Walpole Girls Track is off to a great start with a winning record of 2-1 after a big win against Milton on Thursday, January 13. Milton is usually a tough competitor for Walpole, but this year Milton stood no chance against Walpole and their 21 personal records (PR’s), as the final score came out to be 56-39.
Senior Captain Jackie and junior Alison Clinton were not able to attend the meet, but the team was still able to make up for their absences. Senior My’Lissa Hope stepped up to place 1st in shotput, with a new PR of 25’10”. For the 55 meter dash, where Jackie Clinton usually places first, freshman Savonna Small-Brown stepped up to place first with a team and personal record of 7.84 seconds, which qualified for states.
Behind Small-Brown, sophomore Maddy Shea finished second in 7.9 seconds to get second place, which also qualified for states. Amazingly, this spectacular race was Shea’s worst performance of the day, for in her other three events – 300m, the high jump, and the long jump – she placed 1st to score a total of 18 points for the team overall – almost a third of the team’s overall total. In the long jump and in the high jump, Shea performed extremely well by tying her personal best in high jump at 4’10” and by long jumping 15’7.75″ – her second farthest jump this season. However, in the 300m, Shea really raised some eyebrows around the league by running a 43.65, putting her at 6th in league for the race and 2nd in school history for this race. Junior Erin McCarthy also PR’ed in the 300m with a 45.21, which placed her at 2nd place behind Shea.
For the long distance events, Walpole scored 14 points. Seniors Liz Jelloe and Jocelyn Lydon placed 2nd and 3rd in the 1000m, giving Walpole 4 points out of one race. For the mile, Senior Brigette Lawton placed first with a huge PR of 5:32; her time was the fastest Mile run by any girl at the Reggie that night, and it placed her at 4th in the Bay State League. Freshman Gabbi Petruziello placed third, matching her previous PR of 6:17. The points Walpole earned in the two mile were a big contribution to the team’s score with freshmen Kristen Coyne and Ashley Waldron placing 2nd and 3rd both with PR’s (12:58 and 13:02).
With absence of sophomore Nicky Browne who is out with a knee injury, the hurdles have become the team’s most vulnerable event, for Milton had run times good enough to sweep the Walpole hurdlers. This week, however, junior Morgan Ivatts prevented this sweep and placed third for a point. She, too, got a PR of 10.3 seconds.
After 21 PR’s, a winning 4×4, and a total of 56, Walpole took away a big win from one of the tougher competitors of the season, Milton. Facing Norwood on January 20, the girls will continue to train hard to improve their scores even more, and to, hopefully, beat the Mustangs, which would place them at least 3rd in the Bay State League.
