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| Your TVL Showcase Champions! |
Boys - 1st place (51 points)
Right from the start, the Lancers seized control of the meet and didn't let go. The hurdles crew got started with personal bests by nearly the entire squad. Senior captain Peter Rivard (8.81) and sophomore James Partridge (9.48) earned strong bests on the year to earn 11th and 17th out of the preliminaries. But hurdler duos Paul Wisnaskas (8.03) and senior captain Corey Stalters (8.13) comfortably earned their way into the finals with a career best by Wisnaskas and a near-best by Stalters. After the 55m dash preliminaries, in which Rivard (7.11) and senior Nick Chew (7.49) earned 13th and 28th respectively, Wisnaskas and Stalters saved their best for last. In the league's strongest hurdle field of the year, the two went head-to-head with Medfield's All-Stater Ryan Eng, who edged out Wisnaskas to win in 7.71. Yet, Wisnaskas showed his best to earn a second place finish in a new Norton HS record of 7.95 seconds, besting Camden Cleathero's 7.99 set during the 2015-16 season. Cleathero now competes as a multi-athlete for the University of Maine. Stalters, who still grabbed a massive lifetime best in 8.05, followed right behind Wisnaskas for third place.
Meanwhile, in the shot put, Jameson Macnaught launched a huge personal best in 37'-0" to narrowly miss making the finals, finishing in the preliminaries in 11th place. The lone freshman in the field, Alexander Hamer-Moreno, continued to take form as the Lancer's #2 by throwing 34'-5.25" to finish 20th in the 29 thrower field.
On the oval, Sean Wynne and senior James Wilson took on the field in the varsity mile. Wilson narrowly missed his personal best in his last indoor race, finishing 20th overall in 5:23.42. In the seeded section, Wynne fell into a chase pack and then headed off for the rest of the field as it began to split mid-race. But he solely fought the clock in a primarily solo-effort in order to finish sixth in a demolishing 11-second personal best time of 4:49.06. Certainly not to be outdone, Wisnaskas quickly returned from his 55m hurdle finals to hop onto the track less than 10 minutes later to race the 600 meters. In tow with senior captain DJ Nihill, Wisnaskas held off a late charge by Westwood's Jack Deehan to win (1:26.64) while leading both Deehan and Nihill to sub-1:28 times. Nihill earned a strong PR (1:27.65) to finish third and earn six points for the Lancers.
Continuing a tradition of freshmen milers, Charlie Mills ran his first mile race in the TVL freshman mile. While in unfamiliar territory, Mills began to learn his pacing and ended up passing two runners in a furious last lap kick, narrowly missing third place but earning a fourth in a personal best time of 5:31.22. And the PRs only followed on the long sprints, as CJ Liebherr (38.97) and Stalters (39.63) both made huge gains in finishing in 11th and 16th, heading into the post-season competition.
The last individual track event brought the Lancers second TVL Champion, as senior captain Austin Carroll (2:43.94) took the lead in the 1,000m run from the start and never relinquished, outpacing the field by nearly five seconds. Ethan Tetrault (2:52.94) found himself in the chase pack that was reluctant to move, boxing him in and giving him a hard-fought 10th place finish. In the unseeded heat, Nick Denham (3:00.19) ran the race of his life, in his last indoor competition, unleashing a consistent pace to beat his previous best by nine second, finishing 15th overall in the 21 man field.
Heading into the 4x400m relay, the Lancers were guaranteed a team win by finishing second or better. But the quartet of Nihill, Liebherr, Carroll and Wisnaskas did not want to settle. A strong opening leg by Nihill placed the Lancers in front with Hopkinton and Westwood. Dedham moved up to flirt with the group during Liebherr's leg, but Norton separated themselves into second with Hopkinton. The handoff to Carroll moved the Lancers back to third due to overzealous opening 200s but Carroll calmly reeled the field back in and handed off to Wisnaskas with a slight lead over Hopkinton. And as is custom over the season, any slight lead with Wisnaskas as the anchor is as good as golden. A consistent sub-54 leg by Wisnaskas pushed the Lancers to a two-second win over Hopkinton, in a league best time of 3:37.02. The win marked Wisnaskas's and Carroll's second on the day.
