The O'Bryant girls' track team came into the second half of the Boston City League championship at the Reggie Lewis Center yesterday poised to take first place. After all, it had already won 13 consecutive league titles, finished a successful 4-1 regular season, and held a sizable lead after Monday's events.
Although it seemed history was on their side, none of the O'Bryant runners took the outcome for granted, said coach Tom Campbell.
"I felt pretty good, but nothing's ever a given. Especially in sports, especially the way New England - we know [nothing is] a given," he said, referring to the Patriots' 17-14 loss Sunday in the Super Bowl.
In the end, the Tigers held true to form, winning their 14th consecutive championship with an overall score of 125 points. Latin Academy earned runner-up honors with 92 points, and Charlestown rounded out third place with 35.
O'Bryant took first place in five of 12 events. Nakeisha Jones won the 55-meter hurdles (9.12 seconds) and the high jump (5 feet) and Adrienne Thornton took the shot put (35-6 1/2 feet). The 4 x 200-meter relay team also took first (1:52.40), and Ticarmel Cherisme (3:34.20) and Lili Woodwoosen (3:35.90) went 1-2 in the 1,000 meters.
Cherisme, a senior and four-time 600-meter champion, switched to the 1,000-meter race this season because of severe shin splints.
"It felt great. At first I didn't even want to run the 1,000 since I've been so used to winning the 600," she said, adding she was happy to go 1-2 with Woodwoosen.
"We work hard, we come to practice every day, we put in the time that we have to and I think we really deserve it," Cherisme said.
The O'Bryant boys' team also continued its winning ways, keeping Charlestown at bay by 18 1/2 points to earn its fifth consecutive title.
"They're happy, as you can see," coach Jose Ortega said as the O'Bryant boys and girls swarmed around their trophies chanting 'O-B! O-B!' "
Bruno Piazzarolo was O'Bryant's only winner in the boys' track events, running 600 meters in 1:27.10. David Maloney also took the high jump for the Tigers with a 6-foot leap.
The 4 x 400-meter relay team was edged by Madison Park's first-place time of 3:41.10 and finished second (3:45.20), and Alvarez Missick and Luis Sigaran went 2-3 in the 1,000 meters behind Charlestown's Omar Aden.
Aden and the Townies threatened to cut O'Bryant's championship reign short, racking up big points in the 55-meter hurdles, 2-mile run, and 4 x 200-meter relay. But the Tigers used an overall effort to become the first boys' team in league history to win five consecutive championships.
Other meet standouts included Latin Academy eighth-grader Eva Macdonald. In her second year running and first indoor season, she won the mile in 5:53.60, more than a minute ahead of the next finisher.
East Boston's Abdi Ibrahim also had an impressive showing in the mile on the boys' side, placing first in 4:55.40. After keeping pace with Fenway's Nephtaly Jean-Felix during the opening laps, the senior broke open an insurmountable lead in the fifth lap.
"At first I let him push me, and then I knew it was time to go and I went," said Ibrahim, who plans to run at Connecticut's Post University in the fall. "I feel good about that time."
