Published May 23, 2019
BYFIELD — Having won the Cape Ann League Championship going 8-0 in the regular season, the North Reading Hornets girls’ track and field team went into the CAL Open Championship Meet on May 18 at Triton High School as the clear favorites.
In order to compete in the meet athletes had to rank in the top 18 for their respective events. With 18 events contested and six placers earning points 10-8-6-4-2-1 depending on their place, there were many opportunities for the Hornets to strive and prove their strength.
The Hornets definitely proved their dominance winning the meet with a whopping 168 points, scoring points in 15 of the 18 events contested and winning nine of those events. Their score doubled the second place team, Triton, who finished with 82 points followed by Amesbury (76), Masconomet (74), Pentucket (51), Newburyport (39), Lynnfield (38.5) and Ipswich (27.5).
The Division 3 State Championship will take place on Sunday, May 26 at Merrimack College. Field Events start at 10 a.m. and running events start at 11 a.m. The weather forecast predicts a nice sunny day, so come cheer on your favorite team the day before Memorial Day as they seek to win their fourth state championship title in a row.
The meet is broken into two parts, where from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. the two mile finals, the trials of the 100 meters, 100 meter hurdles, and 200 meters as well as all of the seven field events are contested. The remaining 10 of 18 events take place on the track from 12 p.m.-2 p.m.
In just the first part of the meet, the Hornets were able to amass enough points to win the meet scoring 88 points in the first eight events with the remaining 80 points scored in the second part of the meet.
Leading the team to victory was Lindsay MacLellan who scored 22.5 points running a remarkable triple, winning the two mile run (11:05.84), one mile run (5:18.31) and was part of the winning 4×800 meter relay (10:18.02). Her performance in the two mile ranks her second all-time in school history as she just missed the national championship qualifying mark by .8 seconds.
Also competing in the distance events were Abigail McLaughlin (12:59.09) who finished 7th in the two mile and Caitlin Raimo (5:50.20) in the one mile who both just missed placing 6th by six seconds and one second respectively. Samantha Martel (6:11:93) and Emily Kuperstein (6:20.65) finished 13th and 17th respectively with personal best performances in the one mile run.
Ali Grasso also had an exceptional performance, scoring 28 points in three individual events winning the 100 meter hurdles (14.63), triple jump (38’ .5”) and taking 2nd in the 400 meter hurdles (1:06.99). Her 100 meter hurdles time sets another school record, her third one set this season, breaking the old school record set by current Dartmouth College athlete, Julia Valenti (15.03) set in 2016.
Katelyn Gorgenyi also had a stand out performance in three events, scoring 16 points with two second-place and one third-place finish. Katelyn also broke the old hurdle record, finishing second in 14.69 seconds. She then ran the 100 meters for third place in 12.73 seconds, which ranks her third all time in school history. Capping off her day, she anchored the 4×100 meter relay to a second place finish in 51.38 seconds. Also competing in the 100 meter hurdles with Ali and Katelyn were Isabella Parrett (16:63) who finished 7th and qualified for states, Jessica Hill (17.33), Ella Monteleone (17.47), and Ava Jolie Femia (18.49).
Team captains Kaitlyn Shevlin and Megan Lawlor had great contributions scoring 16 points each. Kaitlyn had a tremendous improvement in the jumps leaping to a first place finish in the long jump (17’ 10.25”) and a third place finish in the triple jump (36’ 2”) both of which were nearly one-foot improvements. Megan also improved in the triple jump by nearly a foot taking 2nd place (36’ 7”) and finished 3rd in the long jump (17’ 3”). With Ali Grasso taking 1st in the triple jump the Hornets scored an incredible 40 points in the horizontal jumping events.
Grace Hadley and Julia Thorstad added a 1-2 punch in the 800 meters as both ran personal best times of 2:21.28 and 2:23.07, which ranks 2nd and 5th all-time in school history with Hadley only one second away from the school record time of 2:20.26. They both came back strong in the 4×800 meter relay along with Lindsay MacLellan and Caitlin Raimo for another 1st place finish.
Seniors Kerry O’Brien and Abigail Martin both took Cape Ann League titles winning the high jump (5’ 1”) and javelin (107’ 0”) respectively. Ava Jolie Femia (4’6”) also competed in the high jump and just missed placing tied for 7th place. Abigail McLaughlin (77’ 2”) and Julia Thorstad (74’ 7”) also competed in the javelin finishing 11th and 12th.
Captain Kelly Bratton ended her season on a high note taking 5th place in the shot put (28’ 7.25”). Bratton also finished 10th in the discus with a throw of 75’ 0”. Mia DeNofrio also competed in the discus, finishing 15th with a throw of 65’ 10”. Isabella Parrett took second in the pole vault (9’6”) followed closely in third by Jessica Hill (9’0”) and fifth by Ashley Rabbitt (8’0”). Meredith Martin ran a personal best time of 27.70 in the 200 meter trials and finished fifth overall in the finals. Talia Monteleone was 15th in the 100 meters (13.73) and combined forces with Meredith Martin, Megan Lawlor, and Katelyn Gorgenyi in the 4×100 meter relay for second place.
The Hornets even had some stand out performances from the freshman class. Lindsay Keller took 19th in the 100 meters (14.14); Ashley Rabbitt (1:13.86) and Sophia Galuppo (1:23.93) finished 9th and 17th in the 400 meter hurdles; Ella Monteleone (15’ 2”), and Sophia Galuppo (14’ 1.25”) finished 12th and 18th in the long jump.
The Division 3 State Championship will take place on Sunday, May 26 at Merrimack College. Field Events start at 10 a.m. and running events start at 11 a.m. The weather forecast predicts a nice sunny day, so come cheer on your favorite team the day before Memorial Day as they seek to win their fourth state championship title in a row.
