Ready to repeat as champs next year
Published in the June 23, 2016 edition
THE NRHS GIRLS SHUTTLE HURDLES team competed at Nationals in Greensboro, NC. Team members are Lauren Gulbicki, Olivia DeMonico, Jenna Raffael and Julia Valenti. (Courtesy Photo)
GREENSBORO, NC— Capping a stellar 2016 season, nine girls from the North Reading Track and Field team qualified and competed at the New Balance Outdoor National Championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina from Friday to Sunday June 17th to 19th. To qualify for the event athletes have to hit standards during the regular season that are verified and confirmed by New Balance. Since the meet is after the high school season athletes who qualify to compete fund their way to Greensboro with their families and compete for the North Reading Track Club and receive a highly prized back pack. This is the third year in a row that North Reading has sent a group to nationals.
On Friday morning first up for the Hornets was the Freshman Triple Jump. Kaitlyn Shevlin and Megan Lawlor both qualified to compete in the event. This was the second year in a row a girl from North Reading qualified to compete in the event as current sophomore Juliette Nadeau qualified in 2015. Kaitlyn placed 15th (33’ 10”) and Megan placed 25th (33’ .25”) out of 53 athletes in the event. It was a competitive field as the top two athletes in the event broke the meet record of 36’ 11.5” by jumping 37’ .5” and 38’ 3.5”. Both Kaitlyn and Megan have personal bests over 34 feet in the event and show great promise for the future as Megan placed third and Kaitlyn fourth at this year’s Division 4 state championship in the event.
Later that afternoon was the 800 meter sprint medley, a race in which the first two runners sprint 100 meters, the third runner does the 200 meters and the anchor finishes the race running 400 meters. The team placed 34th out of 61 teams in the emerging elite division, which is for teams that just missed qualifying for the championship standard. Leading off the team was sophomore Rachel Hill who opened up in 13.4 seconds, followed by senior Jenna Raffael who also split 13.4, sophomore Kirsten Bradley ran a personal best split of 26.5 to bring the team within striking distance for the anchor leg, freshman Mia DeNofrio. Despite being the youngest on the team, Mia took the baton in fourth and went after first place crossing the 200 meter split in 29.0 seconds! She finished strong and ended up with a split of 63.8 seconds, which was close to her personal best.
On Saturday afternoon the girls had team MVP Julia Valenti competing in the championship pole vault. Julia vaulted her way to 16th in the country with a vault of 11’ 10.75”. She fell short of her goal of earning All American status, which would have been a top eight finish in the event. But she ended her high school career with four divisional state championships, two All State Championships, a New England Championship, and a school record of 12’ 7.5” in the event, as well as four divisional championships in the pole vault relay and the all state record of 30’ .25” in the pole vault relay.
While vaulting Julia had to run over to the track to anchor the 100 Meter Shuttle Hurdle Relay. The team finished 17th in 1:03.75, which was 2 seconds faster than their qualifying time. Leading off was Jenna Raffael (16.0 seconds), followed by Lauren Gulbicki (16.4) and Olivia DeMonico (16.5) and anchored by Valenti in 14.8 seconds.
What a great season for girls North Reading Track and Field. The girls have now set their sights on next year as they seek to continue their undefeated streak in the Cape Ann League and attempt to win back–to–back State Championships.
