Bringing Out Their Best

The cheers from all sides swelled into an urgent frenzy as the two best runners -- the girl with the orange and white singlet followed by the girl with the maroon and gold singlet -- flew around the final turn. A few more desperate moments and the race was over, and the cheering turned to clapping and then to an excited murmur. Both athletes had run superbly, but as they stepped onto the infield, Margo Gillis, the girl in orange, knew only the happy exhaustion of victory, while Jill Corcoran, the girl in maroon, knew the agonizing experience of giving everything and coming up just short.

And it was only the first race of the night...

Over the next two and a half hours, Newton North and Weymouth staged one of the most exciting dual meets I have ever seen. In event after event, athletes from both teams stepped up with surprising performances, far beyond anything they had done before. It was as if the two schools were playing an extended game of "Can you top this?" As soon as a Weymouth runner won a crucial battle in one race with a huge PR, a Newton North runner would do something equally amazing.

With that first mile race, Newton North took a 5-4 lead (Gillis 5:07.65, Corcoran 5:08.78, Barker 5:37.29). In the 1000, Weymouth reclaimed as Morgan Fitzgibbon kicked by Maggie Heffernan for the win in 3:12.17, with Julie Tevenan taking third.

Ariana Tabatabaie ran a personal best 1:41.81 to win the 600 by half a second over Weymouth's Bridget Jaklitsch, but senior captain Jaya Tripathi earned a crucial point for the Tigers by taking third in a personal best 1:43.88, just 0.2 ahead of Weymouth's Jen Kimball.

As the meet went on, first one team and then the other seemed to have the edge. By my count, there were five lead changes and two ties in the team score of the meet, with the two schools never separated by more than a few points.

While some events went according to form, some of them were shocking (at least to me). The high jump was one of the best competitions of the meet, with five girls from the two teams still alive as the bar went to 5 feet. On her first attempt at 5-2, Weymouth's Emily Clark soared over the bar cleanly. When North's Lucia Grigoli failed to clear the same height, Clark had taken five points in an event that North was hoping to sweep. I admit, after that I thought it was all over for North.

And in the hurdles, Amy Ren's personal best 8.87 won handily, but Clark and Madeline Manning (previous best 9.6) ran 9.20 and 9.22 to take 2nd and 3rd, stealing more precious points away from the Tigers in what was supposed to be their best event. (The Tigers had only a few days before dominated the shuttle hurdles relay at the State Championship.)

I thought the shot put would be a sweep for Weymouth, but after making a change to her throwing technique this week, Kate Bellerose threw a two-foot PR, and nabbed 2nd place for Newton North with a mark of 30-05 behind Rachel Ivil's 35-3.

While terrifically exciting for us, the spectators, it was obvious that the athletes from both teams were under tremendous pressure. It was hard to watch as athletes from both teams ran their hearts out only to miss that 2nd or 3rd place by the slimmest of margins. For example, in the 300, Weymouth's Melissa Darling ran the race of her life in a brave attempt to take the win against North's fabulous freshman, Carla Forbes. In the final strides of the race, with Forbes uncatchable, Darling slowed just enough for North's Steph Brown to just edge her at the line for second place. All three runners ran big PRs, but Darling who had run brilliantly, looked crushed. In a cruel twist, Brown would pull exactly the same rabbit out of the hat in the 55, catching Darling at the line to take third by 1/100th of a second.

In the 2-Mile, North's Susannah Gleason ran forty seconds faster than her previous best, and fought back into the race when it looked like she might be dropped by Weymouth's Shayna Albanese and Andrea Hicks. But in the end, her last, desperate lap wasn't enough to match the closing speed of the Weymouth girls and she finished third, less than a second away from the win.

At such moments, I'm sure that the runners feel not only personal disappointment but the awful emptiness that comes of believing (erroneously) that they've let their coaches or teammates down. I found myself wishing I could pull those runners aside and say, through all the noise and chaos, that races are sometimes lost, but nothing of value is ever truly lost. It hurts for a while after you lose, and I won't lie, it feels a lot better when you win, but its only by caring enough to compete that you and your team and yes, your arch rivals, manage to take a simple high school track meet and create something exquisite and memorable.

With only the 4x400 relay to run, the score of the meet stood at 41-40, North.

I had wandered over to watch the last couple of races near the Newton North section of the bleachers, and was talking to Joe Tranchita, Newton North's coach, as the boys relays were going on. JT is an extraordinary coach, but when he is watching a meet, he maintains the demeanor and attitude of a man taking frequent sips from a bottle of vinegar. As he pointed out all the things that had conspired to put him and his team in this terrible position, Weymouth's intense but affable coach, Mike Miller, came by.

Without hesitating JT, shook Mike's hand and congratulated him on the meet. The implication was clear: JT was certain that Weymouth would win the relay and with it the meet -- and all of JT's meticulous planning and preparation would come to naught. I believe Mike has a lot of affection for JT, but he had heard this line before and wasn't falling for JT's permanent fatalism, heading off to the other side of the track to find a place where he could enjoy the final race of the night and cheer on his team in relative peace and optimism.

From the start of the relay, it was clear that it would be a two-team race. Weymouth jumped out to the lead, but North's first leg hung on to the pace, and only a half second, if that, separated the two teams at the first exchange. Arianna Tabatabaie took the baton and tried to make up the gap, but found herself unable to pass and running extra yardage around the curves, and at the second exchange, Jaya Tripathi was still behind Weymouth's third runner. I have to believe that Jaya's leg was one of the best races she has ever run. She neither panicked nor fell too far behind. In the second lap, she fought back, just trying to get close enough to give Margo Gillis a chance. At the final exchange, it was only about 5 meters difference between the two teams. Through the first 200 meters of the final leg, Gillis closed the gap on Jill Corcoran, drawing even as they approached the bell. With JT beside me screaming for her to wait and not pass on the turn, Gillis did not wait and passed on the turn. It didn't matter, once she sensed the open track in front of her she was gone. The race and the meet ended as it had begun, with the two best runners from each team battling with everything they had. But on this night, Gillis had a little more, and as she crossed the line, the stands around me went crazy.

I kind of wanted to end this report right there, but I think I need to say what should be obvious: these two teams really bring out the best in each other. The number of fine performances, the class with which each team competed... these things demonstrate the quality of the programs. Looking ahead to the State meet, outdoor, next year, I see both teams getting better. North will be scary good next year, but so will Weymouth. There are freshmen on both teams with oceans of potential, and I look forward to the next edition of what has become one of the best rivalries in the state.

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