According to Marblehead coach William Herlihy, the school sent the most student-athletes out of any North Shore program to the Meet of Champions (top-24 in each event across Massachusetts) over the weekend.
Hustle and handoffs later, and Marblehead was well-represented at the Reggie Lewis Center. There was no team scoring, but every student-athlete and relay team either matched or outperformed their seeding.
Alex Hersey capped off a historic season in the long jump with a 15th-place finish, recording a jump of 20-1.5.
“His best jump of the season was 21-5.75 at the NEC (Northeastern Conference) Championship, breaking the meet record,” said Marblehead coach Nolan Raimo. “This jump ranked 15th best in the state.”
He also finished 15th in hurdles, clocking a time of 7.97. Better yet, he was “struggling with sickness last week and battling through an injury.”
“He delivered a quality race to secure 15th place on the biggest stage in Massachusetts track and field,” Raimo said.
Heading over to the 55m, Thomas Carlson finished 11th in a time of 6.62, missing the
finals by just 0.04 seconds.
“We knew it was going to be a great season for him, but we had no idea it would be this incredible,” Raimo said.
Nate Assa finished 10th overall in the 2-mile with a time of 9:42.02, while Ava Machado, Sadie Halpern, Charlie Roszell, and LeDaisha Williams finished third in the 4×200 with a school-record and top-three time in Massachusetts (1:46.03).
“They posted one of the best high school track and field seasons in recent memory,” Raimo said.
Lastly, in the 4×400, Machado, Kate Twomey, Roszell, and Halpern finished sixth in a time of 4:11.02.
Twomey “stepped up,” according to Raimo.
“LeDaisha was dealing with an injury all week, which flared up after the 4×200 relay, and Kate stepped up at a moment’s notice to substitute in,” he said.