Newell & Rodriguez Tally The Ladies while Wisnaskas Hat Trick Helps NHS Sweep Millis

Returning from a Christmas Break is never an easy one, but the Lancers made a statement showing the TVL that they are ready to race regardless of the circumstances. The boys scored in every event to comfortably handle Millis, 65-17, while the girls used a win in all but two events to keep their unbeaten streak alive by cruising past Millis, 68-18.

Boys (2-1)

The Lancers scored in every event, nearly winning every one of them, to a dominant performance following the short Christmas Break. Junior Jameson Macnaught (32'-6") and senior Jackson Weaver (29'-4") got the scoring off to an early start with a 1-3 finish in the shot put. A near sweep of the throws were prevented when Millis throwers showed up to the shot put circle later but were still granted their throws, bumping into an individual second place finish. Similarly, a near sweep would have occurred on the infield if senior captain Corey Stalters ran the 55m hurdles, which he sat out to remain loose to attend to an injury. Nevertheless, Paul Wisnaskas (8.29) kept the crown in Norton for the day, winning the small hurdle field, while freshman James Partridge (10.46) grabbed a personal best en route to his first indoor varsity points, scoring a second place finish. Stalters (7.39) would return to the infield for a comfortable win in the 55m dash, leading classmate Nick Chew (7.58) to his first varsity points, grabbing a third place finish.

John Bamford readies for the heave during the JV Shot Put

Meanwhile, miscommunication almost lead to the milers missing the start of a race, as a hap-hazard warm-up led to frantically jogging to the start line, with little or no time to change out of trainers. Nevertheless, senior captain  Austin Carroll (4:53.53) used the adrenaline to seize the lead in the small school section from the beginning and never letting it go, comfortably winning in his training shoes. Sean Wynne (5:08.78) was off his season's best but still put together a valiant effort to finish second against Millis. Similar odd encounters occurred during the 600m, with senior captain DJ Nihill (1:42.78) and freshman Charlie Mills (1:42.65) only facing one Millis runner. The pair ran together throughout the three-lapper with Mills grabbing his first varsity win, in a lean, at the finish.

The mid-sprints and mid-distance events brought about two sweeps on the day for the Lancers, with CJ Liebherr (40.13) grabbing the win and Chew (44.29) and Duncan Owens (45.10) moving up the varsity point-scorers list, as the two claimed second and third respectively. Following the 300m, Ethan Tetrault (2:54.00) ran away with the 1,000m seemingly solo for the last 400m while thrower-runners Nick Denham (3:21.80) and Ryan Carroll (3:24.66) used their strength to follow through in the 1,000m to outgap Millis for a clean sweep. The 1,000m preceded the final individual event, the 2 Mile, where James Wilson (11:50.22) used a lightning fast opening mile towards his advantage, but unfortunately ran out of gas towards the finish. Fortunately, he found himself ahead of the pack enough to still grab a third place point against Millis.

Wrapping up the meet, the boys 4x400m relay of Nihill, Liebherr, Wynne and Wisnaskas hit the track inbetween Wisnaskas finishing up an uncontested win in the high jump, with him safely reaching 5'-6". A near disaster opening hand-off from Nihill to Liebherr, with Nihill crashing to the scorer's table, made it a nerve-racking beginning. But Liebherr passed off to Wynne, breathing down Dedham's back. A back-and-fourth leg had Wynne moving back to the lead, handing off to Wisnaskas, who escaped the field and crossed the line in a seven second win over the field, earning the fastest time of the day in 3:43.93.



