Newton North senior Swardic Mayanja had a huge throw on his third attempt, a bomb that sailed 18.13m (59-6.25) and earned him 4th place in the Shot Put at the New Balance Indoor Nationals Boys meet on Saturday.
After two throws, Mayanja was in serious danger of not making the finals at all. His only legal throw up to that point was a toss of 55-6, and that wouldn't be good enough. But he made the next one count, not only to make the finals, but to make All-American.
Newton North's sprint medley relay team also competed on Saturday. The quartet of Ryan Lucken, Nate Menninger, Daniel Swain, and Justin Keefe ran 3:37.36 for 14th overall.
March 11, 2012
Forbes (42-05.5!!) Wins Nat'l TJ Title
On her first jump of the competition at New Balance Indoor Nationals, Carla Forbes powered down the runway, hit the board, and then hopped, skipped, and jumped into the pit 42 feet 5 and a half inches later. It was a personal best and it would hold up through all six rounds. Forbes's second jump was also past 42 feet, but no one else came within a foot of that first mark, making the Newton North junior the national champion.
Perhaps there was extra motivation for Forbes, who "only" jumped 19-7 in the long jump final on Saturday. In that event, Forbes had slipped from second place after the 4th round to fifth place after the 6th and final round, an unusual experience for the perpetually clutch performer.
On Saturday, runners from Newton North (competing as Waltham TC) ran in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Kayla Wong, Steph Brown, Kayla Prior, and Forbes placed 10th overall with a time of 34.00.
2012 NBIN Results
Perhaps there was extra motivation for Forbes, who "only" jumped 19-7 in the long jump final on Saturday. In that event, Forbes had slipped from second place after the 4th round to fifth place after the 6th and final round, an unusual experience for the perpetually clutch performer.
On Saturday, runners from Newton North (competing as Waltham TC) ran in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Kayla Wong, Steph Brown, Kayla Prior, and Forbes placed 10th overall with a time of 34.00.
2012 NBIN Results
March 10, 2012
NN Boys 4x200 Places 3rd in EE Race at 2012 NBIN
Friday was Day 1 of the New Balance High School Indoor Nationals, and Newton North's 4x200 team (Ryan Lucken, Nate Menninger, Shawn Seamans, and Daniel Swain) finished 3rd in the Emerging Elite division with a season's best time of 1:31.36.
Running in the last of eight sections, the Tigers finished in 2nd, only a tenth of a second behind a team from Virginia. The fastest time of the day came from an earlier section, leaving the Tigers 3rd overall.
The NN Boys are also entered in the Sprint Medley relay Saturday and the 4x400 relay on Sunday.
2012 NBIN Schedule and Results
Running in the last of eight sections, the Tigers finished in 2nd, only a tenth of a second behind a team from Virginia. The fastest time of the day came from an earlier section, leaving the Tigers 3rd overall.
The NN Boys are also entered in the Sprint Medley relay Saturday and the 4x400 relay on Sunday.
2012 NBIN Schedule and Results
February 27, 2012
NN Girls are 2012 All-State Champions;
Wong, Forbes Set Records
Carla Forbes scored 18 points in the long jump and 55 dash, and Kayla Wong scored 11 in the long jump and 55 hurdles, and that would have been enough to get past Lincoln-Sudbury for the State Championship. However, the Tigers added points in the 600 (Meghan Bellerose, 8th), 300 (Maddie Nadeau, 6th), and won the 4x400 in a state-leading 3:56.77 to amass 41 points and pull away from L-S and everyone else for the title.
Although Forbes, Nadeau, and Bellerose are juniors and will be back, Coach Joe Tranchita went out of his way to praise the seniors on the team. He might specifically have been thinking of Wong, who ran a school record 8.13 in the 55 hurdles to place 3rd (behind an all-state record and first-ever sub 8.00 clocking of 7.98 from Brockton's Vanessa Clerveaux), and added a 17-2 long jump for 6th, and a leg on the winning relay.
As for Forbes, she set a new meet record and school record in the long jump, exceeding 20 feet with a monster leap of 20-01.25 (see video below). She nearly had another win in the 55 dash, but Attleboro's Briana Robitaille was 0.01 faster and Forbes had to settle for second.
In all, it was an incredible day to cap off an incredible season for the Tigers.
It was also great to see them sharing the spotlight with the boys team, who were co-champions with Mansfield. While the girls were favorites, and their meet didn't come down to the relay, they lived up to -- and exceeded -- the high expectations set for them, and that's perhaps the hardest thing to do.
Relays Propel NN Boys to State Championship
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
February 20, 2012
NN Boys Take Advantage of Lowell's Slip;
Tie for 2nd at DI Championships
The Newton North boys rode a surge of points in the shot put and two second-place finishes in the 4x2 and 4x4 relays to score 40 points and tie Lowell for the runner-up trophy at the DI Championships Sunday.
The final scores for the top three teams were the result of a bizarre finish in the 4x400 relay that propelled Acton-Boxborough to its first-ever indoor state title, and left Lowell stunned. Heading into the final event, Lowell (40 points) held a 5-point lead over A-B (35) and an 8-point lead over Newton North (32) and Brookline (32). With the second-seeded relay, the championship was within reach.
And everything seemed to be going right through the first three legs, with their anchor runner taking the baton cleanly only tenths of a second behind Newton North. But 100 meters into the race and needing only to play it safe, Lowell's runner tried to pass without a full stride and made contact with North's anchor. A yellow flag went up, meaning that the referee would have to decide whether the infraction was grounds for disqualification. But it never came to that. In the final strides of the race, as A-B took the lead, and Lowell and NN battled for 2nd, the Lowell runner lost his balance, stumbled, and fell to the track, inches from the finish line. He never crossed it. A-B got the win and the team title. North got 8 points for second. With a DNF, Lowell had to settle for sharing the runner-up team position with Newton.
The drama notwithstanding, it was a terrific race for North, who ran a season's best time of 3:26.67. North's 4x200 team had also come through in a big way, with Ryan Lucken, Nate Menninger, Shawn Seamans, and Daniel Swain taking second behind Chelmsford in a time of 1:31.93.
North had scored its first points of the afternoon in the 1000, with Justin Keefe taking a hard-fought 4th in 2:32.67. Keefe had been in 2nd most of the race behind Framingham's Ben Groleau, but was caught in the final strides by A-B's Tim Cox and Haverhill's Mike McNaughton. NN sophomore Gabe Montague finished 9th in 2:34.93.
In the shot put, Swardick Mayanja rocked the gym with his fifth throw, a monster personal best of 58-11.5. You can watch it yourself, below. Meanwhile, Young Guang threw 50' even to take 3rd, and Leslie Whitham threw 47-2 to take 6th, giving the Tigers a total of 19 points in the event.
