Needham's Sarah Armstrong had long since left her competition behind by the time she reached the 2-mile mark at yesterday's Amherst Invitational. That's when she knew she had to switch gears, put her head down and bull her way up the final hill.
Hopkinton's Shelby Aarden wasn't familiar with the 2.5-mile course at Saturday's Big Wave Cross Country Invitational so the senior harrier told herself she'd stay with the pack and let the race place itself out. Only then would she make a strong move to the front.
So much for pre-race strategy.
Sarah Armstrong knew very early in the mile at yesterday's All-State meet that the talented pack would pull her to a fast time on the steamy Bridgewater State University track.
The Needham sophomore did a whole lot more than just hang on. Armstrong moved up at the gun lap and waged a fierce duel with teammate Kaleigh Hughes over the final 100 meters and pulled out the win with a lean at the finish line in a personal best of 4 minutes 56.20 seconds. Hughes threw herself across the line to take second in 4:56.33 and Erin Dietz of Bedford was two steps back in 4:56.97. The race was a burner as the top five finishers all set personal best marks and loaded with youngsters with one senior in the top eight.
Old Rochester's Mike Wyman put his sensational finishing speed to good use, passing Matt Mahoney of Swampscott with 350 meters to go in the 2 mile and roaring across the finish line in a meet-record time of 9:11.39. Mahoney was also under the long-standing mark of 9:14.9 set by Mike Bissonnette of Coyle-Cassidy in 1973 with his 9:11.83.
With a name like Isabella and its ring of royalty, it was only appropriate that Notre Dame's Isabella DiMare was queen of the track at Sunday's Div. 2 EMass Track Championships.
Running in near-perfect conditions on the Greater New Bedford Vocational oval, DiMare burned the 200-meter field in a personal best of 24.64 seconds and did the same in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.96 to defend her title in both events. She finished up her day joining teammates Amanda Reilly, Gabby Sillari and Gabriela Kenyon to take the 4x100 in a meet-record time of 48.76.
"I felt like I could have gone faster in the 200," said the junior phenom. "I felt smooth in the hurdles until I hit that last one. I can't wait for all-states. I owe all of this to (Notre Dame coach) Bill Jennings. He's such a great coach."
PEMBROKE - Closing is a big deal in real estate and it's worth its weight in gold when it comes to relay races on the track. And when you have Abbie McNulty as your money runner, you're going to be in the mix every time out.
The great Bishop Feehan, and soon to be Stanford University runner, figured into the two meet records set by the Shamrocks at yesterday's Div. 3 State Coaches Relays at Pembroke High. The team of Brynna Harum, Kate Svensen and Jackie Cutillo gave McNulty the lead by the anchor leg and she didn't let anyone close as she surged with 800 to go in the 4xmile and finished with a 4:57.2 split. Bishop Feehan's time of 21:11.87 bettered their 2009 mark of 21:20.95. McNulty didn't miss a beat two hours later when she clocked a 4:58 to clinch the Shamrocks' distance medley meet record of 12:16.81.
The fearless English front-runner who led wire-to-wire to crush the field in 2:10:34 in 1984, is confident the human spirit has already won out over the crazed act of two terrorist bombers and expects that to be the theme this Patriots Day.
"It's a great event and it has been tragically marred by a couple of cranks," Smith said. It's a time to reflect and a time to start anew. Boston's still Boston. The event will go on. It's been going on for one hundred and eighteen years. It's about a race. It's about people competing whether it's against the clock or against themselves - whether it's to win or just to finish. It's all about competition and enjoyment."
Ursuline's Amy Piccolo has dominated her specialty for the past two years on the indoor circuit with little competition.
At Saturday's 27th New England Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center, Piccolo locked horns with Bishop Guertin's Molly McCabe in a classic battle that resulted in a new Massachusetts record for the talented junior.
The defending state champion was completely calm when she went to the starting line of the 300-meter dash at yesterday's Div. 1 Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center, which proved to be a bad sign for the rest of the field.
The defending state champion shot out at the gun and was never challenged as she flew across the finish line to break her own meet record in 39.69 seconds. The Georgia Tech-bound Hall, who was sporting a bandaged right hand after cutting it on a broken glass cereal bowl, was ecstatic with the victory.
