Team off to quick 1-0 start to season
By JENNIFER GENTILE
BRIGHTON—The Melrose High girls’ indoor track team is off to a quick 1-0 record with a season opening win over Watertown on Dec. 14 at the Track at New Balance in Brighton, an overwhelming 80-18 win.
Melrose dominated the Raiders in just about every event and saw strong showings in distance and field events, sweeping the 2-mile and shot put and having some top times among all league opponents in events like the 55 dash and the 1000m.
Leading the team as captains this season are Ava Picone, Isabelle Chardavoyne, Alison Doherty and Amy Rowe.
Melrose started their off strong in the 55 dash behind great efforts from D’Mitra Mukasa who placed 5th in all the league and she and her teammates swept the event over Watertown thanks to 2nd-4th placements from Alison Doherty, Sophie Strileckis and Isabelle Chardavoryne.
Cadence L’Heureux picked up where she left off from last spring with another strong showing, this time a second overall finish in the 1000m, easily besting Watertown competition. Teammate Emma Drago also had an impressive 3rd place finish.
In the 300 dash, Melrose took the 2nd-4th spots behind runs from Lila Fauci, Clara Kimberly and Mae Donohue. Melrose saw Amy Rowe crack the top 10 in the 600m with a 9th place finish, and teammate Ava Picone was second.
Melrose’s distance events were well represented by Darby Thompson, second in the 1 mile and Addie Lalwor, first in the 2 mile. That was an event that Melrose swept behind efforts of Ella Ugino (2nd) and Kenzington Ludlum (3rd) Melrose took the top 2 spots in the 55 hurdles behind work from Sofia Hitchman and Emeline Boyer.
Melrose’s 4×200 relay team edged Watertown thanks for the running of Abby Taylor, D’Mitra Mukasa, Amara Otaluka and Isabelle Chardavoryne. Their 4×400 relay team also placed first thanks to the work of Darby Thompson, Ava Picone, Amy Rowe and Cadence L’Heureux. Melrose also had some strong field events behind the work of Emeline Boyer in high jump(1st) and Abby Taylor, and a first place long jump finish by Cadence L’Heureux, followed by teammate D’Mitra Mukasa. And in the shot put Melrose swept the top three spots behind Emeline Boyer, Abby Taylor and Megan Jancaitis.
Melrose was slated to take on ML rival Burlington this Thursday (post deadline) and, after Christmas, will take on another chief rival, Wakefield on Thursday, Dec. 28th at 9:00 a.m. at the New Balance Center. Both meets will be key to a fight for a league title. Stay tuned.
Upcoming meets
Thurs. Dec. 21 @ Burlington, 4
Thurs. Dec. 28 v. Wakefield, 9
Sat. Jan. 6 v. TBA @Reggie Lewis