Mansfield's Broyles dashes off her name in record book

When she rounded the final corner of the 300 meters, a thought began to enter the mind of Mansfield sophomore Emily Broyles.

"My goal was to run [the race] like a 200 and really get out as fast as I can and hold on," she said. "The meet record was in the back of my mind."

The thought became reality as her 41.88-second blitz around the Reggie Lewis Track broke the eight-year-old mark of Haverhill's Natasha Stevenson (41.96). But Broyles - who would earn the girls' Outstanding Athlete award at day's end - wasn't the only one to change the record books at the Red Auerbach Freshman-Sophomore Large School Championship yesterday.

In the boys' 55-meter hurdles, Greg Bourisquot of Stoughton (8.00 seconds) bested the 9-year-old mark of Somerville's Luis Moreira (8.09), while Duy Truong of Worcester Doherty tied it.

The long jump also featured a rewrite with Woburn's Craig Langes leaping to victory at 21 feet 6 1/4 inches, beating the 2004 record held by Silver Lake's Jeff Smith by 3 inches.

Bourisquot fell behind in the hurdles final, but was able to retake the lead and triumph.

"I'm just hyped up," Bourisquot said after receiving his medal. "I was focusing on the catch-up and then after I got the lead, I just focused on the finish line."

Bourisquot went on to earn the Outstanding Runner award, while Langes was named Outstanding Athlete. In addition to his victory in the long jump, Langes busted out a 6.78-second sprint to beat Stoughton's Ashanti-Ali Davis and Somerville's Edward Chen for the 55-meter title.

Preparation was the key to Langes's success.

"I think it's just all the practice I've had from last year up to this year," he said after winning the long jump. "I've lifted almost every day and I've been practicing with the football players. I couldn't play this year due to my knee, but I've been running with them.

Another top performer was Andover's Moira Cronin, who attempted to break the meet record for the girls' high jump (5-6 by Dennis-Yarmouth's Kate Sherman, 2002) before settling for a school-record leap of 5-4 that helped her earn Outstanding Field honors.

Cronin also earned two third-place finishes in the 55-meter hurdles (won by Brockton's Vanessa Clerveaux in 9.18) and with the Warriors' 4-by-400 relay team, in an event won by Mansfield - with Broyles running second - in 4:21.39.

"I was just hoping to hit 5-4, but now I feel like I want to do 5-6 or 5-7," Cronin said. "Hopefully, my big goal can be getting a 5-8 by the end of the year."

In other events, Acton-Boxboro's Neal Olson erased his 35th-place performance at last year's meet by winning the 300 in 38.09; a last-lap pass by Mansfield's Ryan Petrella enabled him to win the 600 in 1:28.12; and Jill Corcoran of Weymouth earned Outstanding Runner honors thanks to her victory in the mile (5:18.01).