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| Relay Excellence Runs through Norton: Nihill, Liebherr, Carroll and Wisnaskas |
Girls - 6th place (21 points)
The Lady Lancers grabbed points early as well. Senior captain Julia Newell (9.51) ran a state-qualifying time to advance out of the preliminaries of the 55m hurdles while fellow senior captain Lily Holloway (10.16) and Madeline Dolack (10.21) earned 13th and 14th place finishes out of the preliminaries to wrap up their seasons. But prior to the hurdles finals, Newell (7.65) doubled back to earn a finals spot in the 55m dash finals as well. Eve Rodriguez (7.92) continued her consistent run this season, just missing a finals spot by finishing in ninth place out of the preliminary heats. In the finals, Newell improved her state-qualifier in the hurdles, finishing in a season's best 9.32 seconds to cross the line in sixth place, while just missing out on a point by finishing seventh in the dash finals in a time of 7.78. Newell's busy evening concluded in placing second in the exhibition long jump, as she managed to improve her state qualifier by breaking 16 feet, jumping 16'-3".
The lone Lady Lancer TVL Champion came in the varsity mile. Sophomore Isabella Pietrasiewicz stuck onto the lead pack, run by Millis's Bethany Steiner. A fierce competitor of Pietrasiewicz's, the slow start to the race (crossing through 800m slightly over 5:20 pace) played to the Lancer's strength as it ultimately came down to an 800m race between the two. After the pair pulled away from the heat with 400m to go, with Hopkinton's Olivia Jones in chase, Pietrasiewicz took full advantage of a move around lapped runners to box Steiner in and edge out the victory in a season's best time of 5:14.57. Senior captain Hannah Delea (6:11.46) also competed in the seeded heat, fighting hard to compete, still managing to finish 15th overall in her last TVL meet.
In the 600m dash, it was a full field for the Lancers with Kylie Dion (1:48.61) prevailing above the others in a strong personal best, earning a point with her sixth place finish. Senior Hannah Kubinski (1:50.42) ran a personal best in her last 600m race, just behind Dion in eighth place, while Ashley Schepis (1:55.10) finished in 15th place. The 600m was followed by the freshmen mile, which saw Skye Goba (6:02.19) miss her personal best but still charged through the complicated field to finish second overall in front of teammate Lauren Anderson (6:28.41) who grabbed a fifth place finish.
Rodriguez faced her oval event in the 300m dash. Senior captain Kirsten Loring, however, paced the way with a 12th place finish in 45.20 with Rodriguez registering a personal best time of 45.35 to finish right behind her in 13th. Freshman Lindsey Bingel also got her first TVL Championship experience, finishing in 19th place with a big personal best of 46.96. The same underclassmen experience was brought in the 1,000m run with a strong field breaking away early leaving Megan Cross and Destiny McGrath to fend for themselves against the clock. Despite the isolation, Cross found herself squeezing out a personal best timeof 3:20.94 to earn a sixth place point while McGrath ran solo to earn herself an 11th place finish with a 3:31.35 performance.
The last track event brought out the 4x400m relay of Heather Kurland, Loring, Dion, and Pietrasiewicz. The four looked to grab a much more solid automatic state-qualifier and immediately put themselves in contention to do just that. A pair of opening legs by Kurland and Loring found the Lancers well above state-qualifying pace in the thick of the field. Fighting back from the 600m, Dion moved the team up before handing over to Pietrasiewicz. Still refreshed from her mile win, Pietrasiewicz ran a masterful anchor to claw the Lady Lancers back into contention, to earn themselves a podium finish in crossing the line in fifth place, well under the state-qualifier in a time of 4:19.72, the team's best on the season.
Finishing up the TVL Showcase was the girls shot put which saw senior Amanda Hamer-Moreno narrowly missing the finals in finishing ninth overall with a throw of 27'-11.5". But knee brace and all, it was sophomore Michaela Whiteside (31'-4") who continued her improvement in the lone indoor throwing event. Her personal best throw in the finals earned her a third place finish in the meet, giving the Lady Lancers another six points towards their total.
Up Next: A small group of Lancers will be heading up to Reggie on Sunday for the Last Chance to Qualify Meet, in hopes of nailing state and NBNI qualifying marks. Please stay tuned, for those competing, for departure times.
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