North Edged by Brockton; Arsenault Wins 300H and HJ

All day long, Jim Blackburn was worried about BC high knowing that the 4x400 relay would probably be the difference between the two teams. It was, but by then Brockton had clinched the team title by eking out points in events where they were not expected to score and by beating North in the pivotal 4x100 relay. At the end of the day, the score was 52-51 Brockton, with BC High making it a close third with 48.

Sam Arsenault had a spectacular day for the Tigers, in fact, as good a day as you can have, as he won the 300 hurdles (PB 39.98), the high jump (PB 6-7), and anchored the winning 4x400 relay team. It got me wondering whether any other Newton North athlete has won two individual events and a relay in the same D1 championships. I'm almost certain that Jed Carpenter (400, TJ and 4x400) accomplished the feat in 2004, but I can't find the results to confirm it. Josh -- can you help me out here? Did Jed do it? Has anyone else done it?

North also had another winner as Seb Putzeys dominated the 800, pulling away to win in 1:56.05, over 2.5 seconds ahead of second place. Other scorers included Ivan Kostadinov, who placed 4th in the long jump (21-3.75 -- oh, for half an inch more!), Adam Bao, fifth in the Triple jump (43-5.5 -- oh, for two inches more!), and the amazing Dan Giovanucci, who threw two feet better than his previous best to pull out 6th in the shot put (47-3.25). "As big a performance as Smitty winning the state meet," according to North throws coach Mike Bower.

North's 4x100 relay (Lamisere, Peterson, Bao, Kostadinov) placed 4th (43.72 - oh, for 8/100ths of a sec... oh well, never mind).

In the girls meet, there was little doubt that Newton South was the best team, and they led the meet wire-to-wire. The first event on the track was the 2-mile, the Lions took 1-3-6, with Kelsey Karys winning in 10.52.95. Newton North freshman Margo Gillis ran a personal best 11:11.29 to place 2nd.

While South was racking up the points on the way to winning the team title by 20 over Lincoln-Sudbury, Newton North was placing in several events. Carolyn Ranti led for much of the 800 before being overtaken by state 1000 champ Emily Mepham and Attleboro's Alex Neville. For Ranti, the time was still a season's best 2:14.83. Emma Kornetsky and Michelle Kaufman placed 4th (16-4) and 5th (16-3) in the long jump. Kaufman also placed 5th in the 300 hurdles. Freshman Emily Hutchinson just missed placing in the high jump, clearing 5-1 but dropping out of a tie for 5th on more misses.

North's 4x800 relay team (Kornetsky, Gillis, Tabatabaie (?), and Ranti) placed 3rd behind L-S and Newton South, running 9:32.44. Ranti ran a 2:15 anchor split and very nearly ran down South's Bridget Dahlberg.

Speaking of Dahlberg, Noah pointed out to me that with the exception of the girls 800, runners from Newton or neighboring Brookline dominated the distance events for both boys and girls:

Girls 2M: 1. Karys (NS), 2. Gillis (NN), 3. Reed (NS)
Boys 2M: 1. Wilson (Brk), 2. Burnstein (Brk)
Girls 1M: 1. Dahlberg (NS), 2. O'Keefe (NS)
Boys 1M: 1. Gibson (Brk)
Girls 800: ... 3. Ranti (NN)
Boys 800: 1. Putzeys (NN)

Interesting.

So it's on to the All-State meet next Saturday at Durfee High School in Fall River, where Noah promises to reprise his acclaimed role as race announcer and pundit for "JamCam."

Div I Meet Results on Cool Running