Newton's Lions. Tigers roar
ANDOVER - Newton's girls had a field day at the MSTCA Division 1 outdoor track relays yesterday. The Newton South and Newton North squads finished 1-2 thanks to several strong - and a few unexpected - performances in the field events.
Newton South finished with 60 points, 4 ahead of the Tigers. The Lions were sparked by their 4 x 1,600-meter team, which finished in a state-record 21 minutes 7.08 seconds.
Coach Steve McChesney was ecstatic about the record-setting performance of Madeleine Reed, Kathy O'Keefe, Juliet Ryan-Davis, and Kelsey Karys, but he was also pleased that his team "nickeled and dimed" points in events such as the shot put, discus, and javelin to seal the win.
"That's kind of special when Newton goes 1-2 in a meet like this," McChesney said. "We don't really have a rivalry like other teams. We kind of cheer each other on. . . . For two teams from the same town to come to a meet like this and place 1-2 is kind of thrilling."
Newton North also set a state record. Returning champions Vickie Marone and Michele Kaufman, as well as newcomer Emma Kornetsky, bested the previous long jump record by almost 2 feet.
BC High's boys also used strong field performances to finish first with 47 points. Andover came in second with 41.5 points, followed by Newton North (36) and St. John's Prep (35).
BC High coach John Normant echoed McChesney's feelings that the MSTCA relays were a good chance for a team to test and boast its depth.
"This is a really nice meet to win because so many different people contribute," he said.
Tim Murray, Dan Bent, Conor Moran, and Nick Alakel set a school record in the 4 x 400 relay (3:26.93), and Ibi Wilcox (shin splints) and Bakari Johnson (hamstring) fought through injuries to lead the team in the triple jump and long jump, respectively.
"The kids were scattered in so many places [in the field events] and taking so long, we really had no idea where the points were coming from," Normant said. "Things started coming in all over the place, and I went over to the table and looked at the sheet, and we were up near the top."
Although his team finished outside the top 10, New Bedford's Jeff Rose was the talk of the meet, making a 22-foot-3-inch leap in the long jump.
