Record recovery by Milton

Affanato pushes past shove to lead big run

An untimely fall wasn’t about to slow Milton’s race-savvy 4x800 team at yesterday’s Division 4 Coaches Relays at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Leadoff runner Ella Affanato was shoved from behind and went sprawling coming off the last turn on the opening lap. But Affanato wasn’t down for long, as she bounced up almost immediately and regained the lead for the Wildcats.

The Milton crew, all members of the Div. 2 All-State cross country championship team, proceeded to pull away for a meet record time of 9 minutes, 31.9 seconds. That performance, turned in by Affanato, Elise O’Leary, Colette O’Leary and Bridget Mitchell, was just under the 9:32.27 mark set in 2013 by Narragansett. The Wildcats blistered the field, finishing well in front of runner-up Norton (10:01.27).

“We were going for it,” said Mitchell, a Boston Herald All-Scholastic in cross country. “I thought we were capable of running around 9:10. After Ella fell we just focused on getting back into it. We’re really close and work well together.”

Milton edged out Tewksbury in the 4x400 by a 4:08.35-4:10.19 margin to capture the team title with 60 points. The Redmen were just two points back.

Dennis-Yarmouth flexed its collective muscles in the shot put circle as Tiana Bazie (35-6), Jasmine McFarlane (34-11) and Chloe Eressey (39-2) combined for a 110-11⁄ performance 4 that established an all meet record. That mark eclipsed the 106-10 set in 1982 by Acton-Boxboro.

Burlington’s boys high jump team took down Dedham’s 1998 mark of 1761⁄ with a 18-33⁄ 4. The Red 4 Devils also captured the 4x50 hurdles in 27.66 seconds on the way to winning the team competition with 50 points.

Melrose’s boys also got into the record-breaking action. The foursome of Sean Conlan, Griffin Barriss, Adam Cook and Kevin Wheelock sliced nearly seven seconds off the meet record in the distance medley, as their 10:40.20 was well ahead of Medfield’s 10:47.06 set in 2014.