Andover two good
Golden Warriors claim another crown in Div. 1
Andover’s Peter Comeau never truly has believed in limits at the track. If it was even possible to find a level beyond a championship, Comeau believed this year’s Golden Warriors girls team could find it.
At Lincoln-Sudbury, Andover backed up its coach in a convincing manner yesterday, capturing a second straight girls Division 1 Coaches Relays title, and fifth in the past six seasons.
“We set a goal at the end of the indoor season and we feel we have a team that can win everything,” Comeau said.
Anchored by senior Allie Bennett, the Warriors set records in both the 4x100 (48.46) and the 4x200 (1:43.58). Andover finished first in four events, while placing second in another three.
The Warriors ran away with the title, scoring 88 points as a group, besting second-place Newton North by 29.
In the Div. 1 meet for the boys, the last time St. John’s Prep had captured the championship was 2007. Eagles coach Zach Lankow remembers fondly, as he was still on the team roster.
Trailing by as many as 24 points in the standings at one point, it appeared Prep fans were going to have to wait another year.
But when it was all on the line, Nate Hobbs and his teammates pulled off the improbable. The Prep took the high jump (17-07.75) as well as the triple jump (129-05.25) to draw within three points in the standings with only the long jump remaining.
They won the long jump (59-5.50), clinching the hardware in the process with 44 team points. Finishing tied for second were Lowell and Newton North, each with 40.
“We’ve won three straight long jump state relay titles the past three seasons,” Lankow said. “And (Hobbs) is part of the difference. We just broke our own school record by 10 feet in the triple jump relay. Nate’s an All-State champ, New England runner-up two years ago. He’s the best kid in New England.”
Tristan Shelgren crossed the finish line at 10:36.52 to seal the distance-medley race for the Eagles.
Division 4
Amesbury’s girls squad finally had prime conditions to compete in and it wasn’t about to squander its opportunity in the Div. 4 Coaches Relays at sunsplashed Apponequet High.
Competing in just their second meet of the season, the Indians’ 4x100 lineup of Brooke Taylor, Caroline Schissel, Chelsea Lynch and Schuyler Snay found the weather to their liking, defending the title against a solid field and breaking the meet record with a time of 49.53 seconds. That mark bettered the former 49.60 standard shared by Wayland and Watertown.
“We thought we could (get the record), but our goal was just to win,” said the UMass Lowell-bound Snay. “Today was better than our last meet. All our handoffs were pretty good. We were happy with them, but they can always get better.”
That foursome came back to take second in the 4x200 to Pentucket’s meet record of 1:44.53. More importantly though, the Indians picked up eight valuable points they would need to edge their Cape Ann League rivals in the team standings. Pentucket also captured the 4x400 in 4:10.49 to edge out another CAL nemesis, Triton, by less than a second.
After placing second to North Reading last spring by one point, Amesbury edged out Pentucket to capture the championship with 48 points. The Sachems were just two points back at 46 while Triton captured third with 40 points.
Amesbury came into the meet with 10 points after winning the pole vault competition that was contested on Thursday. That lift was exactly what the Indians needed.
“That 4x100 team was All New England last season,” said Amesbury coach Ernie Bissaillon. “We have some new kids that got two and three points here and there. It takes a whole team to win. We’ve been in this similar situation the last couple of years and it hasn’t really gone our way.
East Bridgewater was in very familiar territory as the Vikings captured the boys title with 44 points, a comfortable margin ahead of runnerup Weston’s 39.
George McCabe’s squad was victorious in the long jump at 18.01 meters and came away with silver medals in the 4x100 hurdles (1:12.70), high jump (5.09 meters) and the triple jump (34.71 meters). East Bridgewater also picked up a third-place finish in the 4x200 (1:36.43). Jordan Dauphin, Evan Dyer, George Dixon and Rob Solari all had big days for the Vikings and were key in the team’s overall victory.