Congratulations to the NN boys, almost all of whom will compete at the State Meet next Sunday.
2012 DI Indoor Track and Field Championships - Results
The final scores for the top three teams were the result of a bizarre finish in the 4x400 relay that propelled Acton-Boxborough to its first-ever indoor state title, and left Lowell stunned. Heading into the final event, Lowell (40 points) held a 5-point lead over A-B (35) and an 8-point lead over Newton North (32) and Brookline (32). With the second-seeded relay, the championship was within reach.
And everything seemed to be going right through the first three legs, with their anchor runner taking the baton cleanly only tenths of a second behind Newton North. But 100 meters into the race and needing only to play it safe, Lowell's runner tried to pass without a full stride and made contact with North's anchor. A yellow flag went up, meaning that the referee would have to decide whether the infraction was grounds for disqualification. But it never came to that. In the final strides of the race, as A-B took the lead, and Lowell and NN battled for 2nd, the Lowell runner lost his balance, stumbled, and fell to the track, inches from the finish line. He never crossed it. A-B got the win and the team title. North got 8 points for second. With a DNF, Lowell had to settle for sharing the runner-up team position with Newton.
The drama notwithstanding, it was a terrific race for North, who ran a season's best time of 3:26.67. North's 4x200 team had also come through in a big way, with Ryan Lucken, Nate Menninger, Shawn Seamans, and Daniel Swain taking second behind Chelmsford in a time of 1:31.93.
North had scored its first points of the afternoon in the 1000, with Justin Keefe taking a hard-fought 4th in 2:32.67. Keefe had been in 2nd most of the race behind Framingham's Ben Groleau, but was caught in the final strides by A-B's Tim Cox and Haverhill's Mike McNaughton. NN sophomore Gabe Montague finished 9th in 2:34.93.
In the shot put, Swardick Mayanja rocked the gym with his fifth throw, a monster personal best of 58-11.5. You can watch it yourself, below. Meanwhile, Young Guang threw 50' even to take 3rd, and Leslie Whitham threw 47-2 to take 6th, giving the Tigers a total of 19 points in the event.
Congratulations to the NN boys, almost all of whom will compete at the State Meet next Sunday.
2012 DI Indoor Track and Field Championships - Results
February 19, 2012
A Team in Full:
NN Girls Win 3rd Straight DI Championship
Photo: NewtonSportsPhotography.com)
It didn't come down to the 4x400 relay this time.
By the time the final event was called to the track, Newton North already owned an insurmountable lead in the race for the Div I team title. To everyone's admiration but no one's surprise, Carla Forbes had won the 55 and LJ; Kayla Wong had taken 2nd in the hurdles and 4th in the LJ; Maddie Nadeau had placed 3rd in the 300, and Meghan Bellerose had placed 5th in the 600; North earned even more points in the Long Jump from Kayla Prior and Maeve Larkin who placed 6th and 7th in that event; a 6th in the 4x800 and 4th in the 4x200 had sealed the deal.
So all that was left to prove was... well, champions always feel like there's something to prove. So the team of Bellerose, Nadeau, Isabella Reilly, and Forbes finished the meet by winning its final event, Forbes (57.9) holding off a spirited charge from A-B's Ellen Conway. North's time of 4:00.84 was the fastest time in the Commonwealth this season, and a fitting finale to their third straight championship at this meet.
Although, incredibly, the Tigers would have won the meet without the 20 points they earned in the Long Jump, that event seemed to sum up North's strengths -- great individual efforts and great depth. There was Forbes, the consummate competitor, taking each jump as if her life depended on it. On her final attempt, having jumped two feet farther than anyone else, she still wasn't satisfied. Her final leap of 19-9 was her best of the day and surpassed Arantxa King's "untouchable" meet record of 19-6.5. Meanwhile Wong, Prior, and Larkin were taking 3 of the next 6 places. The four NN jumpers AVERAGED 17-5. Amazing.
It was, I thought, a great meet for Kayla Wong and Maddie Nadeau. Both athletes had excellent individual events and were key contributors on their respective relays. Nadeau ran the second leg of the winning 4x400, splitting a 58.2 to open up a huge lead for Reilly and Forbes.
As for Forbes, what more can you say? Still a junior, she has FIVE individual indoor DI titles to go with FOUR individual outdoor titles. She also two indoor relay titles. She has won the long jump in all five season in which she has competed. With her performance in 2012, she has become the second Newton/Newton North athlete in history (after Tanya Jones) to score more than 100 points at the Class A/Division I level, her total standing at 102.5.
On to the State Meet!
2012 Div I State Indoor Championships - Results
February 10, 2012
In Memoriam: David Bell 1983-2012
David Bell, one in a long line of great shot putters from Newton North, passed away yesterday at the age of 28 from brain cancer.
Bell excelled in track & field and football at Newton North, Northfield Mt. Herman, and the University of Rhode Island. Bell graduated from NNHS in 2002. During the indoor track season that winter, he won the shot put at the State Coaches meet (55-6.5) and finished 6th at the National Scholastic Championships, earning All-American.
After NNHS, Bell attended Northfield Mt. Herman for a year. While there, he set the NMH school record in the shot put (56-0), which still stands, and earned All-New England honors in both football and track. At URI, Bell continued to compete in the throws for four years while earning a B.A. in Sociology.
After graduation from URI, Bell had been working as a group leader for YMCA of Boston. In the fall of 2011, he served as a volunteer coach for the Newton North Football team. He had hoped to do the same for the track team, but his illness made that impossible.
I had the good fortune to start as an assistant with Newton North in the spring of 2001, so I got to watch David his senior year. He was a great competitor and a real leader. He could throw an iron ball a long way, but he was quick and graceful as a big cat. It's hard to believe that someone so full of life has left us so early.
February 02, 2012
NN Survives Walpole; Streak Lives On
Newton North vs. Walpole was as close as predicted, a rollicking back and forth scrum for every available point. With only the relay remaining, Walpole clung to a two-point advantage. Alas, having to win the 4x400 against Newton is always a tall order, and this night was no different. The Tigers did what they do -- they put four fast runners on the track, they passed the baton, and in the end, it was enough to prevail 49-46 over the Rebels and keep their increasingly preposterous dual-meet unbeaten streak alive for another year.
Walpole had several chances to deck their opponent early. In the first race of the night, Newton sophomore Mike Schlichting held off Walpole sophomore Anthony DiVirgilio for second place in the mile by two-tenths of a second. No one knew it at the time, but that four point swing was huge. With NN's Justin Keefe and Zach Ganshirt trading wins in the mile and 1000, Daniel Swain won a crucial race against Bryan Rockwood in the 600 by a mere 0.07.
Walpole came right back with PJ Hayes winning a photo finish against Ryan Lucken in the 300. Both runners were given the same time -- 36.27 -- but Hayes was better by a few thousandths of a second.
