HORNET JULIA VALENTI won the all state pole vault title at 11 ft. 9 inches. (Transcript file photo/John Friberg)
FITCHBURG — The North Reading Hornets girls’ track team had four individuals qualified to compete at the All-State Championships on Saturday, June 6.
Despite only having four athletes the team scored a total of 20.5 points, which was good enough for the Hornets to earn fifth place overall.
Second-place Norton was only 3.5 points ahead of the Hornets, with 24, while the State Championship team from Cambridge Rindge and Latin was well ahead of the pack at 51 points.
The Hornet team was led by the 16 points that junior Julia Valenti scored in the pole vault and 100 meter hurdles.
“Julia came into the meet as the favorite, undefeated for the season, having just cleared a state record height of 12’ 7.5” just a few days earlier,” said her coach, Sotirios Pintzopoulos. “She may not have cleared her best, but her vault of 11’ 9” was one foot higher than her next closest competitor and was good enough to earn the All-State title!”
He added that Valenti’s performance made her only the third girl in North Reading High School history to win an All-State title in any track event. The two others were Shannon Conway in the 400-meters in 2008 and Cole Godzinski in the 100-meter hurdles in 2014.
Valenti also scored another six points in the 100-meter hurdles as she ran a personal best of 15.46 in the preliminary round and blazed to another personal best of 15.18, into a head wind, in the finals to place third overall.
Also competing in the 100-meter hurdles was defending All-State Champion and fellow Hornet, Cole Godzinski.
Godzinski was seeded first going into the finals with her preliminary round time of 15.33, but the head wind in the finals kept her from improving on her time and she had to settle for an eighth-place finish in 15.56.
HORNET SENIOR Cole Godzinski competed in the triple jump and 100 meter hurdles at the All–State Championships in Fitchburg. (Transcript file photo/John Friberg)
Godzinski also competed in the triple jump, placing 10th overall with a jump of 34’ 4.5”. “This meet marked the end of Cole’s stellar high school track career. She will rest up in preparation for continuing to compete at the next level in track at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) next year,” Pintzopoulos said.
Freshman Rachel Hill scored another 3.5 points toward the team total with a mark of 9’ 9” in the pole vault to earn her a tie for fifth place in the event.
“Both Rachel and Julia qualified to compete at the All New England Championship meet the following week at Thornton Academy in Maine based on their top 6 finish in the event. Julia opted out as she had scheduled to take the ACT’s that day and is resting up for the National Championships, being contested in Greensboro, North Carolina,” Pintzopoulos said.
Hill, however, did compete at the All New England Championships. She cleared 9-feet for 22nd place. As one of only two freshmen to compete in the event at the meet, she clearly has a bright future ahead in the sport as well.
Raffael 9th in pentathlon
Pentathlete Jenna Raffael qualified to compete in the pentathlon at All-States as the Div. 4 state champion in this event, which consists of 100 meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and 800 meters.
Raffael finished in ninth place overall while competing amongst a field of athletes in which the defending champion, Abby Taussig of Acton-Boxboro, retained her title with 2,755 points and new state records were set in four out of five events.
A junior, Raffael took eighth in the 100m hurdles (17.02) and finished ninth in the remaining four events – high jump (4’ 5.15”), long jump (14’ 3.25”), shot put (23’ 3.53”) and 800m (3:02.31) for a total of 2,130 points.
Published in the June 25, 2015 edition
