Williams doubles up once again
Norton star wins 100, 200; N. Reading girls top team
NORWELL — It’s almost a given at this point in her scholastic career: When Brooke-Lynn Williams settles into the starting blocks of the 100 dash and 200 meters, everyone else is running for second.
The Norton starlet, though, never takes any race for granted — and that was very much the case at yesterday’s East Division 4 championships.
The Penn State-bound speedster easily captured her qualifying races before dusting both the 200 (25.09) and 100 (12.00) fields in a 30-minute span to set the stage for two more wins at Saturday’s All-State championships at Bridgewater State.
“It definitely is tough (not having a lot of competition) because that helps you push,” Williams said. “And it helps when you’re going for a best time. When they run down south, they’re always running with a full stack of competition and I get a little jealous.”
A third-place finish in the 4x400 relay (4:11.62) clinched the girls team title for North Reading with 96 points, just in front of Amesbury’s 95. Michaela Halloran earned a win for the Hornets with her 11:16.15 in the 2-mile and the 4x800 squad raced to a quick 9:48.49 victory.
North Reading also swept the top-two finishes in the pole vault, with Rachel Hill taking first (9 feet, 6 inches) and Isabella Parrett (9-0) second. Juliette Nadeau leaped to a 37-1 win in the triple jump to help strengthen the Hornets’ position.
Danny Renwick turned the 110 hurdles into a rout with his 14.56 to lead an Old Rochester sweep of the top three places. Eli Spevack was second in 15.10 and Harry Smith was a step back in 15.29. Renwick also captured the high jump with a 6-4 leap as the Bulldogs put up 83 points for a romp in the boys team competition.
Freshmen ruled the 400, as Weston’s Peter Diebold surged to the win in 50.23 and Old Rochester’s Meg Hughes won by more than a second with her 58.22.
“Coming down the last curve, I realized I had to pick it up,” said Diebold, who clocked a 51.87 in the eighth grade. “The pace was slowing a bit. My goal this season was a sub51 and I got that pretty early. I was thinking of running maybe 49.”
Hughes used a supreme effort on the final straightaway to clinch the gold medal.
“I felt slow in the beginning, but I started catching them on the straightaway. I was pretty dead the last 50 meters,” she said.
Pearl Vercruysse of Martha’s Vineyard ran from behind for the first 800 before surging ahead to capture the mile in a personal best of 5:08.93. She came back 30 minutes later to take second in the 800 with a 2:18.54.
“I knew I had to go (at the 800), but I didn’t feel like I could,” Vercruysse said. “With the mile, it hurts all the time. For me, every lap hurts.”
Lynnfield’s Kate Mitchell was in front of Vercruysse in the 800 with a 2:15.92.
“The plan was to position myself in the first 500 meters and then go hard the last 300,” Mitchell said. “I had a stomach bug early in the week, but the hard work has been done this season so it’s not like I lost a ton of fitness.”
Bishop Fenwick’s Shawn Carlson avoided near disaster in the 800 when his spike lace became untied near 200 meters, as he rebounded nicely for a strong win in 1:56.02.