Meanwhile, Walpole's Connor McCarthy PR'ed in the high jump at 5-7, putting the pressure on the North jumpers. Had McCarthy been able to get a clean clearance at 5-9, Walpole would have been in the driver's seat, but after three misses, he had to settle for third behind Hansen Yang and Nick Fofana.
However, McCarthy did his damage in other events, winning the 55 hurdles and long jump. Hayes won the 55 dash, and placed second in the long jump. Between the two of them, they accounted for 25 of Walpole's 46 points.
North swept the shot put, as expected, but Walpole countered with a 1-2 finish in the 2-Mile, setting up the fateful relay.
Results of Walpole vs. Newton North Boys Meet
The girls also had a meet last night -- against Herget Champs, Natick -- and it was also expected to be close. However, the Tigers showed no drop-off from their recent high level of performance and pulled away for a comfortable 66-29 win.
In the early events, Evie Heffernan won the mile, Miller McCarthy-Tuohy won a close race against Annie McElaney, and Meghan Bellerose ran a PR 1:38.56 to win the 600. In the 300 -- one of the critical events of the night for Natick -- Carla Forbes and Madi Nadeau went 1-2 against one of Natick's best athletes, Laurie Femmel, and there was little doubt about the eventual outcome after that.
Results of Natick vs. Newton North Girls Meet
Walpole had several chances to deck their opponent early. In the first race of the night, Newton sophomore Mike Schlichting held off Walpole sophomore Anthony DiVirgilio for second place in the mile by two-tenths of a second. No one knew it at the time, but that four point swing was huge. With NN's Justin Keefe and Zach Ganshirt trading wins in the mile and 1000, Daniel Swain won a crucial race against Bryan Rockwood in the 600 by a mere 0.07.
Walpole came right back with PJ Hayes winning a photo finish against Ryan Lucken in the 300. Both runners were given the same time -- 36.27 -- but Hayes was better by a few thousandths of a second.
Meanwhile, Walpole's Connor McCarthy PR'ed in the high jump at 5-7, putting the pressure on the North jumpers. Had McCarthy been able to get a clean clearance at 5-9, Walpole would have been in the driver's seat, but after three misses, he had to settle for third behind Hansen Yang and Nick Fofana.
However, McCarthy did his damage in other events, winning the 55 hurdles and long jump. Hayes won the 55 dash, and placed second in the long jump. Between the two of them, they accounted for 25 of Walpole's 46 points.
North swept the shot put, as expected, but Walpole countered with a 1-2 finish in the 2-Mile, setting up the fateful relay.
Results of Walpole vs. Newton North Boys Meet
The girls also had a meet last night -- against Herget Champs, Natick -- and it was also expected to be close. However, the Tigers showed no drop-off from their recent high level of performance and pulled away for a comfortable 66-29 win.
In the early events, Evie Heffernan won the mile, Miller McCarthy-Tuohy won a close race against Annie McElaney, and Meghan Bellerose ran a PR 1:38.56 to win the 600. In the 300 -- one of the critical events of the night for Natick -- Carla Forbes and Madi Nadeau went 1-2 against one of Natick's best athletes, Laurie Femmel, and there was little doubt about the eventual outcome after that.
Results of Natick vs. Newton North Girls Meet
January 31, 2012
Forbes a Double Winner at Elite Meet
The sustained excellence that has defined Carla Forbes' high school track and field career was on display again Sunday at the MSTCA Elite Meet at Reggie Lewis. Forbes was the only athlete, male or female, to win two individual events, taking the 55m dash in 7.17 and the long jump in a meet record 19-06.5. Both marks are best in the state this year, as is Forbes' 40-10 triple jump form the Dartmouth Relays.
In the long jump, Forbes effectively won the competition on her first jump, a leap of 18-04.5 that only hinted at what was to come. She followed that initial effort with the following series: 18-08 18-07 18-04.25 19-04 19-06.50. That's six jumps with no fouls and none worse than 18-04. By the way, Jessica Scott won the battle for second, jumping 17-05.5.
In the 55, Forbes won her heat in a personal best 7.26, and then somehow found another tenth of a second, setting another personal best and school record 7.17 in the final. That time was only 0.07 of the previous meet record, set 25 years ago in n 1987.
Forbes wasn't the only NN athlete to excel on Sunday. Teammates Kayla Wong ran a personal best 8.28 in the 55 hurdles to finish 4th behind the state's three best hurdlers Nicole Genard (8.00), Vanessa Clerveaux, and Jen Esposito. Wong also placed 8th in the long jump with a leap of 16-09. Kayla Prior also competed in the LJ, and had a best leap of 15-10.05.
Newton North's 4x200 team was also in a position to compete for the win, but contact with the Brockton team (who were disqualified for interference) ruined their chances.
For the NN boys, Swardick Mayanja had the best performance of the day, winning the shot put with a throw of 54-02.05. Not to be overlooked, Young Guang also broke 50 feet, placing 5th with a mark of 50-10.25 on his first throw.
Ryan Lucken placed 5th in the 300 (36.08) and, according to published meet results, ran on both of NN's relays. The 4x200 team (Bressler, Lucken, Menninger, and Seamons) placed 4th (1:33.36) and the 4x400 team (Keefe, Lucken, Wagner, and Seamons) placed 7th (3:32.16). If others ran instead of the ones listed, please let me know!
In the 1000, Justin Keefe was 8th (2:34.71) and sophomore Gabe Montague was 13th (2:36.90).
Elite Relays - Complete Results on MSTCA Web Site
Photo Coverage by NewtonSportsPhotography
January 30, 2012
Jess Barton Runs 1:15:53 in Half-Marathon Debut!!
In her first attempt at the distance, Newton North grad Jess Barton placed second in the 3M Half-Marathon in Austin, Texas, in a dazzling debut time of 1:15:53 (5:47 pace).
She might have run significantly faster, but according to her own account of the race, after leading the race through 8 miles (5:40 pace / 1:14:25 pace), she experienced increasing quad pain from the net downhill course (315' drop over 13.1 miles), and slowed down significantly over the final 5k, despite feeling strong, aerobically.
Her 2nd place finish (behind world-class triathlete Kelly Williamson) earned her $1000.
Barton, who graduated from Northeastern in the Spring of 2011, now lives and trains in Boulder, where her focus is on training to be a professional triathlete. She was a two-time MA D1 cross-country champion (2004 and 2006), and graduated from NNHS in 2007.
Congratulations, Jess!!
January 29, 2012
NNHS Alumni Results
2012 BU Terrier Invitational
On Friday and Saturday Boston University hosted the Terrier Invitational, and as it always does, the meet served up heat after heat of really fast folks running season's best times.
