Hornet track and field accomplishes plenty over winter break

Published in the January 11, 2018 edition

BOSTON — The boys’ and girls’ indoor track and field teams braved the coldest winter stretch in program history despite not being able to get quality workouts for two weeks from December 23 to January 7 as temperatures did not rise above freezing and at times were sub-zero. Regardless, the athletes made due and improvised with indoor training space in the high school gymnasium, auxiliary gymnasium, fitness centers and hallways. This perseverance resulted in some standout performances on January 6 and 7.

BILLY LORD had a busy winter break for the NRHS boys’ indoor track and field team. Lord was named the Outstanding Overall Performer of the Freshman/Sophomore State Championship Meet after setting a new meet record in the 55 meter hurdles for a gold, getting a silver in the long jump, and a bronze in the 4×200 meter relay.

At the Team Pentathlon held at the Reggie Lewis Center on December 29, both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed 3rd and both set new school records.

The girls scored 3,026 points with the following performances: Maggie McCarthy (55 Meter Hurdles = 9.76), Kerry O’Brien (High Jump = 4’ 11”), Megan Lawlor (Long Jump = 16’ 4.25”), Kelly Bratton (Shot Put = 28’ 3.75”), and Meredith Griffin (800 Meters = 2:23.33) as Meredith’s 800 Meters was also a new school record in itself. Meredith originally set the record last season running 2:24.68.

The boys scored 3,229 points with the following performances: Jake Doucette (1000 Meters = 2:50.22), Joseph DiSanto (Shot Put = 37’ 2.25”), Matt Dovale (Long Jump = 18’ 5’), Cameron Chinchillo (High Jump = 5’ 6”), and Billy Lord (55 Meter Hurdles = 7.93) as Billy’s 55 Meter Hurdles was also a new school record in itself. The old record was held by Matt Sexton (class of 2009) with a mark of 8.00. Previous record holders included Chris Cody-8.07 (class of ‘03) Greg Mason-8.25 (class of ‘99), and Andy Weiner-8.31 (class of ‘93). As Billy is only a sophomore he hopes to continue to lower the mark in the future (More on that to follow).

Dartmouth Relays

At the Dartmouth Relays held at Dartmouth College in Hanover New Hampshire on Saturday, January 6 several athletes competed against some of the best programs in the region.

Megan Lawlor increased her personal best in the triple jump to 35’ 5.75” to take 6th place. The girls’ 4000 Meter Distance Medley Relay placed 5th with a time of 13:09.45. The team was made up of Meredith Griffin (1200 Meters), Kirsten Bradley (400 Meters), Grace Hadley (800 Meters), and Lindsay MacLellan (1600 Meters). Grace Hadley also placed 4th in the 600 meters with a time of 1:43.95. Rachel Hill placed 3rd in the pole vault with a vault of 9’ 6”. Billy Lord finished 4th in the 55 Meter Hurdles and lowered his school record to 7.89 seconds!

Freshman/Sophomore State Meet

To wrap up the week, The 9th and 10th graders on the team who had already achieved performance standards, competed at the Red Auerbach Freshman-Sophomore Meet at the Reggie Lewis Center on January 7.

Yet again, Billy Lord stole the show with his performances. Despite having run three rounds of the 55 meter hurdles at Dartmouth the day before, he came back and ran two more times to win the 55 Meter Hurdles in a new Meet Record time of 7.98 seconds! Billy then went on to place 2nd in the Long Jump with a leap of 19’5” and capped off his day by leading off the 4×200 meter relay to a 3rd place finish in 1:40.99. As if the gold, silver, and bronze was not enough, Billy was selected the Outstanding Overall Performer of the meet by the meet director.

Helping Billy achieve this historic feat were Grayson Budny, Joseph Frammartino, and Cameron Chinchillo who ran the remaining legs of the 4×200 meter relay that placed 3rd. Chinchillo also placed 4th in the high jump with a leap of 5’ 6” and ran a personal best time of 41.57 seconds in the 300 meters, while Budny ran in the finals of 55 meter dash and took 10th place overall with a personal best time of 7.10 and Frammartino ran a personal best time of 7.40 seconds in the 55 meter dash. Also earning a medal for the boys was freshman Sam Capobianco who placed 5th in the Two Mile Run with a time of 10:46.98, while Griffin Murphy ran a personal best time of 3:10.96 in the 1000 Meter Run.

In the girls’ meet, the 4×200 meter relay took home the gold with a time of 1:52.98. Leading off was Analise Gonzalez who passed the baton to Emily Davis in 2nd place. Nicole Bruzzese ran the 3rd leg and brought the Hornets within striking distance of the lead. When Kaitlyn Gorgenyi got the baton, she went all out to bring the team into first place as she held off two teams close on her tail and leaned in at the finish line to a 1st place finish. Gorgenyi also ran in the 55 meter dash finals, placing 10th in 7.93 seconds. Emily Davis took 5th in the 300 meters with a time of 45.37. Lindsay MacLellan took 3rd in the Two Mile Run with a personal best state qualifying time of 11:59.14. Lauren Keough (600 Meters = 1:55.51) and Julia Thorstad (300 Meters = 48.56) and (High Jump = 4’ 6”) achieved new personal bests as did Ava Jolie Femia (55 meter hurdles = 10.59) who ran nearly a 1 second PR!

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams competed against Masconomet last night (Wednesday, January 10) at Andover High School after press time. Look for that story in next week’s Transcript.