Andover notched a come-from-behind victory last night, scoring big in the relay events at the Reggie Lewis Center to win the the All-State Championship.
Newton South had built a sizable lead, highlighted by junior Bridget Dahlberg's victory in the mile, which she also won last year. After Andover climbed within two points, Newton South's 4 x 800 team (Juliet Ryan-Davis, Diana Braver, Julia Frieze, and Dahlberg) set a meet record and increased its lead.
But top-seeded Andover came roaring back, finishing second the 4 x 200 and pulling within four points heading into the final race. In that 4 x 400 race, the Golden Warriors finished second to Lincoln-Sudbury (which won in a meet-record 3:59.69), and took the championship.
Andover head coach Peter Comeau told his team before the final race a third- or fourth-place finish would give the Golden Warriors enough points.
"We know how to run relays," Comeau said. "We take them extremely seriously during practice, and it paid off for us."
Andover senior Christina Muccio overcame a poor showing in the 55-meter dash preliminary round to win the final with the best time in the state this season (7.24 seconds).
"I was awful in the preliminaries, so I was angry going into the last race," she said. "I really just wanted to come out and win and it's awesome to come out on top.
"This was big for us. We wanted to win."
The win continued her seasonlong unbeaten streak and brought Andover within two points of Newton South heading into the relays.
The Bromfield School's Emily Jones again dominated the competition in the 2-mile race. The junior set a meet record with the best time in the country this season (10:30.41), eclipsing the national mark she set last week during the Division 4 Championships. The jaw-dropping result was the fifth best in state history. Yet, she still wasn't content.
"I was actually hoping to run a little faster," Jones said. "I didn't feel as well as I did last week and I started to slow down a little around the halfway point."
Jones used the Reggie Lewis Center's crowd, which has shown enthusiastic support for her during races this season, as inspiration to pick up her game.
"It's hard to believe you have a whole crowd behind you during the race," she said.
Many took home victories for the second consecutive year. Stoneham senior Christina Izzicupo was victorious in the 300-meter dash and Bishop Feehan senior Meg Looney set a meet record (1:34.35) in the 600.
"I was a bit nervous coming in. Any girl on any given day can crank out a crazy time,"" Looney said. "I never take anything for granted."
Looney, who said this was the meet she has been preparing for all year, was set to run Friday but was disappointed to find out her schedule would be altered after the meet was delayed due to a snow storm. But she overcame that problem, as well as another - her superstitions.
"I didn't even look behind me," she said with a laugh. "I'm extremely superstitious. I don't even like to think about the competition during a race."
Izzicupo won the 300 despite being seeded eighth, and had to watch half of her competition run after she competed.
"I was darting my eyes between the clock and the runners," she said. "I knew my time was good enough to place, but you never know what you get until everything is over."
The senior was ecstatic with her victory. "It's great. It's my last 300 ever," she said. "I left everything I had on the track."
