Girls All-State Track: Senior stars shine Saturday

NORWELL — It became very apparent when Central Catholic’s Katharine Duren destroyed the competition in her preliminary heat of the 100 hurdles that no one was going to push her in the final. And that just left Duren against the clock at Saturday’s All-State Track & Field Championships.

Duren was a nightmare for the competition in the final. She was out fast at the gun and simply decimated a very talented field on the way to a scintillating 13.72 meet record. Duren, who will attend the University of Alabama, erased the mark set by Brockton great Vanessa Clerveaux of 14.25 back in 2011. North Reading’s terrific trackster, Katelyn Gorgenyi, who also won the pentathlon, ran well for a distant second in 14.36.

As good as Duren was in her qualifying heat she upped the ante in the final.

“I honestly just wanted to do my best,” said Duren. “I just wanted to get through (my heat). My start was better in the final. I’ve always been someone who gets faster as the race goes on. Winning all-states was important because it was my last school race. My goal really was getting that record.”

Like Duren in the hurdles, Lexington’s Aleia Gisolfi-McCready also took down a track giant of her own as she bested Tewksbury great Makayla Paige in the 400. Gisolfi-McCready ran Paige down entering the second half of the race and powered ahead for a 55.25 victory. Paige, who easily won the 800 on the first day of competition in 2:10.66, crossed the line with a 56.01.

Gisolfi-McCready, who plans to play soccer at Davidson College, had a small confidence crisis leading up to the race, but overcame her doubts.

“There’s a lot of pressure that I put on myself,” she said. “I’m really pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish. Honestly, it was just my mind and my body followed. Makayla had me up to the 250 mark. I just kept my pace and told myself I couldn’t slow down and I had to beat her.”

Gisolfi-McCready went on to anchor Lexington to a state season best of 3:54.23 in the 4×400.

Westford Academy. led by Elliana Tweedle’s 12.19 win in the 100, captured the team competition with 40.5 points to edge Wellesley’s 34.

Framingham’s Sophie Albright felt all day that she was going to jump well and it certainly panned out as she leaped to a season best of 5-8 to capture the all-state title in the high jump. “The weather was a little weird with the wind, but I didn’t let it affect me and when I did everything fell in place,” said Albright. “I woke up and I knew it was going to be a 5-8 day. I just had that gut feeling.”

Lincoln-Sudbury’s Rachel Arthur powered away from the 200 field and dipped under 25 seconds for the win in 24.79. The Williams College-bound talent didn’t have the greatest of starts, but that didn’t matter by the time she crossed the finish line.

“It was definitely a hard race, but I felt good,” said Arthur. “I felt especially good off the turn then I just tried to hold on. My start felt ok, but it’s not the crucial part of my race.”

Winnie Sekyaya of Burlington captured gold in the long jump with an 18-4 1/2 leap and Michaela Denson of Sabis International Charter was victorious at 37-8 1/4 in the shot put.

Amelia Everett of Newton South continued to dominate the mile as she outdueled Weston’s Julie Hohenberg to capture her specialty in 4:55.89. Hohenberg surged across the finish line in 4:56.31 and Brockton’s Nicole Dunbury nailed down third in 5:02.59. The 2-mile came down to a pair in the front with Concord-Carlisle’s Emma Kerimo clocking a 10:42.64. Nashoba’s Ali Gillooly was a close second in 10:43.97.

Taunton’s Hannah McEntee put forth a heave of 125-11 to capture the javelin and Belmont’s Sarah Firth was victorious in the pole vault at 11-6.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3xVHrRV