Boys (8th place - 15 points)
In what ended up being a historic day for the Men of Norton, it begun on a historic event: the shuttle hurdle relay. Norton remains the all-time Division 4 State record holder, with the 2011-12 team recording a 26.97 race to then compete at the New Balance Indoor National Championships. Sure enough, that team would be proud of what the boys produced. Running out of the fastest heat, and competing head-to-head against TVL rival Medfield, senior captain Corey Stalters ran out to a comfortable lead early. Heading back in the right direction, freshman James Partridge ran side-to-side against Medfield's best to hand-off a slim deficit to senior captain Peter Rivard. Despite no hurdle racing this winter, Rivard demonstrated how natural the event came to him, exchanging a slight lead to anchor Paul Wisnaskas. Against Medfield's Ryan Eng, Wisnaskas's lead diminished but held strong through the final hurdle to cross the line just 0.05 seconds faster than Medfield. And that lean secured the win for the Lancers in a time of 27.20. Not only was it within earshot of the all-time Division 4 record, but it also squeezed the Lancer Four under the 4x50 yard shuttle hurdle qualifier for the 2019 New Balance Indoor National Championships in New York City. In what would ultimately be a 4x55m hurdle relay, the Lancers punched their ticket to compete amongst the nation's best in March.
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| The Hurdles Legacy continues! L-R: Captain Stalters, Partridge, Captain Rivard and Wisnaskas |
Finally, with legs tiring out and the 4x400m relay being scratched, the Men of Norton concluded their day in the distance medley relay. Hoping to "redeem" himself from the night prior, Ethan Tetrault ran a phenomenally paced 1,200m leg to put the Lancers in contention leading off. Senior captain DJ Nihill continued his resurgence with a 400m leg that moved the Lancers further up in the pack. Sophomore Sean Wynne ran a personal best 800m split to get the Lancers to the medalist position, but having already run just two events prior, Carroll was tasked to anchor home the DMR. Already agreed upon beforehand, it was to serve as a workout run, after having raced the night prior and earlier in the day. Even so, Carroll maintained position and held off a late charge by Wakefield's B team to capture sixth place in 11:30.93.
Girls (21st place - 5 points)
The Lady Lancers came into Reggie with equally high aspirations as the men did and the results definitely showed. Despite the low total, the several relays were just outside of scoring while the several configurations just missed a key connection to take advantage of their position.
While the shuttle hurdles competed the night before, the girls still came out swinging. Led by senior captain Julia Newell anchoring, the relay of Heather Kurland, senior captain Lily Holloway and Krystal Macdonald finished in seventh place overall, just missing the scoring medalist honors by less than a third of a second, finishing in 34.20 seconds. Meanwhile, making up for sub-par East Coast appearance, the girls 4x800m relay improved tenfold. Senior captain Hannah Delea took direction for classmate Hannah Kubinski and freshmen Skye Goba and Lauren Anderson who both made their four-lap debut at the distance. Although not a season's best, much was learned for the four as they placed 18th overall in a time of 11:12.99.
The lone field relay of the day was the shot put relay, consisting of Michaela Whiteside, Amanda Hamer-Moreno and Erica Ransom. A slight off day by the trio still displayed the growth they've developed this season as they just missed scoring, combining for 83'-1" to garner eighth place honors. Back on the oval, however, the Lady Lancers just missed out on gathering a second NBIN qualifier of the day, in the sprint medley relay. Strong legs by the foursome of Isabella Pietrasiewicz, senior captain Kirsten Loring, Newell, and Kylie Dion placed the team just off the top three podium, finishing in fourth with a strong 4:21.11; only two seconds off of the NBIN Emerging Elite qualifier. The foursome are likely to compete in another SMR race to punch their ticket to NYC.
A predominant underclassmen 4x200m relay learned a few lessons during their heat as slightly botched handoffs ended up disqualifying the relay team. Nevertheless, Caitlin Whiteside, Lindsey Bingel, Heather Kurland, and Eve Rodriguez still managed to unofficially beat their seed time, running 1:54.81. And finally, wrapping up the day, was the girls distance medley relay. In hopes of just getting more work on the day, the girls followed the boys lead in surpassing their own workout expectations with a medalist finish. Megan Cross ran her first race over 1,000m to lead off the four while Loring doublebacked to notch a 400m leg that kept the Lancers in the middle of the pack. Ashley Schepis ran an impressive 800m leg that would have fit her perfectly into the 4x800m relay team to handoff the stick to freshman Destiny McGrath who confidently commanded her own in her first "mile" race. Pacing the clock well, McGrath showed off her range in keeping Norton on the scoreboard, as the team earned a sixth place finish with a final time of 14:07.69.
Up Next: The Lancers will be sending a small squad of boys and girls to the Coaches Invitational at Reggie this upcoming Sunday (minibus will leave NHS at 8:30 am). Later that evening, the rest of the team will conclude regular season TVL action by competing against Bellingham at Hopkinton HS, with the buses leaving NHS at 2:15 pm.
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