Hornets win State Meet for 4th straight season

Published May 30, 2019

NORTH ANDOVER — The North Reading girls’ track and field team continued their remarkable season with a Division 3 State Championship title on Sunday, May 26 at Merrimack College.

Head coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos’ squad was led by team captains Megan Lawlor, Kaitlyn Shevlin, Mia Denofrio, Abigail Griffin and Kelly Bratton who end their high school career across four years with a regular season record of 31-1, four Cape Ann League championships, three CAL Open Championships, four state relay championships and four state championships.

ISABELLA PARRETT defended her crown in the pole vault with her second straight state championship on a personal best vault of 11’0” on Sunday at the Div. 3 State Meet at Merrimack. (John Friberg Photo)

This year’s team dominated the state winning the meet with an impressive 118 points, well ahead of second place Tewksbury (70.5), Milton (65), Nauset (50), Dennis-Yarmouth (35.5), Holliston (32.5), Foxborough (30), Pembroke (27.5), NDA-Hingham (26) and Wakefield (24.5).

Across 19 contested events, the Hornets won six: the pentathlon, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, 100 meter hurdles, and two mile run and scored extra points in 12 of the 19 events.

State Champions included Ali Grasso (pentathlon and triple jump), Megan Lawlor (long jump), Isabella Parrett (pole vault), Katelyn Gorgenyi (100 meter hurdles) and Lindsay MacLellan (two mile run). Combined, these five girls scored 75.5 of the team’s 118 points, which in itself was enough to win the meet. The remaining 42.5 points were scored by 12 of the remaining 16 athletes competing at the meet, which shows the depth and range of the team.

Ali Grasso was the team MVP scoring 28 points, winning the Pentathlon, Triple Jump and taking second in the 100 Meter Hurdles.  Her winning mark of 38’ 8.25” in the Triple Jump set a new state meet record, breaking the old mark of 38’ 7.75” held by Becky Stoyle of Pembroke set in 2011. 

THE HORNETS celebrate their fourth straight outdoor state championship at Merrimack College on Sunday. (John Friberg Photo)

Megan Lawlor scored 14.5 points, winning the Long Jump with a leap of 17’ 11.5” taking 5^th in the triple jump (35’ 10.5”) and was also part of the 7^th place 4×100 meter relay (51.38).  Megan’s victory in the long jump has her second in a row having won the event last year as a junior.  Katelyn Gorgenyi anchored that 4×100 meter relay, won the 100 Meter Hurdles with a time of 14.99 seconds running into a slight headwind and also took 8^th in the 100 Meters, running only 3 minutes after her hurdle victory.  Lindsay MacLellan led from start to finish in the Two Mile Run running 11:20.67 in the 80-degree heat.  MacLellan was also a part of the 3^rd place 4×800 meter relay (10:11.52).  Isabella Parrett took home the gold in the pole vault with a personal best vault of 11’ 0” defending her crown, having won the event last year as a sophomore.

Grace Hadley ran a stellar race in the 800 meters in a field where most of the athletes went out too fast.  Bidding her team she ran her splits as planned and waited for the last 200 meters to strike, moving up from the back of the back of sixteen runners and taking second place with in 2:20.38.  She was also a part of the 3^rd place 4×800 meter relay.  Kaitlyn Shevlin continued with her break through senior year performances taking 3^rd in the Triple Jump (36’ 6.5”), and 6^th in the Long Jump (17’ 4.75”). 

THE HORNETS finished 1,2 in the 100 meter hurdles as Katelyn Gorgenyi took first and Ali Grasso finished a close second. Grasso got her own gold medals in the pentathlon and the triple jump where she set a new state meet record with a 38’8.25”. (John Friberg Photo)

Abigail Martin improved on her personal best mark in the Javelin Throw taking second with a throw of 100’ 5” and qualifying for the National Championship.  Ashley Rabbitt (9’ 0”), Jessica Hill (9’ 0”) and Ellie Janasiewicz went 4-5-7 in the Pole Vault adding another 10.5 points to the team total.  Rounding out the remaining points scorers for the team were Caitlin Raimo and Julia Thorstad (4×800 Meter Relay), Ella Monteleone (Pentathlon), Meredith Martin and Talia Monteleone (4×100 Meter Relay) and Kerry O’Brien (High Jump).  Captain Mia Denofrio led off a young 4×400 meter relay team made up of pole vaulters Ellie Janasiewicz, Ashley Rabbitt, and Jessica Hill to a 16^th place finish of 4:27.97.  Freshman Nasha Arnold also competed in the Javelin Throw improving on her previous best by over two feet throwing 93’ 7” for 16^th place. 

This was the icing on the cake for the Hornets, however they would like to add a cherry to the top with an All State Championship this upcoming weekend.  Ali Grasso competes today in the All State Pentathlon and the remainder of the meet will be contested on Saturday June 1 at Westfield State College. 

Twelve athletes have qualified to compete:  Katelyn Gorgenyi (100 Meter Hurdles), Ali Grasso (Pentathlon, Triple Jump, 100 Meter Hurdles), Grace Hadley (800 Meters), Megan Lawlor (Long Jump), Jessica Hill (Pole Vault), Lindsay MacLellan (Two Mile Run), Abigail Martin (Javelin Throw), Isabella Parrett (Pole Vault), Ashley Rabbit (Pole Vault), Kaitlyn Shevlin (Triple Jump) as well as Caitlin Raimo and Julia Thorstad who will team up with Hadley and MacLellan in the 4×800 Meter Relay. 

Action starts at 3 p.m. with field events and 4:30 p.m. with running events.  It will be a long ride out and back to western Massachusetts but these twelve girls are ready to compete and attempt to make history.