Several Walpole High students competed at the New Balance High School Indoor Nationals in New York City at the New Balance Armory on Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10. Six boys (seniors Zach Ganshirt, Bryan Rockwood, and Conor Murtagh; and juniors PJ Hayes, Kemble Lindh, and Connor McCarthy) and four girls (senior Erin McCarthy, junior Maddy Shea, and sophomores Gina Conti and Savonna Small-Brown) represented Walpole.
Zach Ganshirt ran the 800 meter race with a time of two minutes flat and thirty-two milliseconds, a personal record for him. He missed qualifying for finals by two places. Normally, in Massachusetts, the winter season runs a 1000 meter race, which Ganshirt usualy runs, but some events change their distances to fit the national median.
PJ Hayes had also done quite well, coming in 26th place overall. He ran 7.10 seconds for the 60 meter dash, missing the qualifications for semi-finals by .01 seconds. The Bay State Conference runs the 55 meter dash instead and is changed for the same reasons as the 1000 meter race.
For the 60 meter dash with hurdles, our two representatives were Conor Murtagh and Connor McCarthy. They came in 22nd and 27th, respectfully, with times of 8.60 and 8.68 seconds. Despite being in the top 25 runners, Conor Murtagh did not make it to the semi-finals because he did not run under 8.30 seconds
Connor McCarthy, Bryan Rockwood, PJ, and Kemble Lindh ran a 4 by 200 meter relay, meaning they each ran 200 meters and then handed the baton off to the next person. Together they ran a time of 1:35.47, with PJ having the fastest time of 22.7 seconds. Coming in at 35th place, they did not preform as well as some of their individual preformances.
The four girls, Erin, Savonna, Gina, and Maddy ran a sprint medley with a time of 4:23.51. It is a relay race where two people sprint 2oo meters, one person runs 400 meters, and the last leg runs 800 meters. Erin and Savonna each sprinted 200 meters, with respective times of 26.2 seconds and 28.9 seconds. Maddy’s 4oo split was 1:03.6, and rounding it of was Gina in the 800 with 2:24.8. With each girl putting in their best effort, they did well in securing 16th place.
In total, Walpole performed well considering these events are on the national level. Walpole brought more kids there than any other Bay State Conference team, and they got most of our athletes within the top 30 runners.
