You can't make this stuff up.
With one event remaining, boys team scores at the 2012 Massachusetts All-State Indoor track Championships stood like this:
Lowell 24
Mansfield 24
Pembroke 24
Acton-Boxboro 20
Brookline 20
Catholic Memorial 19
Newton North 19
Lowell didn't have a team in the 4x400 -- they would have been one of the favorites except for the unfortunate finish in the Div I championships that eliminated their team. A-B, Mansfield, Newton North, and Pembroke all had very strong teams, and all were running together in the final heat.
For Newton North, it was pretty simple: win the race and there was a slim chance; anything less and there was none. Rising to the challenge, Jim Blackburn's boys took control of the race early, with Ryan Lucken, Shawn Seamons and Orion Wagner giving anchor Daniel Swain a lead heading into the final 400. But Acton-Boxboro's Brian Sommers came charging back and passed Swain, bidding to give A-B the title. Swain responded on the backstretch of the final lap, and powered home, as the Tigers finished in 3:24.34, the fastest time in the state this year. A-B hung on for 2nd in 3:25.65.
Newton North got an assist from Newton South -- the Lions finished 3rd, pushing Mansfield down to 4th and Pembroke to 6th. North's 10 points and Mansfield's 5 in the final event made them co-champions with 29 points each. A-B's 8 points left them one point back at, and Pembroke's 6th gave them 27 points, a point behind A-B. I can't ever remember a meet where the final standings were shuffled so thoroughly in the final seconds of the final race.
North was in position thanks to outstanding performances earlier in the meet. The Tigers got their first points of the day from Justin Keefe who took 6th place (2:32.35) in an absolutely loaded 1000m.
North got their only individual win of the day from All-State champion Swardick Mayanja, who spun his way to a personal best throw of 59-06.25, nearly four feet further than second place.
With two events left, North had 13 points and two strong relays. The 4x200 team did its job, with the quartet of Lucken, Nate Menninger, Swain, and Seamons running 1:32.00 to place 3rd, and set up the final dramatic 4x400.
2012 All-State Indoor Track Championships - Results
Coverage in Boston Globe
Coverage in Boston Herald
Coverage on MA Milesplit
8 comments:
Congrats to the Tigers on getting the job done. Always great to see it come down to the relays. NN's well rounded squads for both the
4 x 2 and 4 x 4 relays performed awesome.
Coach Blackburn,
Do you have the splits for the 4x400 available ? The 3:24 is (I believe) #2 AT for the team. Follow up question - is the order correct in terms of names ?
Thanks to Mike Glennon; speaking of relays-that 7:59 was impressive.
Josh--the splits I had were: Lucken-50.33,Seamans-51.60, Wagner-51.48, Swain-50.64. You are right I think Lolli, Ronfard, Robb, King in 2002 5an 3:23.
worth reliving!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKAB57SMmW0
Congrats to the boys and girls -- that was a fantastic meet with an amazing finish for this old alum to stumble upon. Reggie Lewis is a time warp -- the coaches don't age one bit and NNHS keeps on winning. Great to see.
Great meet all around. Photos are uploaded here.
Does anyone know if Mayanja's throw a school record?
Bombay--Swardiq missed the school record by 2 inches.That's why, although happy, he was a little disappointed.
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