BOSTON — The North Reading High girls’ track and field team arrived at the Reggie Lewis Center at 3 p.m. on Jan. 19 after their last round of Mid Year Exams to cap off a week filled with disciplined work ethic as focused student athletes. The meet would run from 4-10:30 p.m. and would take focus and patience from all the athletes.
After four days of exams and training, it was time to focus their attention on repeating as the State Relay Champions. The team had won the 2022 and 2023 title in Division 4 and with this year’s new alignment, North Reading was dropped to Division 5.
It was a new division, but the same result, as the Hornets repeated as State Relay Champions scoring 48 points and besting the 60-plus teams in the division. Weston (42 points) and Lunenburg (41 points) kept things close and Pentucket (32 points) and Medway (30 points) rounded out the top five teams.
The Hornets opened the meet with an unfortunate set back as the 4×50 yard shuttle hurdle team suffered a fall and injury and was not able to score any points despite being listed as the number one seed entering the meet. The 4×50 yard shuttle dash team (Georgia Robarts, Julia DeAngelis, Julia Scammon, Hayden MacLellan) kept hope alive with a second place finish in 25.60 seconds and scoring 8 points.
At this point, the Hornets had to sit back and watch as Weston, Medway, Lunenburg and Pentucket started pulling away in the team score after the 4×800 Meter Relay and 1600 Meter Sprint Medley Relay teams stacked up points for those teams.
Another second place finish in 1:48.40 from the 4×200 meter relay (Georgia Robarts, Julia DeAngelis, Julia Scammon, Giuliana Ligor) brought the Hornets back in the mix but they still lagged behind the top 3-4 teams.
It was in the field events where the Hornets put the pedal to the medal and took a commanding lead as they swept, setting new school records in all three events and two meet records in the process.
The Shot Put Relay went 28.93m with Abigail Lilley (35’ 4.5”) Jackie Genzler (30’ 3.5”) and Sabrina Mini (29’ 3.25”) setting a new school record. The High Jump Relay went 4.59m with Giuliana Ligor, Callie MacLellan and Abigail Lilley all jumping 5’ 0.25” setting a new school record and new meet record. The Long Jump Relay went 15.22m, winning by over a meter with Giuliana Ligor (17’ 10.75”), Hayden MacLellan (16’ 1”) and Georgia Robarts (15’ 11.75”) setting a new school record and new meet record as well. Ligor’s jump of 17’ 10.75” also set a new school record, besting the previous mark of 17’ 8.75” set by Megan Lawlor in 2019.
It was the 4000 Meter Distance Medley Relay that sealed the deal with a 5th place finish in 13:48.44. The 2 points earned in this race brought the North Reading team score to 48 which put them solidly out of reach from the rest of the competition.
Only Weston, which had 38 points, could catch them with a win in the 4×400 Meter Relay to tie the meet, however, they did not have their top team in the event so the Hornets scratched their squad and the girls could relax for the final 30 minutes of the meet waiting for that relay to commence and the team championship trophy to be awarded.
The victory stopped Weston’s attempt to three-peat for the D5 State Relay title and marked the third state relay title in a row for the Hornets.
Coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos and the entire coaching staff are incredibly proud of how the team performed and are excited for the remainder of the season as they attempt to win a Cape Ann League Championship and MIAA State Championship. Thank you to all the fans who stayed up watching the meet in person or online late into Friday night.
The track and field program will resume the Cape Ann League season after a bye week this week when they travel to the Track at New Balance on Jan. 30 to go head to head against both the Newburyport Clippers and Pentucket Panthers to cap off the regular season. At 2-0, the Hornets have their eyes set on finishing up 4-0 for the regular season as they battle for the Cape Ann League Championship.