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For the first meet of their season, on December 17, Walpole Girls Track gave their all against Wellesley, one of the best teams in the league. Although many racers placed in their events, Walpole was not able to hold off the strong Wellesley team, who pulled ahead and won the meet 53 to 25. After many strong runners graduated this past year, the Rebels will have to make up for their losses by training harder and adapting their newcomers quickly. Many new freshman runners are a part of the varsity team, along with many people that were on junior varsity last year.
For the long distance and mid-distance events, the Rebels placed in each one, with the exception of the mile that was scratched due to the meet organizers’ failure to place Wellesley in the same heat as the Walpole milers. After the mile came the 1000m, where junior Liz Jelloe and sophomore Christina Freiberger finished second and third. Walpole also gained another second and third in the 600m from junior Brigette Lawton and senior Caroline Cohn. Later on in the meet, for the two mile, Walpole junior Courtney Shea finished second in her race, with a time of 12:15.38.
The sprinters certainly put on a show as well with many points earned in different events. Senior Erica Hawley blew away all her competitors as she finished first in 55m hurdles, and first in high jump with a final height of 1.52m. Another field event that gained Walpole points was shot put with senior Alex Barmakian, who placed third with a throw of 6.54m. Also, junior newcomer, Jackie Clinton proved her spot on the team by finishing second in the 55m with a time of 8.27.
To wrap up the meet, Walpole’s 4×400 relay team, consisting of junior Liz Jelloe, freshman Nina Tobin, freshman Nicky Browne, and junior Brigette Lawton, finished second with a time of 4:36.36, only four seconds off the Wellesley relay team. Although Walpole was not able to gain as many points as Wellesley, they never gave up. This meet also gave them the opportunity to help their newcomers adapt to the Reggie Lewis Center and figure out what changes need to be made to the line up for this season to be a successful one.
