NORTH READING’s 9th and 10th graders had a great showing at the CAL Freshman-Sophomore meet held at Ipswich High on Saturday. (Eric Evans Photo)
After press time:
Hornet Girls (4-0) and Boys (3-1) Track teams defeat Newburyport to win Cape Ann League Championships
Published May 9, 2024
Ligor named Athlete of the Meet
WESTON — The first weekend of May, the Hornets attend the annual Twilight Invitational at Weston High School. This year’s event was held on Saturday from 5-10 p.m. The Hornets had about a dozen athletes qualify to compete amongst the best in the state across all six divisions in what is considered the start of the championship season leading up to the conference meets and state championships which are a few weeks away. The Hornets had some great performances, with a few athletes finishing in the top six places earning medals and Giuliana Ligor winning two individual events and the Athlete of the Meet Award.
On the boys’ side Kieran Miller was the top athlete, taking home 3rd place with an impressive leap of 21’ 3”. He is currently ranked in the top three in both the Cape Ann League and Division 5 for the state of Massachusetts. Daniil Baranetski and Torin Nickerson both finished 31st in their respective hurdle events, finishing off of their season best times, Baranetski in the 100 Meter Hurdles (17.14) and Torin in the 400 Meter Hurdles (1:02.95). Leo Romanski doubled in the Discus Throw (134’ 1” for 8th) and Shot Put (39’ 4.25” for 35th) after competing earlier in the morning at the Freshman Sophomore Meet. Otto Indelicato also competed in the Shot Put and had some impressive tosses but fouled all three throws. Nikolas Laverdiere threw three personal bests in a row en route to a 12th place finish with 139’ 10”.
On the girls’ side, Ligor stole the show at the meet. Winning against a talented field of the best hurdlers in the state in the 400 Meter Hurdles, she was in 3rd place half way through the race and attacked on the second curve and cruised to victory in the home stretch, finishing with a time of 1:01.02. This broke her own school record by nearly two seconds and currently ranks her first in the state and 14th in the country. She came back two hours later and won another stacked race in the 400 Meters which included the All State Champion in the 300 Meters. Giuliana won the race with a time of 56.74 which is just off of her previous best of 56.3 and closing in on the school record of 55.9. She is ranked first in the state in the 400 Meters as well. Her double victory resulted in her being selected Athlete of the Meet, which is a first in school history.
Callie MacLellan and Madison Vant where also double medalists as Callie took 4th in the High Jump (5’ 0”) and 6th in the 400 Meter Hurdles (1:08.47) and Madison took 6th in the Long Jump (17’ 4.75”) and 4th in the Triple Jump (33’ 11”). Callie is currently ranked 2nd in High Jump and 6th in the 400 Meter Hurdles in D5 Massachusetts while Madison is currently 2nd in the Long Jump and 6th in the Triple Jump in D5.
Georgia Robarts also long jumped 15’ 9.5” for 16th place despite some minor injuries and scratched from the Triple Jump in order to start recovering leading up to next week’s meets. Robarts is currently ranked 3rd in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump in D5.
In the throwing events, Sabrina Mini (Discus Throw and Javelin Throw) and Abigail Lilley (Discus Throw and Shot Put) both doubled up. Mini went 80’ 1” for 19th place in the Discus Throw and 83’ 11” for 23rd place in the Javelin Throw. Lilley went 32’ 1” for 12th place in the Shot Put and 103’ 3” for 8th place in the Discus Throw, just missing out on a top six medal placing. Mini is currently ranked 5th in the Discus and 6th in the Javelin in D5 and Lilley is ranked 7th in the Shot Put and 4th in the Discus Throw in D5.
Offsite at Regis College, the Twilight Meet hosted the mid distance events, where the Hornets’ sole runner at the meet, Quinlan Kelly, was contesting the infrequently run 2000 Meter Steeplechase. The event requires athletes to run just over 5 laps around the track while hurdling four 30” barriers (not hurdles) and also an additional barrier which is immediately followed by a water pit. Five laps at sub six minute mile speed is challenging enough but to do it with the extra obstacles is quite impressive. Despite only being a sophomore and just starting her training in the event Quinlan ran an impressive 8:17.70 in the event for an 8th place finish. She is only the second Hornet all time to compete in the event as Lindsay MacLellan finished 10th in the country in 2019 when she ran a 7:04.07. Kelly is looking forward to contesting the event again in the near future.
The first weekend of May, the 9th and 10th grade Hornets attend the annual Tom Dorman Freshman Sophomore Meet at Ipswich High, where the entire Cape Ann League meets to determine who the top upcoming athletes are in the league. This year’s event was held on Saturday. The Hornets had some impressive performances with many athletes finishing in the top six for their team.
On the girls’ side Miriana Bornstein was the stand out performer winning the Discus Throw with an impressive 81’ 3” which qualifies her provisionally for the championship meets at the end of the season. Sophia Gallivan, Giuliana Auciello, and Adelyn Kelly all had impressive doubles. Sophia took 2nd in the Javelin Throw (88’ 1”) and 4th in the Long Jump (14’ 10”), Giuliana took 2nd in the High Jump (4’ 8”) and 5th in the 100 Meter Hurdles (18.52), and Adelyn took 5th in the One Mile (6:15.49) and 4th in the Two Mile (13:45.0). Genevieve Arden was 4th in the Discus Throw (67’ 1”), Abigail Meier was 5th in the 800 Meters (2:49.4) and Katie Zimmerman was 3rd in the Long Jump (14’ 11”). To wrap things up, the 4×100 Meter Relay of Katie Zimmerman, Ariana Demetri, Maddie Forbush and Shea Farmer took 3rd place with a time of 55.62.
On the boys’ side Otto Indelicato and Leo Romanski both were victors with Otto winning the Shot Put (43’ 11.5”) and Leo winning the Discus Throw (136’ .5”) while also taking 4th in the Shot Put (39’ 9.25”). Seth Evans was also an event winner taking the 200 Meters with a time of 24.34 and taking 4th in the 100 Meters (12.29). Frankie Dearborn had an impressive double in both hurdle events taking 5th in the 100 Meter Hurdles (18.93) and 6th in the 400 Meter Hurdles (1:10.27). Brendan Trentsch took 4th in the Long Jump (18’ 1”), Liam Kirwin took 5th in the Triple Jump (32’ 2”). Gerard Jorda took 4th in the 800 Meters (2:18.34), and Cole Fabrizio took 6th in the 800 Meters (2:20.89).
