The Walpole Track and Field Team competed in the Bay State League Championship Meet February 6, 2013. There were a few stand out performances by certain individuals that can not go unnoticed. Seniors Sean Herlihy, Connor McCarthy, Maddy Shea, and junior Gina Conti were the key athletes that competed for the Rebels.
Senior Captain Maddy Shea was undeniably the star of the meet for the Rebel girls. Shea jumped a season best in the long jump with 17’1.50. Not only did she increase her season best by a half a foot, but she was crowned Bay State League Champion by more than a foot. Shea is now seeded fourth in the Division II State Meet. She also competed in the 55m dash to finish with 7.82. Head Coach Conor Cashman said, “Coach Butera has done a really nice job preparing Maddy this season, and she is peaking at the right time.” Sophomore Dmitra Weathers ran a big race in the 55m dash where she finished 7th overall with PR of 7.85, which was Walpole’s second fastest time this season.
Around the oval, Junior Captain Gina Conti placedsecond overall in the 600m run. Conti competed in the seeded heat, ran a PR of 1:37.52, and broke the school record previously owned by Tracey Pendergast who set it in 1996. She held onto Newton North’s Meghan Bellerose for the duration of one lap, until Bellerose broke away to finish with a league best 1:34.41. Conti is now seeded first in the Division II State Meet
On the boys side, two of the best performances were made by McCarthy, who came in first out of the entire league in both the long jump and the 55m hurdle dash. His time for the hurdles was 7.85 seconds, .26 seconds faster than the runner up, which is a large margin in that short of a race. McCarthy also had a season best of 20’ 6” in the Long Jump. Joining McCarthy in the hurdles, junior Mike St. Germain hurdled his way into the finals by tying his personal record of 8.40 seconds. Although he had a strong performance, he placed seventh in the finals. Along with McCarthy, junior Jon Kelland, sophomore Tommy Helm, and senior Jungwoo Yoon ran the 4x200m relay, and together they achieved a time of 1:38.13 to qualify for the Division II State meet.
For the long distance racers, there were a few exceptional performances. Senior Captain Sean Herlihy had a personal record of five seconds in the two mile with a time of 10:04.00. Overall, he came in third. Herlihy said, “I know we may not have had the best season this winter, but from what some of my teammates have shown today, I think we are going to come back much more competitively in the spring.”
The mile had two PRs: Junior Pat Connell broke five minutes in the mile for the first time by running a 4:57.19, and sophomore Brendan Wohler dropped his PR by a second to come in at 4:48.65. Sophomore Joe Keough was Walpole’s top finisher in the 1000m, and he brought his personal best down five seconds to 2:50.29. Junior Jon Kelland raced exceptionally in the 600m where he finished with 1:31.20, more than a second faster than his previous best.
In the Division II State Meet on February 17, the Walpole Track Program will send a total of 12 athletes. In addition to the boys 4×200 relay, McCarthy and St. Germain will compete in the 55m hurdles, P.J. Hayes will hopefully compete in the 55m dash, while Herlihy will run the 2 mile. On the girls side, Shea will compete in the long jump. Megan Jenkins and Conti will compete in the 600m, and Lucy Lynch will run the mile, while Megan Peterson will compete in the 2 mile. Peterson said, “after seeing some great performances at the BSC meet, the anticipation for the divisional meet is high.”