In the mile, Providence's David McCarthy scared the collegiate record, running 3:55.75 to finish ahead of Mass. native and former BC star Tim Ritchie, who also broke 4:00 with a 3:58.49.
I counted four Newton North alumni in the meet, although I might have missed some. There were also a slew of former Brookline H.S. distance runnners, and several friends of NSRP competing.
In Saturday morning's unseeded 5000, Bates senior Ben Chebot ran what I believe is a personal best 15:14.59, finishing 4th in the second of 4 sections.
Hymlaire Lamisere competed in both the 60m and 200m dashes. Hymlaire ran 7.27 in the short sprint, and then won his heat of the 200 in 22.93.
Respectable citizen and certified adult Dave Cahill continued his quest to get back under 52 seconds for the 400, running a very respectable 52.42 to place 2nd in his heat.
MIT's Jared Forman had a nifty time in the 800, clocking 1:57.61 to place 2nd in section 8.
I mentioned the Brookline distance crew. Rob Gibson ran 14:14.85 in the seeded section of the 5000m, and I believe that's a personal best for him. In an unseeded heat, Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot ran 16:09.81. In the 3000m, Christian Sampson ran 8:50.50, and Chris Mercurio ran 9:00.70.
Also in the 3K, friends of NSRP Paul Norton ran 8:40.83, and Andrew Wortham ran 8:44.23.
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
In the mile, Providence's David McCarthy scared the collegiate record, running 3:55.75 to finish ahead of Mass. native and former BC star Tim Ritchie, who also broke 4:00 with a 3:58.49.
I counted four Newton North alumni in the meet, although I might have missed some. There were also a slew of former Brookline H.S. distance runnners, and several friends of NSRP competing.
In Saturday morning's unseeded 5000, Bates senior Ben Chebot ran what I believe is a personal best 15:14.59, finishing 4th in the second of 4 sections.
Hymlaire Lamisere competed in both the 60m and 200m dashes. Hymlaire ran 7.27 in the short sprint, and then won his heat of the 200 in 22.93.
Respectable citizen and certified adult Dave Cahill continued his quest to get back under 52 seconds for the 400, running a very respectable 52.42 to place 2nd in his heat.
MIT's Jared Forman had a nifty time in the 800, clocking 1:57.61 to place 2nd in section 8.
I mentioned the Brookline distance crew. Rob Gibson ran 14:14.85 in the seeded section of the 5000m, and I believe that's a personal best for him. In an unseeded heat, Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot ran 16:09.81. In the 3000m, Christian Sampson ran 8:50.50, and Chris Mercurio ran 9:00.70.
Also in the 3K, friends of NSRP Paul Norton ran 8:40.83, and Andrew Wortham ran 8:44.23.
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
January 21, 2012
Depth, Balance Carry NN Boys to 2nd in DI State Relays
Justin Keefe anchor's NN's 3rd-place DMR (photo: Patrick Bendzick).
Newton North's boys indoor track team placed in the top four in five separate events, earning a runner-up finish in the D1 State Relays Saturday.
North showed balance, getting 14 points from the sprint relays, 12 from the mid and long medley relays, and 10 from the field events.
Their lone first place came in the shot put relay, where the Tigers threw for a combined 42.91m (140-09.5) to win by four feet.
North also placed 4th in the 4x50 (22.61), 2nd in the 4x200 (1:33.24), 3rd in the sprint medley (3:40.21), and 3rd in the distance medley (10:43.92). The Tigers also placed just out of the scoring in the high jump relay, missing 4th place by a mere 1.5 inches.
Heading into the final event, North was tied with Lowell for the lead in points. Unfortunately for North, they had used their runners elsewhere and didn't have a team entered. Having only to place in the top six, Lowell finished 4th, earning the points that brought the school its first-ever Relays State Championship. Newton hung on for second, two points ahead of Acton-Boxborough.
In a Class By Themselves:
NN Girls Rule D1 State Relays
Kayla Wong anchors the record-setting hurdle relay (photo: Patrick Bendzick)
We all knew they were good, but 59 points at the State Relays?!
The Tigers won half of all the events contested, and four of the seven running events, on their way to scoring an incredible and unassailable 59 points, or 12 points more than they scored to win in 2011, and 23 better than runner-up Andover. (Bay State rival Weymouth also had a strong meet, finishing 3rd with 30 points.)
The NN girls finished 4th in the 4x800 (9:56.01), then won the sprint medley (4:15.05), shuttle hurdle relay (29.11, all-class record), shuttle dash relay (24.52, all-class record), and 4 x 400 (4:03.74). In the field events, they won the long jump with a meet record 15.04m (49-04.25), and tied for 3rd in the high jump with a combined 4.27 (14-00). The Tigers very nearly got more, finishing just out of the points (7th) in the shot put.
Carla Forbes anchors the NN 4x400 (photo: Patrick Bendzick)
Results on ma.milesplit.com
January 20, 2012
NN Teams Up to the Challenge, Sweep Weymouth
Although many of us focused on last night's battle between the Newton North and Weymouth girls, it was the boys meet that nearly became an instant classic. Event-by-event, the Wildcats held their own against the heavily favored Tigers, and it looked like it was going to come down to the relay.
Here's how close it was: Had Weymouth's Tyler Mulcahey managed to clear any of his three attempts at 5-11, and if Ronald Homere managed to hit the finish line of the 55m dash two-hundredths of a second faster, it would have been 47-43, Newton going into that final 4x400. But those things didn't happen. And even if they had, North had the horses to run a season's best 3:33.14 in the relay, leaving no doubt about the outcome.
The Tigers won seven of the ten individual events, with particularly strong showings in the shot put (9-0), 300, and the aforementioned 55 dash. Ryan Lucken was a double winner (300 and 55), while Young Guang had another strong meet, winning the HJ and finishing 2nd in the Shot Put. I wonder if Young is planning on competing in the individual pentathlon. Here are his marks from yesterday: 5-9 high jump, 49-3.5 shot put, 9.55 hurdles (in addition to a 7.07 55 dash).
In addition to their strength in the sprints and shot put, North won three close races in the mile (Justin Keefe, over Nolan Parsley), 1000 (Gabe Montague), and 600 (Daniel Swain). Those were welcome points, as Weymouth took 2nd and 3rd in each of those events to keep the score close. The Wildcats went 1-2 in the long jump and 55 hurdles, and also won the 2M. They came very close, but in the end it wasn't quite enough to dethrone the decade-long defending Carey champs.
The girls meet had some great individual performances on both sides, but Newton North had the greater depth as well as the incomparable Carla Forbes, and in the end pulled away to leave-no-doubt 64-31 win.
