Girls Move To 3-0; Shorthanded Boys Earn Rare Tie against Holliston Panthers

The Lancers welcomed the Holliston Panthers to town on Wednesday to continue TVL Fall 2 Track & Field action. Following a positive COVID-19 case and contract tracing, the boys team fought valiantly to a rare tie in dual meet action, splitting the Panthers evenly, 43-43. Meanwhile, the girls swept two events and won six out of the ten events to improve to 3-0 on the wedge season.

Girls (3-0)

While missing a couple varsity point scorers of their own, the Lady Lancers took off in typical fashion. As has been custom during Fall 2, the hurdles squad started the meet with a quick team lead as ever-expanding squad recorded three season bests in a 1-2-3 sweep. Spearheaded by Shaylee Owens (9.9h), the Lancers took all nine points in the event as senior Madeline Dolack (10.2h) followed Owens closely for second, only to be followed closely behind by Kyla Leahy (10.4h), who dropped nearly a half second off her previous best to complete the sweep.

With the hurdles clear, Ali Murphy (7.4h) continued her tear of the Fall 2 season with another dominant victory in the 55m dash. Cracking 8.0 seconds for the first time for third was classmate and first-year Pheobe Gesner (7.9h) in her first season of high school track & field. Murphy's season best now moves her into a tie for second place amongst the TVL Fall 2 rankings. She would return to the track to take her second win of the day in the 300m (43.6h), winning the three-quarter lap race by four whole seconds, just a tenth of a second off her TVL#2 mark set earlier this season.

Outside the track, senior captain Michaela Whiteside (28'-10.5") continued to return back to shot put form by hitting a season's best throw on a windy afternoon. She outdistanced the competition and the team, handedly winning the event. Callie Dennett (23'-9.5") threw a personal best to claim second while Brynn Leahy (22'-6.5") earned bronze honors in her first meet throwing shot. She would carry the momentum into the high jump (4'-2"), where she caught a groove late to edge out Owens (4'-2") on attempts to lead the pair to a 2-3 finish in the vertical jumps.

On the track, senior captain Isabella Pietrasiewicz (5:14.3h) primed to take a stab at a low 5:00 mile next week by comfortably outpacing Holliston's Carmen Luisi from the gun. Not too far behind, Shea Podbelski (5:33.3h) raced the clock well to run a Fall 2 season's best in claiming third place.

Sienna Pietrasiewicz (1:54.6h) ran out of race to catch second as she had to settle for third in an unfamiliar 600m race. Classmate Brooke Dennett (3:27.8h) cut three seconds off her previous best 1,000m time and just missed runner-up honors at the finish line lean. Rounding out the scoring for the girls, Podbelski (12:21.0h) returned for the Two Mile where a very patient approach allowed her to put in plenty of separation over the final 800m, with her personal best mark earning her the victory in the two-girl race.

Boys (1-1-1)

The Men of Norton were unable to outdistance Holliston as every event was split between the two worthy competitors, leaving the score to wrap up in a tie.

Senior captain Paul Wisnaskas (8.0h) was the lone Lancer hurdler on the day but it did not matter. He comfortably outpaced Holliston despite hitting an early hurdle. Wisnaskas (29'-4") would fill the role of "thrower" for the day with the throws squad out due to contact tracing, as the multi-athlete still managed a close second place finish in the event. Following him on the straightaway, Danny Tran (7.2h) and Jason Soares (7.4h) managed to take the final two places in the 55m dash but were out-leaned for the event win. 

A similar story in the mile as both Charlie Mills (5:02.1h) and Aiden Masse (5:07.3h) ran to phenomenal personal best times, but unfortunately, Holliston's Nathan Giordano outpaced the pair early to grab the event win an +1 team score advantage. However, senior captain Sean Wynne (1:30.8h) brought back a win in the 600m, less than a second shy of his indoor best mark. Wynne (5'-0") would pair up with Wisnaskas (5'-10") to a 1-3 finish in an engaging high jump finale that worked Wisnaskas up to attempts at six feet in his secondary event.

Wisnaskas mid-flight

Following Wynne, senior classmate Derek Bamford (2:52.1h) would go on to destroy his previous 1,000m best after taking the race with 400m to go in a dominant win. Masse (2:58.8h) made the short double back to also cash in his second personal best of the meet, leading the pair to a 1-3 finish in the event. Tran (39.9h) and Soares (39.6h) would swap their 55m finishes in the 300m, with a late surge from Holliston's Joey DeLuca being the difference maker in the event, forcing the Lancers to settle for second and third.

Wrapping up the meet, freshman Andrew McConnell (12:14.0h) took well to his first two mile race, pacing alongside Podbelski, before taking off in the final 200m to claim a third place point. In needing the 4x400m relay win to a share of the meet win, the quartet of Mills, Bamford, senior Duncan Owens, and Wynne (4:00.3h) kept the Panthers far at bay to win by almost 17 seconds in order to preserve the tie and disturb Holliston's perfect season bid.

Bamford to Owens in the 4x400m relay

Complete results can be found here: TVL Fall 2: Holliston @ Norton Complete Results

Up Next: The Lancers celebrate the Class of 2021 on Senior Night next Tuesday following the conclusion of their final home meet against Ashland. The meet will kick off at 4:15 pm.