Stars stay in spotlight at Northeast Invitational
Milford sprinter Kiyanni Simas made it her mission to own the Reggie Lewis Center infield on day two of the Northeast Track Invitational Saturday.
The multi-talented Simas, who is ranked fourth in the country in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 11 1/4 inches, didn’t have her best day in her specialty, but it was still a stellar performance. Simas, a junior, easily defeated a quality field to capture the event in 18-5, despite battling some technical issues.
“I kind of felt off,” said Simas. “I wasn’t really consistent — my takeoff the most. My air time did feel good though.”
Simas collected her first gold medal almost four hours earlier. She was out quick in the 55 and was still pulling away when she crossed the finish line in a meet record of 7.32 seconds. “I got a better start (in the final) and accelerated better,” said Simas. “My start wasn’t great in the trials. I could have used my arms more.”
Sean Golembiewski didn’t race mistake-free in his preliminary heat of the 55 hurdles in the meet’s first event. Racing on the infield, the Hopkinton junior righted himself from a gaff over the second hurdle to tear away from a fast field and tie the meet record with his 7.59 effort.
“I had a really bad second hurdle,” said Golembiewski. “I felt fast on the last three. I kind of tripped up on my lead leg a little. You notice it when it happens, but cant let it bother you. That’s why I had a good last three hurdles.”
That was just a peek at Glembiewski’s talent.
The final was even more dramatic as Glembiewski was out fast and powered away again to lower his short-lived mark to 7.54. In a season where he is so far working on strength, Golembiewski has been caught off guard by his times.
“I’m in the last part of my heavy weightlifting regiment so I don’t know why I’m running this fast,” he said. “We’re going to go into a more explosive phase for the championship season.”
Just minutes later, a familiar face duplicated Golembiewski’s feat of breaking his own meet record on the same day.
South Hadley sprinting great Jonas Clarke showed that he is completely recovered with his bout with Covid as he tore away from the competition for a 6.39 win. That mark came 15 minutes after he broke the meet record in his qualifying heat with a 6.41.
“I’m definitely happy with the times. Without a doubt. And I’d like to break the state record,” said Clarke. “I had good turnover at the end of my race and I want to keep working on that. This season is to get ready for outdoors I’m definitely excited to see what happens next.”
Weymouth’s David Manfredi ran and won his first 1000 in a Bay State Conference dual meet on Thursday and he made it 2-for-2 in
fine fashion yesterday with a meet record of 2:33.47. Mike Alleva of Lunenburge was second in 2:34.09 and David Vandi of Lowell captured the bronze with a 2:34.48.
Manfredi surged into the lead with 400 to go and looked vulnerable with Alleva and Vandi set to pounce, but they failed to gain an inch on him over the final
lap. “Cross country (strength) really helped me in this race,” said Manfredi. “To be honest, I wasn’t going for the meet record. I was here to race.”
Bishop Feehan’s Val Capalbo turned in a near perfect tactical race to erase the meet record with her 1:39.90. Starting in lane 1, Capalbo, who has a personal best of 1:38.68, had to work
hard to make up the stagger. She positioned herself well and was a close third at the gun lap, exactly where she wanted to be.
“I had to make up the stagger quickly,” said Capalbo. “I knew the race was going to come down to a sprint over the last 200. I felt like I was in a good spot and wasn’t going to let anyone beat me in a sprint.”