The first event was a harbinger for the rest of the meet, as Evie Heffernan won a terrific battle in the mile against two of Weymoth's best, Julie Tevenan and Bridget Jaklitsch. The momentum continued in the 1000, with Miller McCarthy-Tuohy winning another close race against Allison Brady. In the 600, Jen Kimball (league best 1:39.49) raced to victory over Meghan Bellerose (1:39.86), but with the exception of the shot put and 2M, there were few other highlights for the Wildcats.
Newton dominated the sprints and jumps. Not coincidentally, that's where Carla Forbes keeps office hours, and the junior scored a career high 19 points by winning three events outright (300, 55, and LJ), and sharing first place in the high jump with teammate Lucia Grigoli. Kayla Wong won the hurdles and took 2nd in both the long jump and 55 dash, scoring 11 points.
And for good measure, North won the relay in 4:10.15.
With the Bay State Care Division well in hand, now it's on to the State Relays, and a big test against the rest of the state.
Full results are posted on Cool Running.
Here's how close it was: Had Weymouth's Tyler Mulcahey managed to clear any of his three attempts at 5-11, and if Ronald Homere managed to hit the finish line of the 55m dash two-hundredths of a second faster, it would have been 47-43, Newton going into that final 4x400. But those things didn't happen. And even if they had, North had the horses to run a season's best 3:33.14 in the relay, leaving no doubt about the outcome.
The Tigers won seven of the ten individual events, with particularly strong showings in the shot put (9-0), 300, and the aforementioned 55 dash. Ryan Lucken was a double winner (300 and 55), while Young Guang had another strong meet, winning the HJ and finishing 2nd in the Shot Put. I wonder if Young is planning on competing in the individual pentathlon. Here are his marks from yesterday: 5-9 high jump, 49-3.5 shot put, 9.55 hurdles (in addition to a 7.07 55 dash).
In addition to their strength in the sprints and shot put, North won three close races in the mile (Justin Keefe, over Nolan Parsley), 1000 (Gabe Montague), and 600 (Daniel Swain). Those were welcome points, as Weymouth took 2nd and 3rd in each of those events to keep the score close. The Wildcats went 1-2 in the long jump and 55 hurdles, and also won the 2M. They came very close, but in the end it wasn't quite enough to dethrone the decade-long defending Carey champs.
The girls meet had some great individual performances on both sides, but Newton North had the greater depth as well as the incomparable Carla Forbes, and in the end pulled away to leave-no-doubt 64-31 win.
The first event was a harbinger for the rest of the meet, as Evie Heffernan won a terrific battle in the mile against two of Weymoth's best, Julie Tevenan and Bridget Jaklitsch. The momentum continued in the 1000, with Miller McCarthy-Tuohy winning another close race against Allison Brady. In the 600, Jen Kimball (league best 1:39.49) raced to victory over Meghan Bellerose (1:39.86), but with the exception of the shot put and 2M, there were few other highlights for the Wildcats.
Newton dominated the sprints and jumps. Not coincidentally, that's where Carla Forbes keeps office hours, and the junior scored a career high 19 points by winning three events outright (300, 55, and LJ), and sharing first place in the high jump with teammate Lucia Grigoli. Kayla Wong won the hurdles and took 2nd in both the long jump and 55 dash, scoring 11 points.
And for good measure, North won the relay in 4:10.15.
With the Bay State Care Division well in hand, now it's on to the State Relays, and a big test against the rest of the state.
Full results are posted on Cool Running.
January 18, 2012
Newton North v. Weymouth on Thursday (Girls Preview)
It's a big week for Newton North's indoor track programs. On Thursday, North competes against Weymouth in a much-anticipated dual meet, and on Saturday the Tigers compete at the DI State Relays.
Mike Miller would like a preview of the NN-Weymouth girls meet, and why not? These have been the two preeminent teams in the Bay State league for the last few years, and their battles usually bring out big performances.
However, with the exception of 2010, these meets have turned out to be LESS close than predicted. In 2010, the meet came down to the relay, but that hasn't been true in any other recent year. Weymouth won decisively in 2008 and 2009, and Newton won decisively in 2007 and 2011. Then there was 2010, where an epic and close 4x400 settled the matter in North's favor, 46-40. It's a curious fact that if Weymouth had managed to win that one relay (and it was very close), the total number of points scored over the last FIVE YEARS of dual meets would would be 232.5 to 232.5 -- I'd say that's a pretty even rivalry.
Of course, scores don't tell the whole story. Meets can be very close without the score reflecting that closeness. A few hundredths of a second here or there can make a big difference. Anyway, that's the way I've felt about these meets for the last few years.
But this year feels different. This year, it feels as though the score will be close, perhaps very close, but many of the individual events seem to have clear favorites.
Taking the events in roughly the order in which they will be contested, I'd expect the mile to be one of the exceptions to my point. above. That is, the mile should be a close event that could go either way. Weymouth's great distance crew are regaining racing sharpness after a long cross country season and some recovery time. Newton's Evie Heffernan is a formidable foe. I'm going to say 5-4 for the Tigers.
Reverse that for the 1000, with Weymouth getting the win, and Newton taking the next two places for a 4-5 score.
In the 600, Meghan Bellerose appears to be on a new level. She won last year, and I don't see anyone beating her this year since she's gotten faster. 5-4 for Newton. Likewise, Carla Forbes in the 300, with Madi Nadeau 2nd.
In the sprints and hurdles, Kayla Wong is the best hurdler in the league, and Carla Forbes is money in the 55. Both of those events should go to Newton, and I think the Tigers will pick up thirds in both events.
Weymouth has dominated the 2M in recent years, and I think they'll go 1-3 this year, with Becca Trayner taking 2nd. If my math is correct, that gives the Tigers a 36-27 edge in the running events (minus the relay).
The high jump is the most unpredictable event in the meet, and it happens fairly early. Weymouth really has to win it to have a shot in this meet. I think it's a toss up between Kate Pearce and Lucia Grigoli, and no doubt I am forgetting someone who will end up out-jumping both of them, but I'll score it 4-5, with Weymouth getting the win.
The long jump will be exciting, but it's hard to imagine any result other than Carla Forbes first. Let's say this goes 6-3 to North. In the shot put, Weymouth's Nostia Amazan gets the win with Michaela Salvucci second. The field events make it 49-41 in favor of Newton.
In the last five years, only one event has tracked the result of the meet exactly. The team that wins the relay wins the meet every time. Even if it's closer than what I've outlined above, I think North will win the relay and the meet.
In any case, predictions are just for fun, and they don't matter! Good luck to BOTH teams. I hope that the competition brings out personal bests on both sides.
The boys deserve a preview, too, but I'm not going get to it. My prediction: North will be tough to beat.
Mike Miller would like a preview of the NN-Weymouth girls meet, and why not? These have been the two preeminent teams in the Bay State league for the last few years, and their battles usually bring out big performances.
