BOSTON — The NRHS girls’ indoor track and field team remained undefeated after taking down Triton and defending champion Newburyport on Monday, Dec. 20 at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The Hornets squeaked out a close victory against the Clippers from Newburyport 54-46 and had a decisive victory over the Triton Vikings 77-21.
Leading the team to victory was top point scorer, senior Ella Monteleone (20 points) who won both the 55 Meter Hurdles (9.56) and the High Jump (5’ 0”) against both teams. Additional winners against both teams included Annie MacLellan (1000 Meters), Emma Mini (Shot Put), Kayla Budny (55 Meters), Ava McIntyre (Long Jump) and the 4×200 meter relay (Madison DiNapoli, Ava McIntyre, Kayla Budny, Madison Vant).
Madison DiNapoli ran a season best time of 44.06 in the 300 meters to a second place finish overall and qualified for the state championship in the process. Annalise Butler ran a personal best time of 12:06.11 in the Two Mile to a second place finish overall and qualified for the state championship as well. Ava McIntyre added to her point total with a second place finish in the dash behind Kayla Budny with a personal best state qualifying time of 7.74.
Giuliana Ligor picked up a valuable 3rd place finish against Newburyport and a 1st place finish against Triton with a huge personal best in the 600 meters (1:49.74) just missing an automatic state qualifier by .11 seconds. She added additional points in the Long Jump with a second place finish behind Ava McIntyre (14’ 11.75”).
Additional scorers against Triton included the following: Brooke Harrington (High Jump = 4’4”), Samantha Magner (55 Meter Hurdles = 11.29), Karleigh Budny (1000 Meters = 3:39.64), Kayla Budny (Long Jump = 13’ 10.5”), Sabrina Mini (Shot Put = 23’ 3.75”), and Callie MacLellan (One Mile = 6:23.36).
The 4 x 400 meter relay (Annie MacLellan, Karleigh Budny, Callie MacLellan, and Giuliana Ligor) also picked up points with a victory against Triton in 4:38.47 but was bested by the Newburyport team.
Sealing the victory for the Hornets was the 4 x 200 meter relay. Going into the relays the Hornets were up 49-41 which meant they only needed to win one of the two remaining relays as each relay victory brings with it five points. From the start, the Hornets took the lead with Madison DiNapoli leading things off in 27.7 seconds. The Hornets and the Clippers were even at the exchange but Ava McIntyre pulled away quickly with a 26.5 split handing off to Kayla Budny (27.7) with a commanding lead that she extended as did anchor Madison Vant (27.7). The team’s final time of 1:49.80 was a two second improvement on their time from last week and is currently one of the fastest times that has been run in the state this year.
The Hornets have the next few weeks of training and invitational competition over winter break as their next league competition won’t be until Jan. 12 when they will face league rival Lynnfield to determine if they will go undefeated in the Cape Ann League’s Kinney Division and take home the regular season league championship.
