From Friday to Sunday, teams throughout the MA participated in their respective State Relays. Below we rundown all the happenings, including a new state mark in the Div. 4 Relays. Click on the headers for full results.
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Division 2 State Relays – Friday
Less than two points proved to be the difference for both team titles at Friday’s meet with North Andover coming out on top in both meets. The Scarlet Knights beat Peabody, 77-75.32 for the boys’ crown, while the girls squads was a 70-69 victor over Wellesley. The meet was held at Bridgewater-Raynham.
Peabody won four events in its win, capturing the shot, discus, sprint medley and 4×400-meter relays. The discus relay was highlighted by huge throw from Alex Jackson. The talented senior had a nearly 15-foot best of 191-2. Jackson also had a 62-6.75 effort in the shot.
Peabody clocked a state No. 6 of 3:25.77 for the 4x400m and went 1-2 in the SMR with times of 3:34.94 and 3:38.73. The Tanners were also second in the DMR (10:50.33) behind Winchester (10:34.77).
Chelmsford’s Gable Gray led his team in the javelin relay with a near season best of 190-4. He currently ranks No. 2 in the event with a SB of 191-1. Mathew St. Cyr of Walpole is the state-leader at 198-7. North Andover (first, 1:29.75) and Winchester (second, 1:29.94) both cracked the 1:30 barrier in the 4x200m. Arlington moved to No. 1 in the state rankings in the 4x800m with a time of 8:01.18.
North Andover came out on top in three relays with victories in the 4×1,600m (22:30.19), shuttle hurdle (1:06.87) and pole vault (24-6).
Plymouth North dominated the SMR with a state-leading 4:05.43. The Eagles won the race by more than 12 seconds over runner-up King Philip (4:17.76) and were well under the standard of 4:13.5 for next month’s New Balance Nationals. Winchester was less than a second from the automatic standard in the distance medley relay with a time state No. 1 of 12;25.09. The auto qualifier is 12:25.09.\
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Division 6 State Relays– Friday
Joseph Case and Carver were the respective winners in the boys’ and girls’ meets on Friday night at West Bridgewater. Case defeated Amesbury, 78-65, while Carver was a slim 72-70 victor over Red Hawks.
Case’s depth prevailed in its outcome. The Maroon and Gold scored in 13 events, which included a win in the shuttle hurdle (1:08.88) and a second-place finish in the 4x400m (3:32.42). Carver scored in 10 events with a third-place finish in the shuttle hurdle (1:17.03) and a fourth-place showing in the sprint relay (4:55.30) among the highlights.
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Division 4 State Relays – Saturday
Wakefield and Melrose proved victorious in this one. Wakefield hit the century mark to claim the boys’ title with a 100-70.47 decision over second-place Burlington. Melrose also had a considerable margin over the runner-up, defeating Newburyport, 84-63.49.
Wakefield scored in all but one of the 15 events. The Warriors took first in the pole vault (30-6), sprint medley (3:35.78), and 4x400m (meet record, 3:26.57) relay. Wakefield collected 11 points in the 4×1,600m by placing second (18:47.77) and sixth (19:49.79). The Warriors also had 11 points in the distance medley by taking third (11:07.37) and fourth (11:08.51).
Melrose came out on top in the discus (212-4), javelin (273-4), distance medley (12:46.85), 4x200m (1:47.97), and 4×1,600m (22:27.25) relays. The Red Hawks scored 15 points in the DMR by also securing fourth overall (13:14.66). They had nine points in the 4x800m, placing second (9:56.21) and eighth (10:46.40).
The top performance of the meet was turned in by the Pembroke boys’ 4x200m relay, The quartet of Jayden Leonard, Luke Lamar, Gabe Lamar and Kyle Tracy combined for a state record of 1:27.74. Unfortunately for the Titans, that mark would be short lived as Newton North posted a winning time of 1:27.44 in the Div. 1 meet. Pembroke also won the 4x100m in a state No. 2 of 42.37. The foursome consisted of Leonard, the Lamar brothers and Tobin Janowsky.
Newburyport was triumphant in the girls’ 4x400m with a state No. 5 of 4:02.55. That foursome featured Devin Stroope, Morgan Felts, Penelope Fuentes and Cameron Todd.
Division 3 State Relays – Saturday
Team plaques were awarded to the Reading boys and Billerica girls. Reading slipped by Billerica, 65-55. Billerica was an 87.5-55 victor over North Attleboro.
Reading earned points in 11 events, including a first-place finish in the 4x800m (8:12.81). The Rockets were also second in the 4×1,600m (18:42.19) and third in the SMR (3:38.21) and the 4x400m (3:24.49).
Billerica scored in 10 events with a wins in the pole vault, shot and 4×1,600m relays (21:54.54). In three events – DMR, 4×1,600m and 4x800m – the Indians had two of their squads make the podium
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Division 1 State Relays – Sunday
It was St. John’s Prep and Newton North that were victorious in the respective boys’ and girls’ meets. The Eagles defeated Lexington, 81-61 for their fifth straight title, while the Lady Tigers topped the Minutemen, 82-74 for their crown.
St. John’s Prep scored in 14 of the 15 events, winning two of them at New Bedford Voke. The Eagles raced to a state-leading 41.89 in the 4x100m and combined for a distance of 146-5.25 on the shot relay, Anthony Ragosa (53-2.75) and Gael Garcia (50-2) each went 50-plus in the shot. Teammate Rick Sideris has a solid toss of 43.-5.
The most impressive event of the day for the boys was the 4x100m where Newton North held off Acton-Boxborough with a new state mark of 1:27.44, breaking the one-day old mark of 1:27.74 by Pembroke in Div. 4. The Revolution also went under 1:28, timed in 1:27.86 for the silver.
The Newton North girls scored in 11 events, winning nearly half with five gold medals for the day. The Tigers captured the long jump, triple jump, Sprint Medley (4:08.30), 4x200m (1:43.95) and 4x400m (4:02.35) relays.
Westford Academy’s quartet of Emily Wedlake, Abigail Hennessy, Sydney Weiss and Alexa Pantoya combined for a state-leading 12:13.28 to take the girls’ DMR.
In the boys’ DMR, Natick posted a fast 10:22.75, an effort that ranks No. 2 in the state.
The Lexington girls won a competitive 4x800m with a time of 9:25.11. The top four teams were under 9:40 – Braintree (second, 9:31.52), Weymouth (third, 9:33.07) and Newton South (fourth, 9:36.07).
Division 5 State Relays – Sunday
Taking the hardware in this one was the boys from Weston and the girls from Reading. Weston beat second-place Old Rochester, 67-52 for its title. North Reading topped Dennis-Yarmouth, 83-65, for its crown.
Weston scored in eight events and won three of them, two of which were in record fashion The Wildcats broke the meet records in the 4x400m (3:21.72) and the 4x100m (42.89). The 4×4 raced to a new state lead. Weston also won the 4x800m (8:18.42).
North Reading scored in all 15 events. The Hornets won three, placing first in the high jump, pole vault and 4x100m shuttle hurdle relays. The SHR set a meet record of 1:02.36.