However, with the exception of 2010, these meets have turned out to be LESS close than predicted. In 2010, the meet came down to the relay, but that hasn't been true in any other recent year. Weymouth won decisively in 2008 and 2009, and Newton won decisively in 2007 and 2011. Then there was 2010, where an epic and close 4x400 settled the matter in North's favor, 46-40. It's a curious fact that if Weymouth had managed to win that one relay (and it was very close), the total number of points scored over the last FIVE YEARS of dual meets would would be 232.5 to 232.5 -- I'd say that's a pretty even rivalry.
Of course, scores don't tell the whole story. Meets can be very close without the score reflecting that closeness. A few hundredths of a second here or there can make a big difference. Anyway, that's the way I've felt about these meets for the last few years.
But this year feels different. This year, it feels as though the score will be close, perhaps very close, but many of the individual events seem to have clear favorites.
Taking the events in roughly the order in which they will be contested, I'd expect the mile to be one of the exceptions to my point. above. That is, the mile should be a close event that could go either way. Weymouth's great distance crew are regaining racing sharpness after a long cross country season and some recovery time. Newton's Evie Heffernan is a formidable foe. I'm going to say 5-4 for the Tigers.
Reverse that for the 1000, with Weymouth getting the win, and Newton taking the next two places for a 4-5 score.
In the 600, Meghan Bellerose appears to be on a new level. She won last year, and I don't see anyone beating her this year since she's gotten faster. 5-4 for Newton. Likewise, Carla Forbes in the 300, with Madi Nadeau 2nd.
In the sprints and hurdles, Kayla Wong is the best hurdler in the league, and Carla Forbes is money in the 55. Both of those events should go to Newton, and I think the Tigers will pick up thirds in both events.
Weymouth has dominated the 2M in recent years, and I think they'll go 1-3 this year, with Becca Trayner taking 2nd. If my math is correct, that gives the Tigers a 36-27 edge in the running events (minus the relay).
The high jump is the most unpredictable event in the meet, and it happens fairly early. Weymouth really has to win it to have a shot in this meet. I think it's a toss up between Kate Pearce and Lucia Grigoli, and no doubt I am forgetting someone who will end up out-jumping both of them, but I'll score it 4-5, with Weymouth getting the win.
The long jump will be exciting, but it's hard to imagine any result other than Carla Forbes first. Let's say this goes 6-3 to North. In the shot put, Weymouth's Nostia Amazan gets the win with Michaela Salvucci second. The field events make it 49-41 in favor of Newton.
In the last five years, only one event has tracked the result of the meet exactly. The team that wins the relay wins the meet every time. Even if it's closer than what I've outlined above, I think North will win the relay and the meet.
In any case, predictions are just for fun, and they don't matter! Good luck to BOTH teams. I hope that the competition brings out personal bests on both sides.
The boys deserve a preview, too, but I'm not going get to it. My prediction: North will be tough to beat.
January 16, 2012
Thoughts on the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials
Was this the best "Trials" ever?
For the men, the times were certainly at a new level this year. Before Saturday, only one American, Ryan Hall, had ever run under 2:10 in a Trials race. At Houston, four men did it in the same race, with 2008 Olympian Dathan Ritzenheim in the excruciating position of running a personal best of 2:09:55, becoming the fourth-fastest Trial performer in history, and not making the team.
To put those times in perspective, the previous fastest Trials race was in 1980 -- the so-called "race to nowhere" since the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games -- where three runners, led by Tony Sandoval in 2:10:19, finished under 2:11. Other than Ryan Hall's Trials record from 2008 in NYC, no other American man had EVER run under 2:11 in a trials race.
By the way, while I don't begrudge Meb his heartfelt celebrations and grabbing and waving an American flag in the final 400 meters, I think there's little doubt that he was capable of taking Hall's record and running the first sub-2:09 Trials had he focused on running hard to the line. But never mind that; Meb has never been about time, but about competing, and he won the race just 69 days after hanging in with the world's best at New York. Meb can do whatever he wants, as far as I'm concerned.
The depth of the race extended deep into the pack, with 8 men running sub 2:12, and 22 running 2:15 or better.
As impressive as the finishing times were, what was more striking about the men's race were the splits. Thanks to Hall, the men ran hard from the beginning, splitting 29:53 (2:06:08 pace!) for 10K. That's basically unheard of for an All-America race, and yet, even at that pace there was still a pack of seven runners in the mix. Remarkable!
The women didn't start out fast, in fact, they dawdled through a 6:11 first mile (2:41:30 pace) before Desi Davila ratcheted the pace down to something more reasonable. Once they got going, however, the women were all business. The first half was run in 1:13:30, and the top three women all negative split the second half, with Shalane Flanagan running 1:12:08 to win in a Trials record 2:25:38.
Davila and Kara Goucher finished only 17 and 28 seconds back, respectively, and the top three were not seriously in doubt over the final five miles. Amy Hastings, Davila's college teammate at Arizona State, took the fourth spot in a PR 2:27:17, also under the old Trial record.
The performance of the day might have been that of Linda Somers Smith, who, at age 50, ran 2:37:36 to finish 28th. You are forgiven if you don't recall that Somers Smith finished second in the 1996 Trials race -- SIXTEEN YEARS AGO, and at age 42 finished 10th in 2004 in 2:37:28. So she slowed down one second per year over the last 8 years. Unbelievable. In case you're wondering, plugging Somers Smith's performance into an age-grading calculator yields an age-adjusted time of 2:22:21.
So it was a great day of racing. It's too bad that there was no live TV coverage of the race, and that the delayed broadcast by CBS was, as usual, mediocre. I'm not sure why the network thinks that Tom Hammond is the right person to host the coverage; he doesn't appear to have any insight into distance running, and never offered much in the way of background information about the athletes or the Trials race. The two experts, former USATF CEO Craig Masback and former Olympian Todd Williams, provided the occasional background story or insight into the race, but the whole team seemed to be hampered by not knowing (or not bothering to mention) the split times, the gaps, etc. It's a shame that the networks still struggle with basic stuff like this, and can't seem to cover long distance races with a passion that matches the excitement of the running community.
For the men, the times were certainly at a new level this year. Before Saturday, only one American, Ryan Hall, had ever run under 2:10 in a Trials race. At Houston, four men did it in the same race, with 2008 Olympian Dathan Ritzenheim in the excruciating position of running a personal best of 2:09:55, becoming the fourth-fastest Trial performer in history, and not making the team.
To put those times in perspective, the previous fastest Trials race was in 1980 -- the so-called "race to nowhere" since the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games -- where three runners, led by Tony Sandoval in 2:10:19, finished under 2:11. Other than Ryan Hall's Trials record from 2008 in NYC, no other American man had EVER run under 2:11 in a trials race.