The matchup didn't disappoint the Reggie Lewis Center crowd as Scott broke the meet record for the second time in 30 minutes, sprinting to victory in 7.06 seconds at yesterday's Div. 3 Indoor Track & Field Championships. Scott's time moved her to No. 5 all-time in Massachusetts. Irvin blazed her way to a 7.20 for second and Amanda Reilly of Notre Dame of Hingham was an eyelash back in third with her 7.21.
As good as her start was in the preliminaries, Scott was even quicker out of the blocks in the final. "I really wanted to get under 7.1," said Scott, who will attend Northeastern. "I got a good start in the first race, but I got a little better start in the second race. I knew I had competition to push me."
The Hornets, though, proved they're at the very top of their respective games by sweeping both team titles at the Reggie Lewis Center. The Mansfield girls broke the meet record in the 4x400 by ripping off a blazing 4:00.66 behind Maddie Oldow, Lindsay Goulet, Rachel Stier and Mikaila Amerantes to highlight the 67-point win. Derek Rose's squad finished comfortably ahead of runner-up and Hockomock League rival King Philip (56 points).
Amerantes (1:36.08) and Goulet (1:36.41) finished 1-2 in the 600 in a key event for the Hornets. Kelsey Ferreira clinched third in the 55 hurdles in 8.74. The 4x200 team also picked up a bronze medal as Caitlin Finnerty, Marissa Horn, Lauren Waters and Jacqueline Dickman raced to a 1:50.17 clocking.
Amy Piccolo did what she does best Wednesday night at the Div. 5 Track & Field Championships and it was more than enough to power Ursuline to the team title at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The prestigious Coaches Elite Meet, which is widely regarded as the best competition of the indoor season along with the all-state meet, was once again loaded with strong performances and several records fell along the way.
BC High's Jordan Samuels used the Coaches Elite Invitational as a launching pad for the second half of the indoor season and all that was left were vapor trails by the time he was done at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The talented Samuels, was fast out of the blocks in the 55 hurdles and ran away with the event in a personal best of 7.50 that equaled the meet record. Just fifteen minutes later Samuel did his best long jumping of the season and owned the runway with a 22-0 effort.
It was a nice ride home for the teams of Newton North after yesterday's Div. 1 Coaches Relays as the Tigers swept titles. Girls coach Joe Tranchita will be the first to say that winning any Div. 1 Coaches Relay meet is special. But even Tranchita had to admit that the Tigers' fifth consecutive girls title at the Reggie Lewis Center was one he won't forget any time soon.
Joe Curran unleashed his squad on the rest of the Div. 2 during during a weekend of relays at the Reggie Lewis Center and Woburn once again came away with the team title.
The Tanners won the 4x50 hurdles in 27.35 behind Kawai Marin, Dmitar Zlenkor, Elija Mawoejji and Dennis Pearg and took gold in the 4x50 dash in 22.62 on the way to capturing its third consecutive title with 47 points. The Tanners edged out North Andover (44) and Marshfield (43).
Hopedale's Rita Maurais turned the 1000-meter run into a one girl act at yesterday's MSTCA Auerbach Freshman/Sophomore Small Schools Invitational on the Reggie Lewis Center oval.
Maurais snatched the lead from the gun and was never challenged as she raced to a personal best and meet record of 3 minutes, 3.02 seconds. Her time bettered the 3:04.07 run two years ago by Alexia Lipman of Bromfield and was the lone meet record on the day.
If he had it to do over, Cambridge's Esu Alemseged would have given the mile field a taste of his scintillating kick a lap earlier at Saturday's Auerbach Freshman/Sophomore Large Schools Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Marshfield's Ellen DiPietro gave the Reggie Lewis Center crowd something to cheer about early in the season. DiPietro soared over 5 feet, 9 inches to break the meet record Saturday at the Boston Holiday Challenge then proceeded to clear 5-10 on her final attempt. That effort for the Michigan State-bound DiPietro put her at No. 1 in the country this winter and No. 3 all-time in Massachusetts.And seeing that it is only December, DiPietro is nowhere near peaking.
Olivia Lantz finished up her rookie cross country season with an exclamation mark and now she's already looking ahead to next fall on the trails. Lantz finally went up against the rock-solid competition she's yearned for all season and the junior harrier proved once again she backs down from no one. The Div. 2 State champion in her first autumn on the trails, Lantz bulled her way down Broadway over the final 800 meters to finish a strong 12th in 18 minutes, 14.7 seconds on the 3.1-mile layout at yesterday's Foot Locker Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships at frigid Van Cortlandt Park. Lantz, who will be looking to improved on her 4:58 personal best in the mile this winter, was just eight seconds out of 10th place and a trip to the national finals, Dec. 14 at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA.
