Three of Walpole’s best runners headed to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on February 26 to compete in the State Championship Meet. All the runners in the league have to make certain times to qualify for this meet, and these three people are the only ones in the town of Walpole that hit those times this season.

Freshman Gina Conti placed 18 in the state with a time of  1:40.50. Conti set the record for Walpole High School in the 600m with a 1:39.52 in the Division II Class Meet, just a week prior to the Championship Meet. As the only freshman competing against the top ranked runners in the Championship Meet, Conti only came about 6 seconds behind the best runner in the entire state of Massachusetts. With still three more years to improve her time, Conti will definitely be rising even higher in the standings by the time she graduates.

Finishing a 55m dash in less than 7 seconds seems nearly impossible for most runners in the state, but senior Alex Lee was able to crush this time in the Championship Meet. Lee finished with a 6.71 – 8th place. The times in the dash are incredibly close that even one minor falter can throw one’s race totally off. The winner of the dash across the whole state, who was a senior from Blackstone, only beat Lee by .14 seconds.

Placing 17 in the two mile race for Walpole was junior Justin Connolly, in 9:54.93 seconds. Just 5 seconds off his personal record that was set in the indoor 2010-2011 season, Connolly still had a strong performance along with his two teammates.

Conti, Lee, and Connolly made the requirements for a meet that is one of the most prestigious in the state, and each one of them showed that their work all season paid off in their individual races.