No one was more favored to win an event than Amy Piccolo of Ursuline Academy in the 600m on Saturday. After having a breakout season as a freshman, everybody in the Reggie Lewis Center knew what she was capable of. The holder of the Massachusetts #1 time in the 300 this season decided to move up an event to test her fortunes against the best underclassmen in the state, and indeed, she played her cards right.
After separating from the pack within 50 meters of the race, Piccolo cruised through 400 meters in 60 seconds flat to obliterate the very talented field at the annual Red Auerbach Freshman-Sophomore meet held at the Reggie Lewis Center. Piccolo, a sophomore with sub-60 second 400m chops, set a new meet record, a Massachusetts #1 time, and a US #2 time by running 1:35.11, 8 seconds faster than her closest competitor, Sierra Irvin of Hingham.
The always modest Piccolo, who also placed second in the long jump and seemed extremely cool, calm, and collected after her mind-boggling race, said with a smile “It’s just good to see all of my hard work paying off and seeing it help me accomplish my goals.”. We’ll just have to wait and see if Piccolo’s hard work does pay its ultimate dividend in February when the state meet roll around, as she has proven she has the wheels to win the 300 or 600 meters, maybe both.
The battle of the afternoon on the girls side went to Emily Weigand of Hamilton-Wenham and Coralea Geraniotis of Nauset, who both battled in a tough mile field, separating from the pack at 800 meters and never looking back. Weigand had a solid lead heading into the final lap, but Geraniotis kicked hard with 100 meters to go to challenge Weigand for the win. However Weigand, the runner up at Eastern Mass. Division 5 Meet this past cross country season, used her strength to hold her off just long enough to get the win; 5:31.67 to Geraniotis’ 5:31.76.
Just as the girls’ mile came down to the wire, so the boys’ mile did as well. Weston’s Connor James and Austin Scola of Medfield had a dual for the ages, as both runners pulled away from most of the others at about 800 meters and never hesitated. With 200m to go, they exchanged blows down the Reggie track as they both battled for the lead, and for the win. Fortune was in James’ hands, as he held off Scola for the victory in an impressive 4:44.10 to Scola’s 4:44.26. Freshman Isaiah Savage of Pembroke was 3rd in 4:47.13, and Alex Lanzi of Seekonk was 4th in 4:47.27.
A few more records than just the girls 600m were in jeopardy at this meet, and Joe Luongo of Austin Prep made sure his name would be inked in the book. He set a new meet record of 36.69 in the 300 meter dash as he led wire to wire for the win. Hingham’s Julia Noble came close to breaking Alexia Lipman of Bromfield fame’s meet record (3:04.07) in the 1000 meter run as she ran 3:06.25 for the win. Olivia Lantz of Manchester Essex just missed Taryn Kenney’s 18 year old meet record by 1 second in the girls’ 2 mile as she led from the gun and ran 11:01.46, good for the #3 time in Massachusetts this season. Lantz will unarguably be a top contender in the state in the 2 mile for both this year, and for the years to come. Sarah Militano of Nashoba, bursted out of the blocks in the 55m and torched the field on way to a new meet record time of 7.31 seconds. Meet records in both the boys’ and girls’ long jumps were set as Kristina Maclure of Nashoba equaled Tiana Riel’s 2002 record of 16’11.75”, and as Kurt Robakiewicz of Nipmuc Regional broke the record of current Hingham standout and 23 foot long jumper Andrew Bolze by jumping 20’9.75”.
The speedsters from Hingham showed once again why some call them “Sprint Town MA” as they led three teams past the old meet record in the girls 4x200m relay. Anchor Sierra Irwin chased the pack down on the back straight away to secure the win and new meet record time of 1:51.64 besting the squads from Ursuline (1:51.83) and Nashoba (1:52.14) .
Newburyport’s Nick Carleo challenged a tough field in the 2 mile, but after he pulled away from Whitinsville-Christian’s Jamison Koeman with a deadly kick with 2 laps to go, he had the race in the bag. Carleo sprinted to the finish in 9:58.04 to Koeman’s 10:04.32 to win the race and just miss Anthony Ragucci’s 17 year old meet record by 3 seconds. Carleo, who burst onto the indoor scene last year with his 4:26 mile win at the 2012 Division 4 meet and is hoping to run under 4:20 this season, said: “I wanted to run 9:30 today because my training has been going so well, but I broke 10 minutes and won the race so I’m still very happy with that.” Perhaps the Division 4 Meet could go in “Carleo’s Way” in February if he remains strong and healthy for the rest of the season. Sophomore Maria Garman of Scituate sure made a name for herself today as she went on to win the high jump (5’02”) and the 55m hurdles (9.23) to show that she is one of the best young athletes in the state. Amy Pereira of Norton won the girls’ shot put with a heave of 33’9.50”, while Pembroke’s Meghan Richards took second, and Randolph’s Brent White took the boys’ shot put by throwing 42’8.75”. Bishop Feehan freshman Riley Scharland executed a perfect race plan in the 300m to take the win in an impressive 43.57s. Davis Vasconcellos of Pembroke took the boys 55m dash title (6.92) while Wakefield’s Jackson Gallagher took the gold in the 600m (1:29.07).
The future looks bright for the underclassmen of divisions III and IV as the “young guns” showed that they not only compare to some greats of the past, but they may be ready to battle today’s greats come February