Martin’s finish two good
BRIDGEWATER — Clare Martin spent the cross country and indoor track seasons of her senior year hobbled with a stress reaction that relegated her to the sidelines, frustrated but still hopeful of salvaging something from the outdoor campaign.
The Princeton-bound Newton South talent completed her improbable comeback yesterday by tearing away from the 800 and mile fields at the All-State championships at Bridgewater State.
Martin went to the front early in the mile and pushed hard over the last 400 to win in a personal best of 4 minutes, 48.88 seconds. She came back 45 minutes later to defeat a deep 800 lineup in 2:10.80.
“If you told me I’d be running these times during the middle of indoors and end of cross country, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Martin said. “I just feel so fortunate to be back running PRs.”
Norton’s Brooke-Lynn Williams was also a big double winner, capturing the 200 in a scalding 24.85 before owning the straightaway in 12.04 to easily win the 100. Massachusetts’ Queen of Speed was in tears after her stirring win in the 200.
“The 200 really makes me nervous and I knew I just had to go,” the Penn State-bound Williams said. “I knew I couldn’t regret anything in the race because I knew the girls were close to me. I just had to show them I could keep going. I could run faster.”
Hingham’s Zoe Dainton added the outdoor high jump to her indoor All-State title with a leap of 5-6.
“Winning was my main focus today,” Dainton said. “The weather was really interesting because it would be cold one minute and really hot the next. Luckily, it did not rain.”
Grace Connolly opened the meet with a wire-to-wire victory in the 2-mile. The Natick sophomore was by herself through the opening mile (5:17) and won by 13 seconds in 10:43.61 while battling a headwind down the backstretch. She came back to set a personal best of 2:15.90 in the 800.
“I tried to stay focused (in the 2-mile) and run through the wind,” Connolly said. “The start was a little messy. There were a lot of people and I had to push my way out.”
Milton’s Elise O’Leary had second-place finishes in the 400 hurdles (1:01.90) and 400 (56.64) to lead the Wildcats to the team win with 47 points. Milton also picked up the silver medal in the 4x800 in 9:22.34.
Abbie Mokwuah of Longmeadow broke the meet record in the shot put with a heave of 45-53⁄ 4. That mark bettered the 44-9 set in 1998 by Heather Oldham of Woburn.
The spectators got a glimpse of the future in the 400 as Old Rochester freshman Meg Hughes held on for a 56.56 victory.
“I was not confident about coming in first,” Hughes said. “I was even sure if I was going to place. I got a good start, but I was slowing down the last 20 meters. When I came around the corner I didn’t see anyone. I was really surprised.”
Foxboro’s Shraeya Srinivasan captured the triple jump with a 39-6 and Belmont’s Anoush Krafian outleaned defending AllState champion Madelyn Sessler of Plymouth South to win the 100 hurdles, 14.64-14.65.