THE NRHS girls’ track and field team set a new CAL Open Championship record with 106 points for their 3rd title in a row on Feb. 6 at The Track at New Balance. (Eric Evans Photo)
After press time: Hornet girls’ track captures Div. 5 state championship (Feb. 14)
Published February 15, 2024
Athlete of the Year, Ligor, take gold in three events
BOSTON — The NRHS girls’ indoor track won their third straight Cape Ann League Open Championship on Feb. 6 at the Track at New Balance in Boston. They did so by setting a new league record for points scored by amassing 106 team points. This broke the previous record of 105 that was set by NRHS just last year when they scored 105 to beat Pentucket by only one point.
This year, the competition was not as close as the Hornets bested their top competitor, Newburyport (73 points) by 33 total points. Rounding out the team scoring was Pentucket (56), Hamilton Wenham (45), Ipswich (44), Essex Tech (33), Triton (27), Manchester Essex (11), Lynnfield (5) and Amesbury (3).
Giuliana Ligor led the team in points scored (30) with three impressive wins in the Long Jump, 600 Meters and 300 Meters. She did so over the course of just 30 minutes. Ligor took three consecutive jumps to secure the long jump title in the trials, going 17’ 7.7.5” which was just off of the meet record of 18’ 1.” She then ran a new meet and school record in the 600 meters (1:36.59). The previous meet record was 1:37.08 set by Shannon Conway (NRHS ‘08). She then followed that with a swift 41.12 in the 300 Meters which was also just off the meet record of 40.94.
THE CAPTAINS led the Hornets to another CAL Open Championship on Feb. 6. Pictured from left to right is Julia DeAngelis, Georgia Robarts, Madison Vant, Abigail Lilley and Sabrina Mini. (Eric Evans Photo)
For her performance, Ligor was voted by coaches in the league as the Athlete of the Meet and was also voted as Athlete of the Year for her performances across several events during the regular season.
Hayden MacLellan and Abigail Lilley each contributed another 16 points to the team score. Hayden was victorious in the 55 Meter Hurdles (8.64), took 4th in the Long Jump (16’ 3”) and anchored the 2nd place 4 x 200 Meter Relay with a 28.1 split. Hayden’s hurdle time was just .13 off of the meet record of 8.51 and currently ranks her first in the state for Division 5 and in the top 10 across all five divisions.
Lilley won the Shot Put (34’ 5”) and took 3rd in the High Jump (5’ 0”) capping off an undefeated season in the Shot Put.
Callie MacLellan scored 14.5 points winning the High Jump (5’2”) and taking 4th in the One Mile (5:47.04) while also anchoring the 4×400 Meter Relay to a 5th place finish with a 66 second split. Georgia Robarts contributed 10 points with a third place finish in the 55 Meter Dash (7.69), 5th in Long Jump (16’ 2.5”) and she also led off the second place 4×200 Meter Relay with a 27 second opening leg.
GIULIANA LIGOR was named the CAL Athlete of the Year and the Athlete of the Meet after taking 1st in three different events (long jump, 600 meters, 300 meters) at the CAL Open Championship. (Eric Evans Photo)
Also contributing valuable individual points to the team total were Sabrina Mini, who took 3rd in the Shot Put (28’ 0”), Quinlan Kelly who took 5th in both the 1000 Meter (3:23.04) and Two Mile (13:28.65), Jackie Genzler (6th in the Shot Put) and Giuliana Auciello (6th in the High Jump). Contributing points in the relays were Julia DeAngelis (4×200 & 4×400), Julia Scammon (4×200 & 4×400), Belle Lazure (4×400) and Adelyn Kelly, Abigail Meier, Paige Helferich and Eva Hanegraaff in the 4×800 Meter Relay.
The meet capped off a stellar season for the Hornets in the Cape Ann League. Next up was the Division 5 State Championship Meet, which was contested yesterday (Feb. 14) after press time. As the State Relay Champions, the Hornets are the favorites going into the meet but they will face steep competition from Pentucket, Weston, Medway and Lunenburg. Look for that story in next week’s Transcript.
