Three Walpole Girls Compete in the 400m.

Saturday, May 4 is the busiest day for the Massachusetts Track and Field teams. At 9:00am, the Large School Freshman Sophomore Invitational at Newton South begins, and at 4:00, the Weston Twilight Meet for upperclassmen sets off.  This year, Walpole Coach Conor Cashman brought many athletes to compete at one of the state’s highest level of competitions.

At Newton South, four medals were added to the young Rebel’s collection.  Freshman Tori Lynch placed sixth in the 400m hurdles with a PR of 1:12.14; Lynch is now Walpole’s fastest runner this spring.  Sophomore Emma Hunt also ran a PR of 1:18.81.

Freshman Hiromi Kondo placed sixth in the triple jump with 32-06.50, a new PR.  Kondo is now Walpole’s second longest triple jumper behind Junior Olivia O’Hara.  Kondo also competed in the in the long jump and jumped 15-10.00.  Freshman Sarah Perkins ran a PR in the 400m dash with 1:07.96; she also competed in the long jump where she jumped 14-01.75.  Sophomores Rosie McCarthy, Katie Carter, Brianna Conley and Kondo together ran a successful 4x100m relay.  The girls finished with a time of 55.05 seconds.  This time is not Walpole’s best, however; the girls did qualify for the Division II State Meet at the end of May.

Sophomore Lucy Lynch was the solo distance runner who competed in the one mile run.  Lynch placed ninth overall with a PR and Walpole’s’ spring best of 5:39.43.  Sophomores Kathryn Lawton, Colleen O’Connor, and freshmen Julia Averill and Tess Lancaster finished sixth overall to grab a medal in the 4x800m relay.  Lawton said, “It was fun to run in this relay because none of us had ever been in one.  It was a great experience.”

In the only throwing event, Summer King threw both shot put and javelin.  King placed fifth in shot put to throw 28-11.75. As the post season approaches, King hopes to be more consistent in her all of her throws.

By 4:00, at Weston High School, the upperclassman had begun their meet.  In the opening unseeded two mile, senior Captain Megan Peterson ran a 12 second PR to finish with 12:01.05; junior Kristen Coyne also PR’d by 12 seconds to finish at 12:15.01.  Both girls have a realistic shot at breaking 12:00 by the end of the season.  “I’m very happy with my time; I will definitely be able to break 12:00 by the end of the season.  I am also very happy for Kristen because this is her first PR since last year,” said Peterson.

Senior Captain Maddy Shea competed in the 100m dash with a time of 13:45.  Shea did not PR, however she did take home a 5th place medal.  Shea also competed in the long jump, but did not place or PR.  The last medal of the night went to senior Michelle Monahan in the discus, she also placed fifth overall with a throw of 94-06.   The last big PR went to junior Catherine Murphy in the javelin; she threw a seven foot PR of 85-09. The Division II qualifying standard for the javelin is 93’00.  Murphy hopes to reach that distance within the next few meets.

Many girls on the Walpole Track and Field Team did exceptionally well this past weekend, and have made huge strides since the end of March.  Shea said, “Looking into the post season I think a lot of girls are going to perform exceptionally well especially at the BSC meet and States.”  Coach Cashman looks for the girls to continue their success into the next few meets.