Gathering with his teammates inside the infield after an exciting finish in the 4×100-meter relay, Mitchell Kisgen went over to anchor Henry Hasselbeck and told him, “It looks like we ran 42.23.”
After holding off St. John’s Prep by just a few strides with a sterling final leg during Sunday’s Division I State Relays, Hasselbeck simply replied, “Is that fast?”
Yes indeed it is. It’s fast. very fast.
In a meet that has its share of statement races (and events), the Xaverian Brothers’ foursome of Kisgen, Hasselbeck, Jordan Wilson and Alex Todorov certainly gave notice to what they have a chance to accomplish once the championship season gets started near the end of May.
Not once, but twice.
After winning the 4x100m, an event where the top nine teams were under 44 seconds, including an equally-impressive 42.45 by the second-place Eagles, the talented quartet was back on the track a few hours later with another thriller on the Franklin High oval. In the 4x200m, the Hawks held off Acton Boxborough by mere strides to win in 1:28.33 to its’ rival’s 1:28.57 effort.
In both events, Xaverian Brothers established meet records. In both events, so did the runner-up squads.
“The first goal was to win.” said Hasselbeck, after his team’s 4x100m win. “We had four guys that were able to do that today. Mission complete.”
In an ultra-competitive 4x400m, KIsgen also was the anchor on Xaverian Bros’ winning 4x400m relay. Justin Briggs, Kieran Maguire and Tory Stuckey also ran legs on the squad, which was timed in a state-leading 3:20.47. Acton Boxborough was second at 3:21.85. The top five were under 3:25.
Teamwise, St. John Prep defeated Newton North, 63-44, to take the boys’ title. For the girls, Newton North was a 53-46 victor over Central Catholic. The Eagles won three relays (Sprint Medley, Long Jump, Shot Put), and scored in 10 of the 14 events for the day. The Lady Tigers captured just one relay (High Jump), but scored in all but three of the events.
In the boys’ Distance Medley Relay, Boston Latin and Westford Academy were well under the standard of 10:20 for the New Balance Nationals with impressive performances in separate heats where both broke the more than five-decade meet record of 10:21.80 by Needham in 1973. Boston Latin took the overall title with a time of 10:18.94. Competing in the opening unseeded heat, Westford Academy was 40 seconds ahead of its closest competitor with its’ time of 10:20.20.
Weymouth and Andover ran a tight race in the girls’ DMR with both breaking 13 minutes. Weymouth took the gold in 12:49.68. Andover was right behind at 12:52.65.
Framingham was far ahead of the field in the girls’ sprint medley relay. The foursome of Catelyn Last, Ava Lombardo, Abby Desmarais and Sasha Lamakina combined for a triumphant 4:06.53, nearly eight seconds ahead of runner-up Haverhill (4:14.20).
The Flyers were easily under the NBN qualifier of 4:13.50. According to Desmarais, who anchored the squad by pulling away from the competition with a brilliant final lap, Framingham accomplished two things on Sunday.
“The goal was to qualify for nationals and win,” she said. “We’re pretty happy.”
Lombardo, Lamakina, Last and Desmarais were also part of the Flyers’ first-place 4x400m that dipped under four minutes with a time of 3:58.54. Central Catholic was second in 4:02.94.
Just over a half a second separated the top three teams in the girls’ 4x200m. Lowell’s quartet of Avan Conroy, Drea Delfreitas, Quinn Petzold and Britney Oglegor won the race with a state-leading 1:45.37. Acton-Boxborough (second, 1:45.54) and Lexington (third, 1:45.93) took the next two spots.
With a gutsy anchor by Aolfe Shovlin, particularly in the closing stages of the race, Cambridge Rindge & Latin won the 4x800m by less than a half a second over Brookline with a time of 9:27.60. The Warriors solidified the No. 2 spot in 9:27.93.
Newton South was a winner in the boys’ 4x800m with the foursome of Alex Friedman, Liam Healy, Liam Sakakeeny and Nathan Hamilton combining for a time of 8:03.43. CB&L was second in 8:08.59.
The Lions have a goal of earning the standard for NBN. The automatic qualifier is 7:54.
“The nationals has always been our dream,” Friedman said. “Right now our mileage is high, our volume is high. Wait until we get some speed in our legs.”
In a too-close-for comfort race, St. John’s Prep came out on top in the boys’ SMR. The Eagles held off Acton Boxborough by seven tenths of a second with a winning time of 3:32.08. A-B was timed in 3:32.78 for second.
