Marblehead’s track and field teams hosted Peabody this past week in fast-paced Northeastern Conference action. In the end, the girls (1-0) took down the Tanners, 78-58, while the boys (0-1) fell short in a 97-39 final.
“It was a tough meet, considering the conditions and limited training time we’ve had,” said Marblehead Coach Nolan Raimo. “This is one of, if not, the toughest meets of the season and it’s the first meet of the year.”
Elise Burchfield won the long jump and recorded the second-best leap (17-2) in school history, a mere 1.5” away from the school record set by Emma McGuirk in 2010.
Carrying her momentum from the indoor season, Lillian Reddy (2nd, 29-3.5) led Marblehead’s girl shot putters, followed by Hannah O’Brien, Hailey Gilmore, and Loren Liu. On the boys’ side, Phineas Jakious secured fifth place with a heave of 32-11.
“A solid starting point for the season,” Raimo said.
In discus, O’Brien secured second place with a throw of 90-9, while Graham Firestone also finished second with a 108-8 throw.
Mia Mabry (60-11) and Julia Betz (57-1) finished second and third, respectively, in javelin, while Jakious placed second among boys with a personal-best 136-1 “in less-than-ideal conditions,” according to Raimo.
In the high jump, Burchfield took the win with a 5-0 clearance against Peabody’s Makayla Kokonezis. Paige Tredwell finished third (4-10).
“We will see this rivalry again at the conference championship in May,” Raimo said.
Freshman Clark Roszell delivered a second-place high jump finish (5-6), continuing his success from the indoor season.
Ava Machado willingly entered the triple jump without much practice, tying her personal record with a jump of 31-10 to finish second. She won the 100m dash in convincing fashion with a 12.7, while Lucy Flynn followed with a second-place time of 13.1. Jacob Bobowski dominated the boys’ side (11).
“He sprinted away from two of the stronger sprinters in the conference: Evan Bedard and Henry Sawyer,” Raimo said.
Tredwell cruised to victory in the 100/110m hurdles (16.2), while Burchfield was close behind in 16.7.
“Elise and Paige position themselves as top hurdlers in the conference with strong opening races in cold conditions,” said Raimo, whose boys were led by Elian Colon’s personal-record time of 17.5 to finish second.
Flynn won the 200m in 27.6, while Machado secured first in the 400m (64.0). Sarah Munroe placed second in the 800m (2:35.2).
“Sarah is not afraid of any competition and always fights through the line,” said Coach Will Herlihy.
Will Cerrutti won the mile (4:44.8), followed by Henrik Adams in second (4:49.2). Ruby Assa captured a 2-mile victory (12:43.0).
“Not only was it a personal best in her opening race, but she battled and ultimately beat the two Peabody runners in the final lap,” Herlihy said of Assa. “Peabody has always had a strong distance group, so to see Ruby run such a strong, tactical race and get the win in the closing sign was awesome.”
Nate Assa won the boys’ 2-mile (9:52.1), while Lilah Greten, Charlie Roszell, Lidia Jasmine Tiedra, and Liv Carlson won the 4×100 with a time of 54.8.
Norah Walsh, Munroe, Carlson, and Gabby Hendy secured first in the 4×400 with a time of 4:37.0. On the boys’ side, Cerrutti, Adams, Assa, and Will Cruikshank sprinted to a first-place finish in 3:49.
“This was an impressive feat to go sub-3:50 with tired legs, as every runner ran 800m-plus in individual races,” Herlihy said.
