Girls’ track falls to Melrose in ‘indoor’ season finale

Published in the April 23, 2021 edition.

WAKEFIELD — In the last “Indoor” dual meet, the Wakefield girls track and field team hosted undefeated Melrose on Saturday. The weather was far from ideal with freezing rain most of the meet but all signs pointed towards Wakefield early on in the meet.

However, in the end, the Melrose squad pulled away with a 66-34 win.

Although the Melrose hurdlers swept the 55 meter hurdles, Jade Roycroft responded with a win in the 55 meter dash running a time of 7.7.

That was followed up by a convincing win in the mile by Sammy Seabury who ran a PR of 5:28 to finish with the fastest mile time in the freedom division. The event was highlighted by a very gutsy run by first season Sophomore Caroline Roberts who ran a 5:50 for 2nd place despite having to overcome a tumultuous back and forth battle with two strong Melrose runners.

The 600 meter run had a new face on the track with freshman standout Fiona Recene pulling off an upset win to finish in 1:44.9. Prior to Saturday, Recene had only raced half the distance showing success in the 300 meters as well. It could translate to sub 60 second potential in the 400 meters.

In the 1000 meters, Elina Olmedo and Maggie Ritchie added up more points placing 2nd and 3rd in times of 3:21 and 3:24.

In the shot put, Bailey McDevitt came away with a victory once again with a throw of 27’8”. Lauren Mangarelli placed 2nd with a distance of 27’. The duo remains first and second in the Freedom Division.

After the Warriors were swept in the high jump, long jump and 300 meters, they received a 2nd and 3rd place in the 2 mile from Maddie Nett in 12:42 and Alexa Yianacopolus in 13:26.

Melrose then took both the 4×200 and 4×400 relays to secure the victory.

“A lot of positives came out of this season including great performances by many,” said coach Perry Pappas. “It was fun having new members on the team who would not have had the availability in other years. We will miss having them join us next year but also look forward to our regulars, who we lost to fall sports, returning next year.”