Boys: 4th (29 points)
The Men of Norton made their case to show that they peaked at the right time in the season and early on, it seemed very evident that they did. Kicking off the oval action, all three competitors in the mile smashed their previous personal bests by at least nine seconds. Derek Bamford (5:05.60) led the way taking off early to smash his season's best by almost 15 seconds. Following in his wake was sophomore Aiden Masse (5:11.75) cutting off 18 seconds from his previous best while Thomas Anderson (5:36.31) continued his breakout season in battling the clock to improve his personal best by nine seconds. Overall, the trio finished 9th, 12th and 20th respectively in the event.
In the shot put, senior captain Jameson Macnaught (34'-4.25") felt it early but still managed to finish in the top half of the field in 16th. Ryan Carroll (37'-1") continued to reach the new plateau he set for himself this season but missed his season and personal best, earning a 12th place finish in the process. Likewise in the infield, Danny Tran (7.33) and Cameron Bratt (7.51) both initially struggled in their first TVLs, finishing in 20th and 24th place. But Tran would come back in the 300m to seek redemption.
On the men's side, the story of the evening was Paul Wisnaskas. Winning his preliminary heat in 8.19 in the 55m hurdles, he made it to the finals while teammate James Partridge (9.28) couldn't find a rhythm and just missed out, finishing in 11th out of the trials. In the finals, Wisnaskas (7.92) faced early competition from Hopkinton's Prucher, and it forced Wisnaskas to pick up his in-between-hurdle speed in order to squeeze out the narrowest of victories by 0.01 seconds. Regardless, it won him the 55m Hurdle title and shaved 0.02 seconds off his school record time.
Immediately following the 55m hurdles, however, were the 600m run, with Wisnaskas attempting to defend his title from last year. A scheduling mixup with the freshman mile bought him more time to catch his breath, as his teammates took the oval over. Owen Moon (5:32.79) just missed placing for a ribbon with his 8th place finish, but he salvaged a 14-second personal best while running most of his race in no man's land. Tyler Bruno (5:47.19) rounded out the field in 14th place, also shaving a second off his previous personal best to continue the trend.
In the 600m, Wisnaskas (1:26.59) following the same strategy that earned him a PR at the Coaches Invitational; working through the crowd after 150m, seizing the lead at 250m and extending it through the bell lap. While no personal best in this race (he was hardly a second off), he commanded the majority of the race and left no question of who'd break the tape first.
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| Wisnaskas pulling away before the bell lap |
Unfortunately, championship racing his the 1,000m. Both Lancers, Sean Wynne (2:46.55) and senior captain Ethan Tetrault (2:57.89), took to the seeded section where difficulty ensued. Wynne found himself boxed in early and could not escape to get to the front of the back till 400m was left. Tetrault, on the other hand, experienced quad tightness that wouldn't allow him to shift gears. With a mad dash in the last 200m, Wynne faded to 5th place and Tetrault to 13th, having worked much harder than their times and places reflected.
But redemption was found in the 300m dash. Senior Sean Deady (41.57) shaved nearly a full second off his personal best to finish in 23rd place while Danny Tran (39.55) broke 40 for the first time in grabbing a 16th place finish. And leading the way, though injured and out for most of the season, was Jason Soares (38.81) who made his stamp on the league by erasing a full second from his previous best set in December, breaking 39 for the first time. He finished just outside the Top 10 with a 13th place finish.
The last oval event contested by the men was the 4x400m relay. With an alternate in, and everyone already experiencing tired legs, the group of Tetrault, Bamford, Masse and Wynne took it as a workout to get a little more speed in on the day. Sadly, the results did not reflect their effort as they finished in last in 4:00.74.
Closing out the meet, though, was Wisnaskas (6'-0") in the high jump. Comfortably clearing 6'-0", his first two jumps at 6'-2" faded. But the last jump was nearly perfect, with him clearing the bar up till his legs snapping in, rather than out, grasping the bar on his descend. His efforts did not go unrewarded: he tired for second place to earn another seven points. On the evening, Wisnaskas scored 27 points; if he were his own school, he would have finished fourth overall. Nevertheless, the Lancers managed to finish in fourth with 29 points, besting all TVL Small Schools including Small Champions, Dover-Sherborn.
Girls - 2nd (45 points)
The oval opened with the unseeded section of the girls mile. After consistently running 6:08, Destiny McGrath (5:49.30) shot to the front immediately and focused solely on the clock. Well under pace, she controlled her heat from start to finish and held off any doubt from a charging Tara Shipos of Medway, winning the first section in a personal best by almost 20 seconds and finishing in 9th overall. In the seeded section, freshman Shea Podbelski (5:38.44) held on to a PR-group but faded towards the end, still falling only a second off her previous best. Picking up the difference behind her, Skye Goba (5:42.55) came on very hard late in the race to try to give her company. Her efforts earned her a personal best by nearly 10 seconds and a 6th place finish behind Podbeski in 5th.
