michaela Smith of Newton North is emerging as the next big talent indoors after destroying the shot put field with an intimidating heave of 41-1/4. A basketball player last winter, Smith will be very tough to beat. “I’ve been working with my coach more on the mental and then the physical aspect of throwing,” she said. “I’m tweaking my form. I’m working on my get-around, my shoulders and staying low. My goal was throwing 39 or 40. Warming up I was thinking about what I wanted to do. I wanted to get in and out to see what I did right and what I did wrong.”
Christmas in The City: The MSTCA is looking to collect 1,000 toys from the two-day meet, which continues Sunday with the Small Schools competition. The toys will be given away to the more than 3,300 children from Greater Boston’s homeless shelters and poverty-stricken neighborhoods at the enormous Christmas in the City party. The party has been put on by Jake and Sparky Kennedy for nine years and offers the children a Winter Wonderland of carousels, amusement rides, pony rides, climbing walls, gingerbread houses, bucking broncos, a soccer field with the New England Revolution and a basketball court with the Boston Celtics to name just a few of the activities offered in this charity cause.