Vasile tops final hurdle
Surprise win for Medway sophomore
When defending All-State champion Maddie Sessler of Plymouth South jumped the gun and was disqualified in the preliminary heats of the 55-meter hurdles, the race became a wideopen affair with the overwhelming favorite on the sidelines.
Medway sophomore Ava Vasile was looking forward to racing Sessler in yesterday’s All-State championships at the Reggie Lewis Center, but it was the gold medal that was mostly on her mind.
The Division 4 champion, Vasile was quick out of the blocks and couldn’t see anyone in her peripheral vision as she blazed ahead for a stirring 8.44 win and her first state title. Vasile’s time put her just ahead of Chelmsford’s Kristen Hoenstein, the secondplace finisher in 8.56.
“I wanted an 8.42 and just missed,” said Vasile, who took silver in the 300. “This is the best feeling ever because I know I can do even better. I really wanted to race against Maddie. I was nervous, but when I got in the blocks, took one big breath and was ready to go.”
Brooke-Lynn Williams breezed to an easy 7.11 preliminary win and the outcome of the 55-dash final was academic as the Norton senior blasted her way to her second consecutive All-State title in 7.0.
The fastest 55 sprinter in New England history is pointing to next Saturday’s Northeast Regional meet with her win.
“I want to cry happy tears next week,” said Williams. “(The preliminary) felt pretty easy so I knew I’d run pretty fast. I had a happy week and really wanted to concentrate on my technique.”
In the mile, Natick’s Grace Connolly saw her chance for a fast time end after a slow 400 meters, but the tall, hard-running Div. 2 champion was there at the finish as she held off a charging Rachel Sessa of Tewksbury by just 0.05 of a second for a 5:03.92 win.
“The slow start was unexpected,” Connolly said of the mile. “I wanted to stay in the race as well as I could. I’m so excited to have won so I really can’t complain about the pace.”
Connolly was back at it an hour later in the 2-mile to wage a duel over the final 400 with Sessa again, and again she kicked her way to a win in 10:56.34, just 0.84 seconds ahead of Sessa.
Milton’s Bridget Mitchell didn’t find winning the 1,000 out of the second heat all that difficult, given that she is a notorious front-runner used to being alone in most races. Mitchell clocked a sterling 2:54.31, more than a second in front of the 2:55.81 teammate Colette O’Leary clocked in winning the seeded heat. Milton went on to capture the team title with 38 points, just ahead of Natick’s 35 points.
Mitchell did admit it was a little nerve-racking waiting for the results of the seeded heat.
“The 1,000 was the overall best bet for our team,” said Mitchell. “I thought it would be perfect. I went out and ran as hard as I could. I was more nervous after my race than before it.”