By the way, while I don't begrudge Meb his heartfelt celebrations and grabbing and waving an American flag in the final 400 meters, I think there's little doubt that he was capable of taking Hall's record and running the first sub-2:09 Trials had he focused on running hard to the line. But never mind that; Meb has never been about time, but about competing, and he won the race just 69 days after hanging in with the world's best at New York. Meb can do whatever he wants, as far as I'm concerned.
The depth of the race extended deep into the pack, with 8 men running sub 2:12, and 22 running 2:15 or better.
As impressive as the finishing times were, what was more striking about the men's race were the splits. Thanks to Hall, the men ran hard from the beginning, splitting 29:53 (2:06:08 pace!) for 10K. That's basically unheard of for an All-America race, and yet, even at that pace there was still a pack of seven runners in the mix. Remarkable!
The women didn't start out fast, in fact, they dawdled through a 6:11 first mile (2:41:30 pace) before Desi Davila ratcheted the pace down to something more reasonable. Once they got going, however, the women were all business. The first half was run in 1:13:30, and the top three women all negative split the second half, with Shalane Flanagan running 1:12:08 to win in a Trials record 2:25:38.
Davila and Kara Goucher finished only 17 and 28 seconds back, respectively, and the top three were not seriously in doubt over the final five miles. Amy Hastings, Davila's college teammate at Arizona State, took the fourth spot in a PR 2:27:17, also under the old Trial record.
The performance of the day might have been that of Linda Somers Smith, who, at age 50, ran 2:37:36 to finish 28th. You are forgiven if you don't recall that Somers Smith finished second in the 1996 Trials race -- SIXTEEN YEARS AGO, and at age 42 finished 10th in 2004 in 2:37:28. So she slowed down one second per year over the last 8 years. Unbelievable. In case you're wondering, plugging Somers Smith's performance into an age-grading calculator yields an age-adjusted time of 2:22:21.
So it was a great day of racing. It's too bad that there was no live TV coverage of the race, and that the delayed broadcast by CBS was, as usual, mediocre. I'm not sure why the network thinks that Tom Hammond is the right person to host the coverage; he doesn't appear to have any insight into distance running, and never offered much in the way of background information about the athletes or the Trials race. The two experts, former USATF CEO Craig Masback and former Olympian Todd Williams, provided the occasional background story or insight into the race, but the whole team seemed to be hampered by not knowing (or not bothering to mention) the split times, the gaps, etc. It's a shame that the networks still struggle with basic stuff like this, and can't seem to cover long distance races with a passion that matches the excitement of the running community.
January 13, 2012
Lucken, Guang Lead NN Over Brookline
In a meet that was closer than the score, Newton North's boys mostly neutralized Brookline's distance strength, and pulled away in the sprints and field events to defeat the Warriors 61.3 to 31.6.
Senior Justin Keefe and Sophomore Gabe Montague had big (and close) wins in the 1M and 1000, respectively, to get the Tigers off to a solid start. The teams traded 1-2 finishes in the 600 and 300, before heading into the sprints, where North had a decided edge.
As expected, Ryan Lucken won both the 300 and 55, with North sweeping there. Senior Young Guang had a big day, winning the 55 hurdles and the shot put (what a double!) and taking 3rd in the 55 dash. Shawn Seamans also had a key role in the win, as he won the long jump and placed 2nd in the 300.
North mostly dominated the field events, at least as far as the points were concerned. The Tigers swept the shot put, went 1-2 in the high jump with Hansen Yang winning, and 1-3 in the long jump.
As for the girls, in their first meet since the Dartmouth Relays, they won every running event, and swept all but three events (Brookline won the high jump, got a 2nd in the 2-mile, and a 3rd in the shot put) to hold the Warriors to single digits in an 86-9 win.
Kayla Wong (55 hurdles and LJ) and Carla Forbes (55 dash and 300) were double winners. Evie Heffernan (1M), Miller McCarthy-Tuohy (1000), Meghan Bellerose (600), Becca Trayner (2M), and Michaela Salvucci (SP) all won their events.
Bay State Meet #3 Results on Cool Running
Senior Justin Keefe and Sophomore Gabe Montague had big (and close) wins in the 1M and 1000, respectively, to get the Tigers off to a solid start. The teams traded 1-2 finishes in the 600 and 300, before heading into the sprints, where North had a decided edge.
As expected, Ryan Lucken won both the 300 and 55, with North sweeping there. Senior Young Guang had a big day, winning the 55 hurdles and the shot put (what a double!) and taking 3rd in the 55 dash. Shawn Seamans also had a key role in the win, as he won the long jump and placed 2nd in the 300.
North mostly dominated the field events, at least as far as the points were concerned. The Tigers swept the shot put, went 1-2 in the high jump with Hansen Yang winning, and 1-3 in the long jump.
As for the girls, in their first meet since the Dartmouth Relays, they won every running event, and swept all but three events (Brookline won the high jump, got a 2nd in the 2-mile, and a 3rd in the shot put) to hold the Warriors to single digits in an 86-9 win.
Kayla Wong (55 hurdles and LJ) and Carla Forbes (55 dash and 300) were double winners. Evie Heffernan (1M), Miller McCarthy-Tuohy (1000), Meghan Bellerose (600), Becca Trayner (2M), and Michaela Salvucci (SP) all won their events.
Bay State Meet #3 Results on Cool Running
January 12, 2012
Tanzania Journal Day 12:
Ngorongoro Crater
Running Log, 1/4/11 -- Rest
January 4th was Joni's birthday, and as hard as it was to believe, this would be our last day of Safari. Waking in the cold pre-dawn and looking out over the edge of the world, Arusha seemed a thousand miles and a lifetime away. And yet, our plan was to spend all morning and early afternoon in the crater below, and then pack up and return to the city that evening in time to celebrate with dinner in an actual restaurant. But first, Ngorongoro lay all unexplored beneath us. With the sun not yet up, we dragged ourselves from our tents, ate a quick breakfast and drank instant coffee, and then climbed into the Land Rover for one more adventure.
Descending into Ngorongoro Crater from the rim is not a casual undertaking. Although the floor of the crater covers approximately 100 square miles, there is only one road for vehicles like ours to use to enter the crater, and only one road (a different one) for leaving. Since the rim is 2000 feet higher than the crater floor, these roads are steep and winding. It took us an hour from the time we left our campsite to when we reached the bottom and began to explore.
Hyenas
There is a quote, attributed to Maurice Greene, I think, that goes like this:
"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn’t matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving."
This is a great quote, but now seems to me completely wrong. Gazelles don't survive by running around all day in the hot sun, they survive by sticking together and avoiding places where the lions like to hang out. Lions don't survive by challenging every random Zebra to a footrace, but by sleeping in the shade as much as possible, and by killing when success is near-certain. The animals in Africa seemed to have a limitless patience and spent most of their time watching, waiting, biding their time. And if there was one characteristic that seemed common to every creature on the Savannah, it was the desire to avoid unnecessary effort. Which brings me to the hyenas.