Non-Scoring Results

Shot Put
Ryan Carroll - 28'-2"
Ben Litchfield - 28'-0"
Nick Denham - 27'-8"
Shawn Lestage - 27'-1"
Matt Kurland - 21'-6.5"
Ryan Morabito - 16'-9.75"
John Bamford - 16'-1"

55m Dash
Shawn Lestage - 7.72
Alex Hamer-Moreno - 7.83
Ben Litchfield - 7.89
Duncan Owens - 8.00
Elliot Wilson - 8.04
Sean Deady - 8.15
James Partridge - 8.15
Nick Lebel - 8.28
Adam Doyle - 8.69

Mile
Derek Bamford - 5:28.00

300m
Alex Hamer-Moreno - 45.50
Elliot Wilson - 48.46

1,000m
Thomas Anderson - 3:39.96




Girls (3-0)

The Lady Lancers used a similar approach to the boys to control the meet from the start. Senior captains Julia Newell (9.88) and Lily Holloway (9.93) led the way in the 55m hurdles while Newell (7.93) and Carly Murphy (8.29) earned a 1-3 finish in the 55m dash to move the Lancers in front following the infield runs. In the high jump, it was a Norton 1-2-3 finish with Eve Rodriguez (4'-2") besting Holloway on attempts to grab the win. Casey Ball (4'-0") wrapped up the scoring in the jumps, placing third.

Madeline Dolack prepares for the start of the dash

The girls shot put was won by transfer senior Amanda Hamer-Moreno (28'-7") as she narrowly edged out teammate Michaela Whiteside (28'-5"). The oval events kicked off with the mile; Isabella Pietrasiewicz (5:22.01) lost an early battle to Millis's Bethany Steiner but still managed to grab a second place finish while freshman Skye Goba (6:13.32) earned a varsity point finishing in third. Kylie Dion (1:51.56) led from start to finish in first in the 600m with teammate Hannah Kubinski (1:54.54) needing a last second kick to to place second in front of Millis. The Lady Lancers continued their near sweeps in the 300m dash, as Rodriguez (47.04) ran runner-up to senior captain Kirsten Loring (45.89). However, they had to settle with single scorers in the 1,000m and 2 Mile; Meg Cross (3:27.77) used a strong last 300m to win the 1,000m with senior captain Hannah Delea (13:47.88) finishing a comfortable second in the latter event.

Coach Ricky giving advice to Eve Rodriguez during the high jump

Millis opted to not run a 4x400m relay, allowing the Lancers to time trial their squad against Dedham and Medway. Nevertheless, the quartet of Loring, Heather Kurland, Lindsey Bingel, and Dion (4:31.27) ran a season's best for the team to capture the heat victory and a third best time of the day in the Tri-Valley League.


Non-Scoring Results

Shot Put
Carly Landry - 22'-10"
Sarah Kubinski - 18'-10"
Angie Sliney - 15'-3"

55m Hurdles
Heather Kurland - 10.41
Krystal Macdonald - 10.74
Caroline Turcotte - 11.34
Madeline Dolack - 11.35
Sam Carreiro - 11.96

55m Dash
Eve Rodriguez - 8.24
Casey Ball - 8.39
Krystal Macdonald - 8.44
Caitlin Whiteside - 8.64
Kaitlin Russell - 8.72
Julianne Lebel - 8.87
Lily Holloway - 8.89
Emmalee Schepis - 8.92
Caroline Turcotte - 9.01
Madeline Dolack - 9.14
Sam Carreiro - 9.28
Sarah Wood - 9.77
Julia Perkins - 10.14
Angie Sliney - 11.22

Mile
Lauren Anderson - 6:35.31
Ashley Johnson - 6:48.85

600m
Ashley Schepis - 1:56.27
Jocelyn Nardone - 2:05.44

300m
Carly Murphy - 48.79
Lindsey Bingel - 49.19
Caitlin Whiteside - 50.75
Kaitlin Russell - 50.82

1,000m
Destiny McGrath - 3:38.38
Sarah Kubinski - 3:49.67
Hope LeClaire - 4:03.42
Jordan Robbins - 4:05.32



UP NEXT: The Lancers will take split-squads to two different meets on Saturday, January 5th. Freshmen-Sophomores who qualify for the Auerbach Freshmen/Sophomore Invitational at Reggie Lewis will head to Boston at 8:15 am from NHS. A select group of upperclassmen will also be competing at the URI HS Classic at the University of Rhode Island. Transportation will be organized during the week.