THE NRHS girls’ track and field team won their second straight Div. 5 State Championship on Sunday at Bridgewater State. (Eric Evans Photo)
BRIDGEWATER — Winning a state championship is something many sports teams never accomplish. To do it two years in a row happens even less.
However, the North Reading girls’ outdoor track and field team struck gold yet again, winning their second straight MIAA Division 5 State Championship held at Bridgewater State University on Friday and Sunday.
The Hornets scored an impressive 94 points to win the title followed by runner-up Weston (67 points) and 3rd place Whitinsville Christian (66 points) not far behind. In total, there were 49 teams competing for the team title with 37 of those teams scoring points at the meet.
Leading the Hornets to victory were double winners Giuliana Ligor (400 Meter Hurdles and 400 Meters) and Hayden MacLellan (Pole Vault and 100 Meter Hurdles). Ligor’s times in the 400 Meter Hurdles (1:01.15) and 400 Meters (55.79) both set new meet records with her 400 Meters setting a new school record as the previous record was held by Shannon Conway (‘08) in 55.92 seconds. Ligor now holds the school record for both of those events. She had some tremendous competition in both events from Avery Glidden from Whitinsville Christian, which certainly helped lead her to these quick times. Ligor also came back in the 4×400 Meter Relay, anchoring the team to a 4th place finish in 4:16.64.
MacLellan had two easy victories winning the Pole Vault with a vault of 9’6” having not even entered the competition until the other competitors had completed their vaults. She then came back and easily won the 100 Meter Hurdles in 15.49 seconds into a strong head wind, winning by over half a second. MacLellan also came back in the Long Jump taking 8th place with a leap of 16’ 3.75”.
THE SENIOR captains celebrate NR’s second consecutive D5 state title on Sunday at Bridgewater State. Pictured from left to right is Sabrina Mini, Madison Vant, Abigail Lilley, Georgia Robarts and Julia DeAngelis. (Eric Evans Photo)
Callie MacLellan earned two silver medals taking second place in the grueling Pentathlon which required her to do the 100 Meter Hurdles, High Jump, Long Jump, Shot Put and 800 Meters all within a four hour period. When all was said and done, her efforts scored her 2,948 points in the event. Callie’s performance was also incredible in that her point total was 300 points higher than her qualifying performances that got her into the meet in the first place. She also took 2nd place in the High Jump leaping 5’ 4” which is just off of her personal best school record of 5’ 5” and then came back in the 4×400 along with Ligor as the lead off runner for the team which included freshman phenoms Shea Farmer and Sophia Gallivan.
Madison Vant was a bronze medalist in the Triple Jump (36’ 5”), which is a new personal best. She also took sixth in the Long Jump (16’ 7”) and anchored the 3rd place 4×100 Meter Relay to a time of 50.72. Georgia Robarts picked up 6th in the Triple Jump (35’ 7”) and 7th in the Pentathlon (2282 points) as she was also part of the 4×100 Meter Relay along with Julia Scammon and Julia DeAngelis.
Abigail LIlley was also a bronze medalist, taking 3rd in the Discus (113’ 5”) with Sabrina Mini (109’ 7”) hitting a new personal best for a 5th place finish in the event. Mini also took 8th place in the Javelin (98’ 7”), which was also a new personal best.
Wrapping up the point scorers for the meet was Alanna Hannon who picked up 7th place in the Pole Vault (7’ 6”).
“The coaching staff is incredibly proud of the achievements of this hard working group of young athletes and is looking forward to working towards continued success in the future,” said head coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos.
A select few of the group will continue their seasons competing in the MIAA Meet of Champions this upcoming weekend at which the top athletes in the state across all six divisions will compete to determine who the best individual athletes are in each event without any team scoring implications.
