Facing one of the deepest fields ever to line up for a Div I 1000, Margo Gillis showed no hesitation in going right to the front. In any other race, her first lap of 33.6 would have given her some kind of lead, but against Camille Murphy, Ellie Hylton, her teammate Carolyn Ranti, and Newton South's Kathy O'Keefe, all it did was put her at the front of a very fast train. Eventually, Murphy would go by to win with the second-fastest time in the country this year, and Hylton would also inch ahead on the final lap, but Gillis' third-place finish in 2:55.98 was a personal best and 10th fastest in the country so far this year. Ranti also went under 3:00, running 2:59.95 to take fifth.
(Photo: Henry Finch -- thanks Henry!)
Girls Long Jump, Girls 55 Hurdles
Newton North also had two podium finishers in the long jump. Michelle Kaufman jumped 16-2.75 to take 4th, and Emma Kornetsky was an inch back at 16-1.75 for 5th.
In the hurdles, Kaufman ran 8.67 in the heats and 8.76 in the finals to take 5th. Kaufman was one of four NN hurdles to qualify for the championships; Amy Ren (9.35), Jenn Liu (9.50), and Emily Denn (9.81) finished 14th, 17th, and 21st in the heats.
Girls Relays
The 4x800 was a barn-burner, with Lincoln-Sudbury and Newton South staging one of those when-we're-together-no-one-else-really-matters battles. Runners on both teams averaged sub 2:20 for their 800m legs, and both teams went way under the old meet record of 9:29, with L-S pulling out the win 9:16.43 to 9:18.42.
Left in their wake were three very good Bay State league teams. Newton North (Kornetsky, Sam Gluck, Ranti, and Gillis) edged Weymouth for third, running 9:31. 55, with Ranti and Gillis splitting 2:20's on the last two legs. Fifth was Framingham in 9:44.28.
There was a time (say, pre-2006) when 9:44 might win the 4x800 by half a straightaway. Now it gets you a distant fifth. Yikes.
(After handing off to Sam Gluck, Emma Kornetsky looks up in surprise to see L-S and N-S disappearing into the sunset. Phot: Henry Finch)
In the girls 4x200, the quartet of Ari Sanchez, Kaufman, Meghan Pursley, and Stephanie Brown placed 9th with a time of 1:49.71, a season's best by 0.05.
Boys 2-Mile
Seeded 9th in the 2-Mile, Dan Hamilton had his work cut out for him to make the top six. He did even better, running a personal best 9:52.10 to take 5th after a crazy final 300 meters in which several runners were in and then out and then in the medals.
Boys 1000
Ezra Lichtman took control of the first heat of the boys 1000 and produced a wire-to-wire win, running 2:41.91. By all rights, I should have a picture of Dan in the 2-mile, but he was always in the middle of a pack so Henry couldn't get any clear shots of him. So Ezra gets his picture here instead. That's the way it goes.
Div I Championships - Complete Results and Team Scores
3 comments:
It may not last the week, but doesn't Ms. Ranti still have the record from last year's state meet ?
Event 13 Girls 1000 Meter Run
1 Emily Mepham SR Lincoln-Sud 2:53.09
2 Carolyn Ranti JR Newton North 2:54.27
3 Colleen Shannon JR Andover 3:00.15
4 Camille Murphy JR Framingham 3:00.47
One comment on the 4x800; up until the early 2000's the distance relay was positioned at the beginning of the meet, which usually led to a B squad and slower times (good runners would have to run the 4x800 and then their individual event). Nonetheless, there has been dramatic improvement in the event.
D'oh! You're right, Josh, Carolyn set the record last year and I can't believe I missed it. I'm going to go back and change the title so this error isn't perpetuated.
My only excuse is that I relied on a conversation with Joe Tranchita at the meet. When i asked him, "Is that a school record?" he said that it was. I should have verified it.
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