Boys (17th place - 4 points)
The meet's first competition for the boys began in the shot put cage, as the shot put relay took off in the first flight of throwers. Ryan Carroll (38'-7.5") did not miss a beat as he extended his streak of personal bests in consecutive meets to three, this time besting his previous mark by three and a half inches. He finished 24th in the field with senior captain Jameson MacNaught (37'-9.25") returning to form in 29th place. Rounding out the squad, multi Paul Wisnaskas (30'-8.5") launched a season's best as well returning back to the 30-feet range as he grabbed a 53rd place finish. Collected together, the relay threw 107'-1" which was good enough for 14th place in the event.
Oval events started with the boys taking on the 4x800m relay, looking to grab a state-qualifying time. Senior captain Ethan Tetrault (2:12.3h) opened up hard in a season's best 800m split with Sean Wynne (2:06.5h) following suit and keeping the Lancers at the front. Handing off to Derek Bamford (2:15.4h) with a lead, Bamford held on as well as he could to keep the Lancers near the front, giving up the lead only in the final 100m. However, anchor Wisnaskas (2:07.3h) doubled back from shot with his mid-distance legs back in season's stride. He moved the baton back up to the pack to finish third in the heat and 9th overall in the event, while the squad comfortably qualified for the Division 4 State Championships in 8:41.23.
The lone guys sprints relay, the 4x200m relay recovered from a mid-race snag to still finish strong in the middle of the field. Shawn Lestage (26.1h) led off strong but had to slow down for an exchange to Jason Soares (25.7h). And from the handoff between Soares and Duncan Owens (27.8h), a slight collision resulted with Owens hitting the rail and going down but miraculously recovering quickly. With the race winding down, Owens kept the Lancers in it for Danny Tran (25.5h) to close it out in 1:44.77, good for 33rd place.
In the long jump relay, the squad of Wisnaskas, Owens and Jack Buchan sought out the school record. Having not competed consistently in the long jump on the season, the squad gave a valient effort and fell less than a quarter of a meter short. Wisnaskas (20'-6.25") remained quick on the board, grabbing third place overall. Buchan (18'-0.25"), despite injuring his hip a week prior, still showed strong form to keep the team in the running, finishing in 24th place overall. And Owens (17'-2.25") made his indoor debut in the event to complete the trio. He stuck it out and finished in the Top 40 (38th place) which helped the Lancers post a 55'-8.5" total distance (16.98m). Just missing the podium, the three grabbed 4th place medals as the lone boys medalists.
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| Long Jumpers Buchan, Wisnaskas and Owens |
Girls (11th place - 11 points)
Starting off in the infield, the Lady Lancers took to the 4x50yd shuttle hurdles. A little back-and-fourth race, the squad of Shaylee Owens (9.0h), senior captain Krystal Macdonald (8.4h), Maddie Dolack (8.6h) and Heather Kurland (7.4h) used the shorter distance as an opportunity to practice closer clearance to the hurdles. Regardless, they still held their own in the field, finishing in a close second in their heat and finishing in 9th place overall in 33.02, missing medalist honors by less than a second.
Shooting off fireworks early in the meet, the girls SMR team took to the track in hopes of qualifying for the New Balance National Indoor Championships. Needing to run 4:16.00 to get into the Emerging Elite race, the team went out quick in the seeded section, led by senior captain Eve Rodriguez (27.8h). A season's best 200m split kept the Lancers well behind early leader Nauset, but Kurland (26.7h) handled a rough handoff for another season's best split to keep Nauset in sight. Ali Murphy (60.9h) opened up wild, well under 29 in her first 200m. She continued to fly but tied up in the last 55m losing the lead prior to handing off the baton, but also posted a season's best 400m split by over a full second. From there, Isabella Pietrasiewicz needed to hit under 2:21 in the 800 in order to get the team into Nationals. Also opening up hard, she hit consecutive 33s to open her first 400 in 67 seconds. From there, grit and determination kept Nauset at bay, never getting within threatening reach of Pietrasiewicz. She crossed the finish line with a finishing split of 2:19.3h, giving the girls SMR a staggering 4:14.17 winning time.
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| D4 State Relay Champs! Rodriguez, Kurland, Pietrasiewicz and Murphy |
Following in the SMR's wake, the girls 4x200m looked to improve their speed for the upcoming meets. Led off by Lindsey Bingel (28.5h), a strong starting spot got the Lancers off right, handing off to Lily Newell (30.1h). Julianne Lebel (30.7h) made a move on the first curve to get ahead of Scituate only to be passed back on the back straightaway, leaving Shaylee Owens (30.4h) to chase them down and finish just behind them in the fifth heat, finishing in 1:59.08 for 25th place overall.
In the circle, the shot put relay competed out of the seeded section hoping to hit medalist honors. Michaela Whiteside (30'-2") remained back in the 30s after an early season absence, good for 10th place individually. Erica Ransom (27'-10") was just slightly off her best but continued a strong season overall, landing in a tie for 35th while Caitlin Whiteside (26'-5.75") maintained consistent improvement in her first season in the event, gaining another foot on her personal best to finish in 41st place. Nevertheless, the three cracked the top ten with their 84'-5.5" total earning them a 9th place finish.
And closing out the meet, a fresh set of legs in the girls distance medley relay. In the seeded section, Megan Cross (4:04.1h) opened her 1,200m leg strong only to be caught by Wakefield and Melrose in the waning laps. But handing off to senior Kylie Dion (64.6h) kept the Lady Lancers in it, as she hit a season's best 400m split prior to getting it to senior captain Ashley Schepis (2:40.2h). A fairly consistently paced 800m split earned her a season's best as she handed off to freshman Shea Podbelski to face the metric mile of 1,600m. While the freshman was caught early by Newburyport, she maintained an aggressive pace early to put her on pace for 5:30. However, she faded late and had to rally on the last lap in the wake of a sprinting North Reading anchor. She crossed the line in 5:41.2h, bettering her mile personal best by another six seconds, to help the girls team finish in sixth place in 13:30.01.
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| DMR Medalists Dion, Podbelski, Schepis and Cross |
Up Next: Split-squad action occurs next week as qualified individuals will be competing at the Coaches Invitational on Saturday, January 25th at Reggie. That same day, JV athletes will be competing at Hopkinton at 4:00 pm. The bus will leave NHS at 2:45 pm. And the girls SMR team will be competing in the HS SMR at the New Balance Grand Prix following the Coaches Invitational.
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