Billerica girls, Westboro boys capture championships
Winning the indoor state title over the winter wasn't enough for the Billerica girls track and field program.
As part of a deep effort that saw them maintain a slim lead from Thursday in the Div. 3 state championships at Fitchburg State University, the Indians' outdoor squad outlasted reigning champion Mansfield on Saturday night to claim another team crown in succeeding seasons — their first ever in outdoor.
The top team and the eighth team in the standings from the first day were separated by just 14 points, but Billerica put on a show to turn that into the difference against the next best team.
The Indians finished with 83.25 points, Mansfield was second with 69.75, Milton came in third with 52, and Chicopee placed fourth with 50.5.
"It feels really good and it took the whole entire season to get to this point, it definitely didn't just start today," said Billerica outdoor head coach Scott Arsenault. "I'm so proud of these girls, they showed up every day, and from the first practice to now, they gave it their all."
Depth bolstered the Indians across the board on the second day, but twotime pentathlon champion Nyrah Joseph packed a punch once again by taking home second in the 100-meter hurdles (15.21 seconds) and tying for third in the high jump (J5-00.00). Anna McElhinney won the one mile run (5:01.94) to complement her, while the 4×800 relay team won gold (9:42.76), Lily Bower added a second-place finish in the long jump (18-01.00), and the 4×400 relay team took third (4:03.13).
Abigail Scott came out big for Mansfield, following up Thursday's the 200-meter dash victory with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash (12.31). Chicopee's
Athena Cusson defended her crown by winning the long jump (1802.50).
Westboro's Melinda Haagensen also defended her title in the pole vault with a first-place 12-07.00 mark, adding to an overwhelming performance from the whole team as Katelyn Winchester took second (906.00) and Imani Curran finished third (9-00.00) for a whopping 24 points.
The only pole vault group that could top it performed two days prior, from the boys' side of the program.
After scoring 31 points in the event on Thursday, Westboro maintained its momentum Saturday to turn last year's eighthplace finish into the Div. 3 state title this year with a first-place 83 points. Alan Nguyen followed up his win in the pole vault with a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (14.86), and the 4×800 relay team took third place in 8:20.90.
Add that to point scorers in all three throwing events to top second-place Duxbury (59.5 points), third-place Oliver Ames (45 points) and fourth-place Milton (42 points).
"I think our guys just matured between last year and this year, they worked really hard," said Rangers head coach Roger Anderson.
"We knew we had a chance, other teams were really, really good on paper. … Certainly our pole vaulters helped."
The meet was filled with double winners and multiple first-place finishing teammates on the boys side. Danial Ward was the first to do so for Greater New Bedford, winning the 400-meter dash (49.53) after taking the 400-meter hurdles. Stoughton's Alex Huynh, after winning the pentathlon, won the long jump (2200.50) and finished third in the high jump. North Attleboro saw Carson Crump win the high jump (J6-04) and Mark Etienvre take the shot put (157-08).