We had only been driving in Ngorongoro for a 5-10 minutes when we came upon a developing "situation" involving zebras and hyenas. The zebras were grazing, but warily. Nearby, a hyena was approaching but at an agonizingly slow pace. Every so often, the hyena would stop, and look around for reinforcements. We saw that there were other hyenas not far off, and that they were also walking very slowly, almost in formation, approaching the zebras. The zebras kept lifting their heads, looking around, moving off a little ways, re-adjusting their circle. The hyenas kept closing in. Rob pointed out a hyena that was not participating. It looked like its leg had been damaged, and Rob guessed that it had been injured by a swift, powerful kick from one of the adult zebras in the family now being stalked.
This went on for a half an hour, with us not able to take our eyes off the drama. Eventually, we counted seven hyenas in a deadly formation drawing closer and closer to their prey, and we were sure that at any moment they would launch a coordinated attack on the youngest or oldest or weakest member of the herd. Instead, when they reached the moment of truth, they all seemed to look at each other, look at the strong adult zebras staring back at them, and they gave up. They simply dispersed back into the tall grass and saved their energy for another time. Even with seven of them, these hungry predators couldn't afford to waste calories on a high-risk sortie and get a fatal kick for their trouble. They would wait until another time, perhaps when a foal didn't stay close enough to its mother, or a a zebra came up lame and couldn't keep pace when all the others began to run....
Lions: No shade left for me?
As in the Serengeti, there were many Land Rovers driving the dusty roads at the bottom of the crater. All of us were looking for the same big animals, and whenever any one of our vehicles spied something interesting, it was only a matter of time before others would gather. It was not uncommon for two dozen or more Land Rovers to pull of the road in approximately the same spot for the same view of Lions or Rhinos.
So it was that when we saw a mini traffic jam of vehicles, we headed over to see what was going on. Out in the field, we could see three young male lions. This was impressive, but what happened next was unexpected and unforgettable. The first lion got up and began to walk very slowly directly toward us. When he reached our truck, he turned and walked alongside and past it, and then lay down in the shade, directly alongside one of the other vehicles.
If you have ever seen a lion in a zoo, I am sorry, but you have seen an out-of-shape lion. You have seen a lion that has not been hitting the weights, a lion that is flabby and untoned. Having a fit lion amble within a few feet of you, it's impossible not to notice that there is no fat and a LOT of muscle. In that moment, all of the jokes we had made about lions liking to lie around (they do) and being lazy (they are) seemed pathetically beside the point. These creatures are nature's ultimate sprinting and killing machines, superbly designed for hunting down large quadrupeds and tearing them apart like six-hundred pound breakfast pastries.
And at that moment, this heavily muscled thug just wanted to find a little shade from the mid-day sun. All these land rovers filled with camera-wielding tourists -- just an opportunity to get out of the direct sun for a few minutes.
Then, the second lion repeated the same performance. And then the third lion thought it was a good idea, so he came looking for shade, too. I managed to get a video of the third lion:
I wonder what the driver of the other car was thinking, with those animals under his window. I know what I was thinking: "close the window!"
Rhinos
The picture above was taken from many hundreds of yards away, which was the closest any of us got to the pair of black rhinoceros slowing making their way across the plain.
The rhinos are a sad story, it seems to me. There are very few of them left, having been hunted nearly to extinction for their horns. Within Ngorongoro, the rhinos are under 24-hour protection from poachers.
Baboons
There were forests in the crater, and in the forests were our old friends the elephants and the baboons. The first time I had seen baboons in Tarangire, I had been intimidated, but the more I watched them, the more I liked them. In Ngorongoro, we came across a large colony of baboons and spent twenty minutes watching them forage for food, the babies riding on the backs of adults, or clinging to their bellies.
Like the elephants, the baboons seemed mostly to want to be left alone to enjoy life with their large extended families. Here's another short video of baboons having a nice family dinner... and absolutely nothing happens...
Other Creatures
Water Buffalo, Golden Cranes, Warthogs, Maribu storks, Ostriches, Wildebeest, Secretary birds, and a Serval Cat... I like cats, but this was the strangest "cat" I'd ever seen...
Next: Leaving Ngorongoro
January 08, 2012
NN Girls 2nd at Dartmouth Relays
A slew of outstanding individual performances and relays nearly brought Newton North's girls another Dartmouth Relays title. The Tigers finished with 60 points, tied with La Salle Academy (RI) and a mere two points behind Colonie HS (NY).
Carla Forbes had an incredible meet, even by her standards. The Newton North junior won both the long jump and the triple jump, finished 3rd in the 55 dash, and ran on two scoring relays, including the winning 4x200 relay. In the triple jump, Forbes mark of 40-10 obliterated a 15-year-old meet record by nearly a foot and a half. In the long jump, her mark of 19-4 won by 8 inches.
Steph Brown had the other individual win for the Tigers, Brown was the only competitor to clear 11-6 in the pole vault, earning 10 points for the victory.
Other NN athletes scoring points were Meghan Bellerose who placed 3rd in the 800m run in 2:22.27, and Kayla Wong who ran 8.58 in the finals of the 55 hurdles to nail down 5th place.
In addition to the winning 4x200 team (1:48.29), NN's sprint medley of Wong, Forbes, Madi Nadeau, and Bellerose, placed 3rd (4:17.13), and their 4x800 team (Maggie Heffernan, Bellerose, Miller McCarthy-Tuohy, and Evie Heffernan) finished 8th in 10:06.79.
2012 Dartmouth Relays - Final Girls Results
Carla Forbes had an incredible meet, even by her standards. The Newton North junior won both the long jump and the triple jump, finished 3rd in the 55 dash, and ran on two scoring relays, including the winning 4x200 relay. In the triple jump, Forbes mark of 40-10 obliterated a 15-year-old meet record by nearly a foot and a half. In the long jump, her mark of 19-4 won by 8 inches.
Steph Brown had the other individual win for the Tigers, Brown was the only competitor to clear 11-6 in the pole vault, earning 10 points for the victory.
Other NN athletes scoring points were Meghan Bellerose who placed 3rd in the 800m run in 2:22.27, and Kayla Wong who ran 8.58 in the finals of the 55 hurdles to nail down 5th place.
In addition to the winning 4x200 team (1:48.29), NN's sprint medley of Wong, Forbes, Madi Nadeau, and Bellerose, placed 3rd (4:17.13), and their 4x800 team (Maggie Heffernan, Bellerose, Miller McCarthy-Tuohy, and Evie Heffernan) finished 8th in 10:06.79.
2012 Dartmouth Relays - Final Girls Results
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