The universal understanding in Massachusetts running circles was that the only way Bishop Feehan's Abbie Nulty wouldn't win the Div. 1 All-State race was by some bizarre force of nature.
Instead, it was a fast early that got the better of the Stanford-bound starlet. Last year's Div. 1 state champion tore through the first mile in just over 5 minutes on the deceivingly tough, revamped 2.9-mile track at the Gardner Municipal Golf Course. By the time McNulty approached the 2-mile mark her legs were starting to buckle and she collapsed with exhaustion.
Catalina Dominick was pretty certain Saturday's Div. 2 All-State race would come down to her and Manchester Essex's Olivia Lantz in the closing stages on the 2.9-mile Gardner Municipal Golf Course layout.
So when Dominick and Lantz started to press over the final 800 meters, the Danvers standout knew that Lantz's 4:58-mile speed could present a problem.
"We both started kicking with 800 to go, but she didn't really take off until 300 to go," said Dominick. "That was the hardest I kicked all season."
Norris said the outpouring of support for the Danvers High community was overwhelming. "There was just an outpouring from all the other schools and people in the town," said Norris. "The kids said how unbelievable it was the way people cared about them. Running in the race became less of an individual thing and more we want to do it for Danvers."
And now, races don't feel quite as hard to Northeast Conference champion. "I think of her and it makes me feel grateful," she said. "I think of her before all my races, she was very supportive. We (the team) talked about it a lot. We want to leave everything on the course. We don't want to finish and have any regrets."
Dominick's electrifying victory seemed unlikely seven months earlier.
Manchester Essex's Olivia Lantz continued her stellar rookie season to easily capture the Div. 6 race in 18:13.1. Ursuline's Lindsay Baryluck of Ursuline was second in 18:41.9 and Dover-Sherborn's Michelle Alessandro took the bronze in 18:42.4. The team results reflected the top 3 in the individual competition with Manchester Essex winning with 50 points, Ursuline clinching second with 87 and Dover-Sherborn putting up 98 points for third.
Newton North's Gabe Montague felt sluggish and fatigued like he knew he would. Gearing up for the EMass championships next Saturday, the Bay State Conference champion had been putting the work in and training through races so feeling less than 100% was to be expected. So when Montague stomped past the opening mile in 4:52 of yesterday's Div. 1 Junior/Senior race at the State Coaches Cross Country Invitational at the Wrentham Developmental Center, the fatigue was to be expected.
After waging a battle with Pembroke's Christian Stafford at last week's Twilight Invitational to win in a sprint finish, King Philip's Owen Gonser wasn't about to let anyone sit on his shoulder and relax in Saturday's Hockomock League Cross Country Championships.
Some may look at Pembroke's request to move up to the Div. 1 varisty boys' race at Saturday's Twilight Cross Country Invitational as somewhat cocky - an upward move by team so good that Div. 2 competition just doesn't offer a challenge.
The reality, though, is that Greg Zopatti's crew simply wanted to test itself against teams it may never have the chance to compete against other. To absolutely no one's surprise, the Titans were more than up to the task as they tore through the competition and took the team title, courtesy of four runners in the top 25.
Medfield's Ian Robertson showed that he's fully recovered with the groin injury that put him on the sidelines last November. The senior was by himself at 2 miles (10:20) and held off a charging Christian Gentile of Melrose to capture the varsity race in a swift 16:22.1. Gentile led a train of finishers in 16:25.5 and Phil Parent of Pinkerton Academy was a step back in third with his 16:25.8.
Robertson was primed and ready for a strong race on his favorite course, but was patient getting to the front. He surged shortly after passing the 2 mile in 10:20 and never gave up the lead.
Riley Gilmore was confident her knowledge of every turn, hill and bump of Franklin Park's 3.1-mile course would make the difference at yesterday's Catholic Memorial Invitational.
So when Gilmore made a strong move heading up the infamous 90-foot grind, finally putting daylight between herself and the six-runner pack, the Haverhill harrier knew she would be tough to beat over the final mile and a half.