The Westborough Girls’ Indoor Track and Field Team did not want
to share the League Meet Title this year, especially after a
disappointing loss in last year’s meet. The Rangers came out
motivated and strong, winning the meet easily with 148 points, nearly eighty
points ahead of second place finisher, Nashoba.
The meet started out with a great finish by the 4×800 relay, run by
Sam Thompson, Claire Gitkind, Catherine Hastings, and Anna Petrunich.
The team finished in second out of six teams with a time of 11:35.63.
Off to a strong start, Helen Gross ran the two-mile, finishing in
13:19.05, which was good enough for fourth place, but also a PR on
the flat track at Fitchburg High School. Caroline Dennett also ran
the two-mile, finishing in eighth with a time of 13:41.26.
In the 55m hurdles, Kim Bretta, Casey Collins, and Gillian
Robertson competed. In the trials, Bretta ran a 9.60, Collins
finished in 10.92, while Robertson ran an 11.43. Bretta qualified
for the finals, and ran the race in 9.48 seconds to place second
overall.
Brigid Bowser, Nicky Simard, and Maddie Radogna then prepared to
run the trials of the 55m. Bowser and Simard qualified for the
finals, but Radogna missed the top six by only a few hundredths of a
second. In the finals, Bowser finished first with a time of 7.78
seconds, while Simard ran a 7.87, and finished third.
The girls continued to dominate in the mile with Sam Thompson
finishing first in 6:01.55 minutes, followed closely by teammate
Katie Lis in 6:01.92. Catherine Hastings also ran the mile in a time
of 6:26.01 to place eighth.
In the 600m, Vanessa Wegner and Jill Horka ran very solid times,
1:47.22 and 1:47.57 respectively. The one, two finish beat third
place Nashoba by six seconds.
Bowser came back to win the 300m in 43.19 seconds, just a few
hundredths of a second ahead of Nashoba?s Emily Clark, who had
beaten Bowser in the event earlier this season. Jen Steurer finished
fourth in 46.18, and Avery Mansfield finished eleventh in 50.67
seconds.
In the 1000m, Rangers took first, fourth, and ninth place. Julia
Heffernan finished first in 3:21.52, Katie Lis was fourth in 3:28.94,
and Anna Petrunich ran a time of 3:42.15 placing ninth.
The Rangers also ran well in the last two relays, the 4×200 and
4×400. The 4×200 team consisted of Steurer, Radogna, Mansfield, and
Simard who finished second in 2:02.27, behind Quabbin. The 4×400 was
run by Horka, Bretta, Heffernan, and Wegner, who won the relay in
4:35.54, nine seconds ahead of second place Nashoba.
In the field events, Naloti Palma, Lis, and Collins threw in the
shot put. Palma and another athlete from Marlborough both had a
throw of 35’1.75 inches in the finals. Unfortunately, in the
tiebreaker, Palma threw a few inches short, and placed second in the
event. Katie Lis placed fifth with a throw of 27’5 inches, and
Collins placed thirteenth, throwing 19’5 inches.
Jen Steurer also competed in the high jump, winning with a leap of
5 feet on her last attempt. Bowser and Emily Neil also did well,
both jumping 4’10 inches, placing second and fifth respectively.
Captain Avery Mansfield stated simply, “We are the champions.”
The Rangers finish the regular meet season as undefeated league
champions. With a great way to end the season for many, those who
have qualified will go to the District Meet, February 12, 2011 at
Fitchburg High School, which starts at 9 in the morning. The next
weekend is the Division II State Championships, which will be held at
the Reggie Lewis Center for the athletes that qualify.
