Home Unbeaten Streak

I know the track season started over a month ago, but spring always seems to develop slowly until a warm day, a new track, and some upcoming state-level meets finally make it feel like the season has really started.

Newton North hosted a home meet at the new high school, sweeping Needham and remaining undefeated on the season.

Girls: Newton North 105 Needham 31

For the girls, Carla Forbes won four events (100, 200, LJ, TJ) and wasn't seriously challenged in any of them. Other performances that stand out for me include Kayla Wong winning the hurdles (14.9!!), Margo Gillis winning the 800 (2:17.0).

Other winners in the running events: Meghan Bellerose won the 400 in 60.9. Maggie Heffernan won the mile by 150 meters in 5:30.4. Devika Banerjee won the 2M in 12:38.4. Impressive times that did not win: Madison Nadeau -- 26.6 in the 200 (behind Forbes), and Evie Heffernan -- 2:22.7 in the 800 (behind Gillis and Needham's Hannah Alpert).

Other NN winners in the field events: Meghan Gentile in the SP (31-7), Ellen Goldberg in the discus (107-0), Djaidah Wynn in the Jav (90-10), and Emily Hutchinson in the HJ (5-2). North also won both relays.

Girls: Newton North 91 Needham 45

Isaiah Penn dropped down to the sprints, and won the 100 (11.0) and 200 (22.4) in convincing fashion over Needham's Brian Hazzard (2nd in both races). Ben Clark took care of business in the 400, running 52.8 for the win.

In the 800, Ezra Lichtman pulled away for the win in 2:02.0, with freshman Gabe Montague running 2:05.2 for an impressive second over Needham's Jeff Okerman. In the mile, it was Justin Keefe (4:38), and in the deuce, Dan Ranti won by over half a lap in 10:03.5.

Needham's Peter Farlow won the 110 and 400 hurdles by plenty, but in the high hurdles, Nick Fofana recorded a solid 16.4 for second.

In the throwing events, Swardic Mayanja led a NNHS sweep of the shot put with a toss of 50-0. Ryan Donovan won the discus with a throw of 118-10. Fofana took second in the Javelin with an excellent throw of 143-5 (PB?).

In the jumps, Tylor Hart won the high jump at 6-0, with Fofana second again in 5-8. North had two jumpers (Hart, Penn) over 20' in the long jump, but that was only good enough for 2nd and 3rd behind Farlow's facility record 22-1. North's Shawn Seamans won the triple with a jump of 41-6.

North also won both relays.

Next up for the Tigers: The MSTCA Div I State Relays at Franklin H.S. on Sunday, May 1