Record Day at MSTCA Div I Relays

(Photo - Henry Finch)

With Michelle Kaufman standing at the end of the runway, preparing for her final attempt in the long jump relay, the Newton North girls sitting in a row alongside the runway began their rhythmic clapping. They had just seen Emma Kornetsky jump a personal best 5.42 (17-9), and with Vicki Marone's 4.85 (15-10), and Kaufman's previous leap of 5.28 (17-4), the Newton North team was looking good for the win; still, the gallery wanted to see more.

Kaufman charged down the runway, hit the board with barely an inch to spare, elevated, and then flew. When she landed sometime later, she knew it was good. The mark was 5.65, 18 feet 4 inches, a personal best by almost half a foot, and enough to make North Asst. Coach Adam Carpenter "run around like a schoolgirl" (Shawn Wallace). The trio of marks was two feet better the next team, and set a new MSTCA Relays record.

Later, the Newton North boys would do their best to upstage the girls, jumping an aggregate 20.67 (67-8), or a staggering 22-7 per jumper, also an MSTCA Relays record. I didn't get the individual jumps from the record-setting trio of Bao, Arsenault, and Kostadinov, but perhaps one of my readers can supply the marks.

The victory for the girls in the long jump relay was one of four wins on the day. The Tigers also won the shuttle hurdle relay (with their B team taking fifth), the sprint medley (Carolyn Ranti splitting 2:15 to move from fourth to first on the final leg), and the discus. A 2nd place finish in the distance medley, a 3rd place in the shot put, and a 5th in the 4x800 completed the scoring for North. Alas, those 56 points were not quite enough to hold off Newton South, which scored 60 points, including wins in the 4x1600, distance medley, and shot put.

For the boys, the win the long jump was accompanied by a win in the sprint medley (in which the Tigers were relegated to the slowest heat after their entry card went missing), 3rd place finishes in the shot put and 4x400, and a somewhat disappointing 4th place in the triple jump. That was good enough for the Tigers to take third place in the overall standing with 36 points, 11 behind BC High and five behind Andover.

Misc Notes: The Brookline boys dominated both distance events. They won the 4x1600 in an All-Class state record 17:50.11, eclipsing by four seconds the time set by the 2004 Newton North team. Two hours later they won the distance medley by over 20 seconds. Other than a brilliant first 1600 by Newton South's Andrew Wortham, no one really gave Brookline any competition.

Newton South set a huge meet and all-class record in the girls 4x1600, running 21:07.08 to break their own previous record by a whopping 45 seconds -- and all this without Bridget Dahlberg, the best miler in the state! Newton South's B team ran 22:43 for 8th. I think it's safe to say that their 8x1600 relay team (avg 5:28) would be pretty formidable.

Mike Miller was complaining about having the pole vault count in the team scoring, since some schools have it, and other are barred from having it. However, in spite of the potential for the pole vault to impact the team competition, that didn't happen in the D1 meet (the Newton South girls gained a single point by placing sixth). However, the D2 meet is a nightmare, with the pole vault not only determining the team champion but taking place on Sunday, almost a day after the main competitions. This is such a bad idea that it deserves its own column on the subject.

I thought it was great to have this meet in mid-May instead of late April. It really felt like a championship meet.

Link to Div I MSTCA Relays Results on Cool Running