THE NRHS girls’ track and field team are state relay champions for the 7th consecutive season. (Courtesy Photo)

SEEKONK — It was a cold and windy day with a little bit of drizzle rolling in in the afternoon but the NRHS girls’ track team did not let that deter them from exhibiting a dominating performance at the MSTCA Division 5 Relay Championship on Saturday at Seekonk High School. The Hornets amassed 108 points in a commanding victory over 20-plus other schools competing at the event well ahead of runner up Dedham (43), Norwell (37), Weston (34), Dennis Yarmouth (28), Norton (28), Triton (26), Middleboro (23), Pentucket (21), and Old Rochester Regional (14) to round out the top ten scoring teams.

The history: The North Reading’s relay win streak goes back to 2014 and 2015 when they finished runner up in Division 4, after which they won back to back titles in 2016 and 2017 in Division 4. Once the school population reached just over 800, the Hornets were moved up to Division 3 to compete against schools ranging from 800-1,050 in size and they won back to back titles again in 2018 and 2019 despite being one of the smaller schools in the division. They relays in 2020 were not contested due to Covid and the Hornets came back in 2021 to win yet another title in Division 3.

The state recently realigned to split into six divisions as opposed to four and North Reading was placed in Division 5. The Hornets then went on to win last year in D5 and again this year for another back to back championship.

Coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos believes the marks the girls posted at the meet would have bested every team in the state across all six divisions this past weekend and 108 points amassed at the meet is likely the highest by any girls outdoor track and field across all divisions in state history.

This year, the Hornet victory was fueled by eight wins in the 15 events contested, all of which resulted in new meet record performances. The Hornets scored 28 out of a possible maximum 30 points in the throwing events, 35/40 in the jumping events, 9/30 in the distance events and 36/50 in the sprinting events (the Hornets scratched their 4×400 which would have likely scored anywhere from 1-8 points).

Madison Vant was the top performer at the meet going 120’ 8” in the Javelin, 17’ 9.75” in the Long Jump and 34’ 11” helping her teams win three gold medals and 30 points in those events.  In the Javelin she was joined by Abigail Gerber (111’ 4”) and Sabrina Mini (82’ 11”) for a combined  96.01m (315’ 0”) shattering the old school record of 264’ 7” set in 2014 by Emily Murray, Samantha Trulli and Julia McDonald. In the Long Jump Relay she was joined by Ava McIntyre (17 1.25”) and Georgia Robarts (15’ 9”) for a combined 15.44m, missing the school record by just .02m. In her final event, the Triple Jump Relay she was joined by Kayla Budny (33’ 6.5”) and Georgia Robarts (33’ .5”) for a combined 30.93m, which was 3.5 feet off the school record.

Ava McIntyre, Georgia Robarts and Kayla Budny were also triple event winners as the three of them combined forces with sophomore sensation Giuliana Ligor for a first place finish in the 4×100 meter relay in 49.59 which is No. 3 in Massachusetts this year and just .5 seconds off of a 15-year-old school record. Ava and Kayla combined forces with Ligor again along with Julia DeAngelis en route to a first place finish in the 4×200 meter relay in 1:45.44 which is the fastest time run in the state this year and also sets a new school record, besting the record of 1:46.00 set in 2008 by Alexis Capozzi, Jackie Lytle, Kristy Conway and Shannon Conway.

Ligor capped off a three event victory leading her 4×100 meter shuttle hurdle relay to first place in 1:08.31 where she was joined by Katie Zimmerman, Tiara Lamont and Hayden MacLellan. MacLellan was also a member of the first place Pole Vault Relay, vaulting 10’ 0” as teammates Jenna Mahoney (7’0”) and Julia DeAngelis (8’ 0”) had a combined 25’ 0” effort for another meet record.

Lastly, the Discus Relay set yet another school record and meet record in route to a first place finish. Abigail Lilley (107’ 1”), Abigail Gerber (102’ 6”) and Sabrina Mini (76’ 6”) combined their efforts to 87.23m (286’ 2.25”) which bested the oldest record in the NRHS record books set way back in 1987 at 260’ 0” by Jodi Fohlin, Row, and Gerardi.

Adding another additional 28 points to the team total were the 4×1600 meter relay, the Shot Put Relay, the 1600M Sprint Medley Relay, the High Jump Relay and the 4000m Distance Medley Relay. The 4×1600 meter relay (Ava Collins, Grace Higgins, Charlotte McLaughlin and Karleigh Budny) went 25:44.11 for second place. The Shot Put Relay (Lilley, Gerber and Mini) went 27.72m for second place. The 1600M SMR (Madelyn Arian Aitchison, Jenna Mahoney, Tiara Lamont, and Annalise Butler) went 4:24.84 for 3rd place. The High Jump Relay (Abigail Lilley, Tiara Lamont, and Giuliana Auciello) went 4.12m for 3rd place tie. The 4000M DMR (Quinlan Kelly, Maggie Fortin, Grace Higgins, and Annalise Butler) went 13:44.23 for sixth place.

On April 26, the Hornets hosted Triton and had yet another dominant performance taking 14 of the 17 events contested. Leading the Hornets to victory was top scorer Giuliana Ligor who scored 15 points, winning the 400 Meter Hurdles (1:04.61), the 400 Meters (1:01.46) and the 200 Meters (26.04).  Ava McIntyre and Abigail Lilley scored another 13 points each with Ava taking the 100 Meters (12.70), Long Jump (17’ 5”) and finishing second to Ligor in the 200 Meters (26.16) and Abigail taking the Discus Throw (108’ 2”), the High Jump (4’ 10”) and taking second in the Shot Put (31’ 1.5”). Madison Vant won the Shot Put (32’ 3”) and took second in the Javelin Throw (104’ 6”) and 100 Meter Hurdles (16.4h). Hayden MacLellan won the 100 Meter Hurdles (15.8h) and the Pole Vault (9’6”).

Abigail Gerber won the Javelin Throw (109’ 2”), took 2nd in the Discu Throw (90’ 0”) and 3rd in the Shot Put (29’ 10.75”). Georgia Robarts took 2nd in the Triple Jump (33’ 4”) 2nd in the Long Jump (16’ 5”) and was a part of the winning 4×100 meter relay (52.05). Kayla Budny was also a member of that relay and also took 1st in the Triple Jump (33’ 5.75”) and 3rd in the 100 Meters (13.09). Also in the relay were Madelyn Arian Aitchison and Julia DeAngelis, who also took 2nd in the Pole Vault (8’0”). Annalise Butler took the One Mile Run (5:30.30).

Scooping up valuable 3rd place points were Sabrina Mini in the Discus Throw (81’ 2”), Tiara Lamont in the High Jump (4’6”), Jenna Mahoney in the Pole Vault (6’6”), Katie Zimmerman in the Long Jump (15’ 9.5”), and Vasiliki Kouiroukidis in the Two Mile 15:55.42.

The Hornets met Pentucket on Wednesday after press time in their third regular season meet of the season.