Everett falls short, ready for nationals
Newton South’s Amelia Everett couldn’t have been in a better situation for a fast time at Saturday’s New England Championships.
Winner in the Meet of Champions 1000 a week ago, Everett was up against the nation’s top middle-distance runner in Sophia Gorriaran of the Moses Brown School in Rhode Island. Behind Everett was a hungry field looking to knock off the Lions’ star.
Running at the Reggie Lewis Center for the final time, Everett focused on Gorriaran in front of her, trying to keep her close. Everett looked as good as she has all season as she bolted home in second with a new personal best of 2 minutes, 49.56. Gorriaran broke the meet record with a stellar 2:46.45. The race was an absolute burner as the top 11 runners broke three minutes. Everett joined Lucy Jenks and Claire Martin as Newton South runners who have dipped under 2:50 and will compete in the sprint medley, 800 and possibly the mile at Nationals.
“I knew she (Gorriaran) was using it as a tuneup for Nationals,” said Everett. “I came through the 800 a little faster than last week and the last lap I kicked into a gear I didn’t have then. There were people behind me and I had someone to chase. I wasn’t nervous. It was a great opportunity to run fast. I’m feeling healthy. I felt like I could have gone through the 800 a little faster but you don’t know until you’re in it.”
Brookline’s 4×800 lineup was in the rare position of having a team to chase and it worked in their favor. The Warriors weren’t able to overtake Glastonbury, CT and its’ winning 9:05.41, but the squad of Camille Jordan, Dasha
Lefaivre, Audrey Seeger and Jordan Liss-Riordan broke its’ own school record by two seconds with a sterling second-place finish in 9:15.25. The foursome will be looking to lower the school marks in both the 4×800 and 4xmile at Nationals.
“We really wanted to go out and test ourselves,” said Liss-Riordan. “Running against the other teams pushed us to be better.”
Jordan, who opted for the relay after capturing the All-State mile, said having Glastonbury ahead of them helped break the school record. “It really pushed us to go faster,” said Jordan. “It was good to have a team to chase.”
Oliver Ames made it to the podium by finishing fifth in 9:34.76 and North Quincy also earned a medal with a 9:36.74 for sixth.
Franklin’s Sarah Dumas clocked an 8.53 on the infield to clinch fourth place in the 55 hurdles. Framingham’s
Abby Desmarais garnered a bronze medal in the 55 with a quick time of 7.16 and Peabody’s Savanna Vargas of Peabody was fifth in
7.21.
The Wachusett girls finished a strong second in the 4×200 in 1:45.10, just ahead of Pentucket’s 1:45.20. Ali
Murphy of Norton and Kylee Bernard finished second and third respectively in the 300 with times of 39.67 and 39.71.