The infield opened up with a lot of hectic back-and-fourth for junior Heather Kurland. She opened up the 55m hurdles in 9.07, advancing to the finals, while freshman teammate Shaylee Owens (9.97) earned a personal best right in front of Maddie Dolack (10.68). Owens and Dolack finished in 11th and 19th place, failing to qualify for the finals. But as Kurland finished her preliminaries, she went back in line for the 55m dash, where she paced senior captain Eve Rodriguez (7.84) into the finals behind her 7.79. As the boys heats finished up, it was back in line for the hurdles final, where fatigue started to set in, but did not prevent Kurland from firing through in a personal best of 8.93 for runner-up honors. But by the dash, she was spent and just missed scoring, finishing in seventh place in 7.80. Meanwhile, Rodriguez (7.75) had a phenomenal race to earn third place honors in the event.
Returning to the oval, scratches in the 600m moved senior Kylie Dion (1:48.43) and freshman Carly Goodwin (1:55.75) into the second to last heat. Competing uncontested, Dion took over the lead 200m in and held on for a convincing heat win by three seconds, while Goodwin found herself a personal best finishing in a blanket finish. Dion missed scoring by a half second, grabbing 7th place while Goodwin finished in 10th in her first TVL Showcase.
Sienna Pietrasiewicz (6:03.04) and Brooke Dennett (6:03.56) assured the team that the up-and-coming talent is thriving, as they took the freshman mile over. Dennett seized the lead from the gun and established a large early lead while Pietrasiewicz trailed modestly in a pack of two Hopkinton runners. Dennett held the lead up till the bell lap as she was passed with 75m to go. Pietrasiewicz pushed her to the line and just edged out in front for a 3rd place finish as the paid hit massive personal bests, after coming in with 6:11 and 6:13 bests respectively. Their 3rd and 4th place finishes signal a promising future for the Lady Lancers squad.
Arguably the most competitive race of the evening was the girls 1,000m run. In the unseeded section, senior captain Ashley Schepis (3:20.36) took over early and led the field, only being contested by a D-S freshman. At the bell, the Raider took off and Schepis did her best to follow, finding her way to the line right behind her in a new personal best and an 11th place finish in the event.
But the seeded section had the most fire power of the day. Competing alongside Hopkinton's Schuyler Gooley and Millis's Bethany Steiner was Norton's Isabella Pietrasiewicz and Megan Cross. The race went out seemingly as expected, save a Medfield runner who was a bit ansy and took over the lead for the first two laps. But Gooley, Steiner, and Pietrasiewicz stayed cautiously behind while Cross worked the second chase pack. After 400m, the three took over Medfield and Cross made her was up to challenge the fading Medfield runner. 600m came by with all three runners on pace to run sub-3:00, a goal for all three of them, having only been previously achieved by Gooley. Both her and Pietrasiewicz had strong 600m speed and it was a matter of who would make the move, not if a move would be made.
At 350m to go, Pietrasiewicz made a confident move to push the pack in order to make sub-3:00 a certainty. She led the pack through the bell lap, coming through 800m in roughly 2:21. On the curve, she began to separate and take off from the two. It was only a matter of how far under 3:00 would they get. Cross got around the Medfield runner and was chasing the clock as the lead runner in a small chase pack. By the line, Pietrasiewicz (2:57.61) shattered the 3:00-barrier leading Gooley (2:58.85) and Steiner (2:59.02) under it as well, earning her second career TVL title. Cross (3:12.39) rounded out the top four and shaved off a half second off her previous best.
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| Pietrasiewicz with a defiant move! |
As of this posting, Pietrasiewicz's time sits at MA#4 and US#26, only a second off of Julia Palin's (17-18) school record. Her time also dipped under the 2:57.80 standard and qualified her for the 2020 New Balance National Indoor Emerging Elite 800m race.
After the 1,000m, there was still plenty of competition to be had. Freshman Ali Murphy (42.25) made her claim for fastest freshman as she narrowly won the 300m dash, in a personal best time and MA#1 amongst all freshmen. Captain Rodriguez (45.20) just missed scoring finishing in 8th place with a new personal best time. She also competed in high jump, unfortunately not clearing opening height, while teammate Lindsey Bingel (4'-6") continued her consistency and finished in a tie for 9th place.
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| Murphy winning her first TVL Title |
Finishing the track events, the girls 4x400m relay of Bingel, Dion, Pietrasiewicz and Murphy took off in hopes of competing with the school record. After a 63.8 split from Bingel, Dion took the baton in second place and took over the lead after 200m. When suddenly, after 250, she began to lose form and became light-headed, stumbling to the infield unable to continue. Fortunately, she was okay after receiving aid from the Reggie athletic trainers and the quartet was able to leave in good spirits.
The meet concluded with the girls shot put finals in the cage. After Erica Ransom (27'-8.75") fought through a gritty wisdom teeth extraction a week ago to finish in 9th, Michaela Whiteside (30'-4") got her way into the finals and inched forward for a season's best to finish in 4th place in the meet.
While Hopkinton (99) finished well in front of the rest of the field, Norton (45) managed to distance themselves from Medfield (35) to finish in second place, well ahead of the second place TVL Small School, Dedham (20).
Up Next: While the season concludes for most of the TVL competitors, state and National qualifiers are continuing forward. A small group of athletes close to the state standard will be competing at Sunday's Last Chance to Qualify Meet at Reggie. That group will be taking the mini bus from NHS; details for departure and competitors will follow in the next two days.
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