Melrose’s 4×100 relay team are state champs
Published in the June 1, 2018 edition
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High girls’ track team are celebrating a historic feat that took place on Saturday, May 25 at North Reading High school. They earned a Div. 3 state title in the 4×100 relay, thanks to an incredible effort by their runners, sophomore Nora Daley, junior Brooke Barriss, senior Elsa Brodin and sophomore Lucia Seide. The quartet topped the competition with a time of 50.50, edging 2nd place rivals from Tewksbury by less than half a second.
According to head coach Shannon Kane, the day’s heat and humidity made for challenging elements, but it wasn’t enough to stop her athletes from performing their best.
STATE CHAMPION relay team (from left) Lucia Seide, Nora Daley, Brooke Barriss and Elsa Brodin took out of the competition in the 4×100 at the Div. 3 State Finals on Saturday. (courtesy photo)
“Winning this state title for the relay team was definitely a goal of ours all season,” says the coach. “It was a great race to watch. Nora and Elsa ran perfectly, and it was up to Brooke to hand off to Lucia with a healthy lead since Lucia had just come off an event, and Brooke ran a wonderful third leg with a good lead that really saved it for us.”
Melrose has qualified two runners and their state-winning relay team to this weekend’s All-State event. Overall, they placed sixth on Saturday thanks to a solid team victory. Nearly every runner cracked the top ten, including Brooke Barriss and Giovana dos Santos Machado, who placed 4th in the 100m and 400mH, respectively. Both efforts punched their tickets to All-States.
“I was so proud that many of our runners had never even competed in track – like Elsa – and she qualified in three events. All of our team members have shown tremendous improvement,” says Kane.
Melrose’s 4×400 relay team also finished a strong 6th behind the efforts of Holly Moore, Sarah Herron, Kate Bidgood and Sydney Kroon. Nora Daley also performed strongly in the 200m with a 6th place finish. Lucia Seide was a lucky 7 in both the long jump and 100m, and Sarah Herron placed 12th in the 400m. Kate Bidgood ran in the 800 and Alex Cutugno in the mile. Kaiya Thompson and Ciara Smith also competed in the 100 hurdles.
Melrose made a jump in their finish from last year’s 26th place to this year’s 6th place, something that speaks volumes about the program. “We’re a sophomore-heavy class and I’m excited that we have a lot of young talent returning.”
Melrose will compete this weekend in All States at Fitchburg University on Saturday, June 2. There is hope that the relay team could find a spot on the podium.
“If they run their absolute fastest and hand off perfect, and trust each other on the track, they could do great,” predicts their coach.
