Bay State Meet Results - Jan. 3, 2008

They lost! They tied! They won!

Who the heck knows the actual result of the girls meet between Newton North and Braintree last night? Joe Tranchita told me the girls had lost by 2, Peter Martin told me it was a tie, and the posted results (not always reliable) say they won by 2. It is so weird to watch a sport where the score is treated in such a cavalier way. Can you imagine watching the last few minutes of a football game without know the score?

Well, whatever the score, the Braintree girls performed extremely well and the Newton North girls looked like they were only partially back from their winter break. Braintree's Jacky Hull won two close events (300 and 55 dash), Adrienne Lutz won the high jump and finished second in the hurdles, Siobhan Flaherty had a tremendous kick in the 1000m to just edge Nora Barnicle for the win, Michelina Burbank won the shot, and Erynn Sweeney took a critical second-place in the mile.

For Newton, Carolyn Ranti won the mile and ran a PR 44.52 to take second in the 300, Michelle Kaufman won the 55 hurdles (9.41), finished a close second to Hull in the 55 dash (7.97), won the (non-scoring) long jump, and also tried the high jump. Emma Kornetsky won the 600 and anchored the victorious 4x400 relay team, Franca Godenzi won the 2-Mile.

Other notable performances: Framingham's Camille Murphy ran 3:10.88 to edge out Needham's Emily Lipman 3:11.58 for best time of the day. Weymouth's Carolyn Connolly blazed a 1:41.45 to win the 600 going away. Weymouth had a good day overall, as Sam Bennett ran 43.99 for the top time in the 300, and freshman Jillian Corcoran ran an impressive 12:14.99 in the two-mile. Wellesley's Najauna Muschetta continues to impress, as she ran the day's second-best time in the 300 (44.04) and had the best (non-scoring) long jump of the day at 15-10. In spite of having 19 girls and 18 boys, the (non-scoring) long jump was completed long before the relay events, providing evidence that there is plenty of time to conduct the event as a regular scoring part of the meet.

The Newton North boys crushed Braintree, and seemed to be in fine form despite the winter break. Seb Putzys won the mile and ran a 52.1 leg on the 4x400 relay. Alex Gurvitz (2:51.50) led a NN sweep in the 1000, and Adam Bao (1:33.31) led a NN sweep in the 600. In the 300, a disqualification interrupted the sweep, but Ivan Kostadinov and Hymlaire Lamisere went 1-2. The sweeps continued in the two-mile, as Dan Hamilton led NN in 10:32. Sam Arsenault was busy, as usual, winning the 55 hurdles (8.18), high jump (6-1), (non-scoring) long jump (20-1.75), and anchoring the winning 4x400 relay. Lamisere won the 55 dash, while Steven Long (47-8) led a NN sweep in the shot put and finished second in the 55 dash. Was Smitty that fast?

Looking forward to the State relays, Newton North seems to have excellent scoring potential in the shot put, long jump and high jump relays, as well as in the sprint medley and/or 4x400 (depending on how Coach Blackburn decides to use Putzeys). They also could do well in the shuttle hurdles or shuttle dash, or 4x200.

Other notable results: Well, Brookline dominated most of the longer races on the oval. Elliot Lehane ran a 9:41 two-mile, making the third Brookline runner to run under 9:45 (which would have taken 8th in last year's all-state meet) so far this season. Mike Burnstein (4:38) finished third in the mile. Chris Mercurio (2:44) and Ryan Hardiman (2:46) went 1-2 in the 1000. Milton's Paul Connor (37.42) had the best time of the day in the 300, edging out Dedham's Phil Weltman. Natick's Mike Searcy ran 6.78 for the best time of the day in the 55 dash. Milton's Craig Bennet won the HJ at 6-3, and Milton's 4x400 team ran a 3:35 for the fastest time of the day.

Complete Boys Results

Complete Girls Results