It’s a three-peat for Old Rochester
4x50 hurdles mark falls again
Old Rochester broke its own meet record in the 4x50-yard hurdles at the last two Division 5 Coaches Relays. Yesterday, the lineup of Harrison Smith, Daniel Renwick, Will Hopkins and Eli Spevack was out to obliterate the mark and make it a three-peat.
Racing on the Reggie Lewis Center infield, the foursome tore through the event in 25.66 to lower the 2016 mark of 27.47 by nearly two seconds and continue the program’s dominance over the barriers. North Reading was also under the previous mark with a second-place finish of 26.74.
After meet records at the East Coast Invitational and Rhode Island Classic, Spevack said the nationals are first and foremost on the team’s radar moving forward.
“We were going for the state record, but we’re very happy with this,” said Spevack, who, along with Hopkins, was part of all three Div. 5 records. “Last year we got the meet record, but were two seconds slower than today. We knew we were a lot faster this year. We worked on the shuttle starts during the week and decided to go all out.”
Oakmont and North Reading finished together at the top of the boys team standings with 42 points, edging out Old Rochester (39). The girls competition was also tight as North Reading (38) eked out a win over Old Rochester (35).
Renwick electrified the crowd in the high jump, bringing the spectators to their feet when he cleared 6-foot-8. Old Rochester took the event in a meet record 17-81⁄ 4.
The record book underwent some revamping, courtesy of a whopping 10 meet records in the division that was added four years ago.
The girls’ 4x50-yard relay record took a pounding as the top five teams were well under the 25.95 mark set a year ago by Ursuline. Newburyport led the way in 24.97, followed by Ashland (25.42), Ursuline (25.44), North Reading (25.59) and Amesbury (25.69).
Seekonk got into the action with a 30.83-meter mark in the shot put. Littleton’s 9:56.35 in the 4x800 was just under the 9:57.99 set last year by Ursuline, and Ashland dipped under the 4x200 record with its 1:48.02. Littleton’s distance medley team was in meet-record-breaking mode, establishing a standard at 12:38.21. North Reading’s girls added to the meet record onslaught with a 13.93-meter showing in the long jump.
Oakmont’s boys squad combined for a 57-101⁄ performance 2 in the long jump to erase Littleton’s 56-8 standard of a year ago. Jack Carleo anchored Newburyport’s 10:50.15 record in the distance medley.