The carnival is back in town and the Bay State indoor season is off to a rolicking start after last night's meet at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Newton North v. Brookline Boys
The Newton North boys were solid in every event and more than solid in the shot put to defeat Brookline 52-34. Coach Jim Blackburn was convinced that North's nine-year undefeated streak in indoor was over, but the Tigers got unexpected points in the distance events, won the hurdles and swept the 55, swept the SP, and won the 4x400 relay after one of Brookline's runners fell in a collision with a Weymouth runner during the baton exchange.
It's hard to understand Brookline's strategy for deploying their superior talent in the 1M, 1000m, and 2M. Instead of running Robert Gibson (far and away the best distance runner in the league)in the 1M, they put him in the 1000, which he won with ease. Newton took advantage, as Seb Putzys (4:46.79) outsprinted Chris Mercurio and Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot to grab 5 points in the mile. In hindsight, it seems obvious that Brookline squandered the talents of Mercurio, who would have been a better choice for the 1K, and Jerzy, who would have been a better choice for the 2M.
Here's how the races went:
1M: Putzys (NN), Mercurio (B), Eisenberg-Guyot (B)
1000: Gibson (B), Sun (NN), Grove (B)
2M: Hardiman (B), Gurvitz (NN), Chebot (NN)
With Brookline taking a 15-12 advantage. However, had they deployed their runners more judiciously, it could have easily gone like this:
1M Gibson (B), Putzys (NN), Benjamin (B)
1000: Mercurio (B), Sun (NN), Grove (B)
2M: Eisenberg-Guyot (B), Hardiman (B), Gurvitz (NN)
With Brookline taking a 20-7 advantage -- a ten-point swing!! That would have made the score 42-39 going into the final relay, and since we all have perfect vision in hindsight, why not run Matt Stewart on the first leg and get a big lead and clean exchanges throughout?
In the field events, David Smith had a rare and impressive double, winning the shot put by four feet in 53-3.5 and tying Gordon Forbes for second in the high jump in 5'3". Hmmm, 53-3 and 5-3 -- those numbers seem eerily similar. Also, in the SP, Marvin Chan uncorked a PB 47-3 for second, and Constantinos Kreatsoulas threw 39-11.25 to complete the North sweep.
Other winners for North included Avery Mitchell in the 300 (36.94), Gordon Forbes in the 55 (6.97, with Hymlaire Lemisere and Troy Peterson right behind in 7.04 and 7.10), Ryan McCarthey in the 55 hurdles (9.29), and the 4x400 relay of Adam Bao, Alex Lee, Hymlaire Lemiser, and Abasu Watanabe (3:37.95).
The two-mile witnessed a thrilling race between Hardiman, Alex Gurvitz (10:58.92), and Ben Chebot (11:00.59). It also served as an auspicious debut for freshman Jake Gleason, who started at the back and then passed a dozen runners to finish 16th overall in 11:45.26.
Outstanding performers for other schools included a league record (?) in the high jump for Framingham's Jordan Maddocks, who cleared 6-8, two wins from Milton's Eric Wornum in the 55 (6.71) and 300 (36.58), Brookline's Gibson in the 1000 (2:40.40) and Matt Stewart in the 600 (1:27.18), and Wellesley's Nick Carroll in the 2M (10:50.31).
Results of Boys Events
Newton North v. Brookline Girls
As expected, Newton North dominated Brookline, winning all but one individual event plus the relay, and showing greater overall depth. The tone of the meet was set in the opening event, as Carolyn Ranti (5:37.54) won the mile and recorded the second-fastest time of the day. Freshman Susanna Gleason (6:03.14) ran a blazing last 200 to come from behind to take third, and very nearly second.
In the 1000, Jess Barton ran away from a pack of Bay State all-stars to win in 3:11.28. That was not a surprise. It was somewaht more of a surprise to see Nora Barnicle finish second in 3:18.53, ahead of Brookline's Sabrina Parise, Weymouth's Nicole Pearce, and Natick's Becca White.
In the 600, Emma Kornetsky (1:47.33) overtook Sally Leung (1:48.32) in the final straightaway to lead North to a 1-2 finish, and in the 300, Kat Chiong (44.99) won convincingly.
Sophomore Michelle Kaufman won both sprints, taking the 55 hurdles in 9.98 and coming back to win the 55 dash in 7.83. Sarah Berkland won the high jump in 4-9, and Tracy Isman (30-1) and Lily Brown (29-0.25) went 1-2 in the shot put.
In the two-mile, North's lone competitor, Adina Hemley-Bronstein placed second (13:03.99, seventh overall).
Results of Girls Events
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6 comments:
Jon... looking forward to your NN-WEY previews on both sides. Those should both be really close meets!
I agree -- those should be great meets!
Wow, I'm not going to lie, I was shocked to see that we held onto the streak. Congrats to Seb on a sweet opener, and to Smitty and Avery for superb individual efforts as well. I'll be there on the 21'st to root everyone on, and Jon if you're doing a workout after the meet, I'd love to join in on that as well. Again, tremendous job by the whole team. See everybody in a week.
Wow. Barton, Barnicle, Parise, Pearce, and White in the same race? That must have been something to see. Any more details on how it went?
The were not all in the same heat although most were, everyone but White was in that heat, Parise and Barnicle just passed Weymouth's Pearce and Weymouth freshman DiNatalie at the end. Good race, fast times.
Yeps, that last loss was in December of 1997. Newton North lost to Milton when Aaron Schwirian fouled Kobie Fuller in relay with an elbow. Never really sure why Aaron did that . . . NNHS also lost to Dedham (yes, Dedham was quite good that year) and tied Weymouth. They did however tie for the Carey title because Dedham and Milton were in the Herget.
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