Pietrasiewicz Qualifies for New Englands & 4x400 Relay Breaks School Record at All-States

The largest group of qualifiers in several years continued their season yesterday at the All-State Championship Meet at Reggie. The best in the state battled it out for the opportunity to be named outright state champion and earn a bid to next weekend's New England Championships.

Girls - 38th place (5 points)

The girls kicked off action for the Lancers as Heather Kurland (8.80) took to the infield for the 55m hurdles. Competing in the first heat, she had a fair start that kept her in the middle of the pack halfway, ultimately leaning at the tape in a blanket finish with three other athletes. Initially seeded 16th, she jumped up to finish 12th in the event, missing the finals by 0.05 seconds.

Having also qualified for long jump, Kurland (16'-7.5") hit the runaway for a rough first jump, still riding the high of the hurdles and leaping too early for 16'-1". After fouling on her second as she reached too far out for the board, Kurland found a little more of the board for her final jump hitting 16'-7.5", again moving up in the seedings from 22nd to 16th place in the field.

The lone individual on the oval, Isabella Pietrasiewicz (2:57.67) competed in the seeded section of the 1,000m with a spot in New Englands on the line. Top six finishers qualify for NEs and Pietrasiewicz came into the meet seeded fifth. The race ended up blowing away some expectations, as the top two seeds in the field (Emma Sullivan - Shepherd Hill; Nicole Anderson - Billerica) opted to lead the field instead of pulling away, despite both having seeds five seconds faster than third and fourth. Though the pace was fair for the top seven seeds, nearly the entire field was in contention halfway through. Pietrasiewicz jostled back and fourth on the rail before finding the space and time to kick out around trouble with 300 to go. At the bell, Sullivan and Anderson took off, leaving Pietrasiewicz in chase of Brookline's Sonja Nagle. Nagle pulled away with 80m left, lefting the top four well apart from the rest of the strung out field, with Pietrasiewicz coming across the line 0.06 seconds off her personal best from the TVL Showcase Meet.

Pietrasiewicz with her 4th place medal

Closing the day was the 4x400m relay team of Lindsey Bingel, Kylie Dion, Pietrasiewicz, and Ali Murphy. After tying the school record at the D4 Championship Meet, there was no question of what the goal was for the Lancer four. Competing in the second heat, Bingel (63.5) led off the team handing off the baton in fifth place. Dion (64.4) took the position and moved up tremendously on the back straight away, picking off Medfield in the process. Pietrasiewicz (62.2) let Medfield take over the initial 200 only to come raging back over her final lap, all bringing back memories to Medfield edging the Lancers by 0.20 seconds for third place the week prior. As custom, anchor Murphy (62.0) went out hard to hold off Medfield but she founded a little extra left in the tank to keep them at bay over the last 20m. This time, Norton got the win over their TVL rivals, placing fourth in the heat in a new school record time of 4:11.97, eclipsing the record they tied with the 2016-17 team of Isabella Berardi (Fitchburg St.), Kambrynn Bowman (Fitchburg St.), Katie Bradley (Quinnipiac), and Julia Palin (LSU).

School record holders: Dion, Murphy, Bingel and Pietrasiewicz

Boys - Did Not Score

The lone male Lancer, Paul Wisnaskas, had his work cut out for him at the All-State Meet. After arriving home from vacation the night prior, Wisnaskas (8.17) opened up in the 55m hurdles, not quite catching his groove, unable to find the explosion he utilized throughout the season. With travel and illness aside, he finished 22nd in the field of hurdlers.

Unfortunately, similar struggles hit Wisnaskas (20'-2.75") in the long jump. He opened up light relative to his potential. A second jump at 19'-2.5" only mounted up frustrations resulting in a runthrough fault on his last attempt. Nevertheless, after being seeded 19th, Wisnaskas still outperformed his seed and finished in 17th place.

Multis Paul & Heather with Coach Ricky

Up Next: Fortunately, Wisnaskas has a fresh opportunity in the multievents as he and Kurland compete in the MSTCA Pentathlon on Tuesday (Heather) and Wednesday (Paul). Additionally, a small group of distance runners will close their season out at the BU Last Chance Meet on Friday while Pietrasiewicz competes at the New England Championships on Saturday.