FITCHBURG — The NRHS girls’ track and field team wrapped up their season on June 5 and June 8 competing at the two-day Massachusetts Meet of Champions held at Fitchburg State.
The Hornets were represented by tri-captains Giuliana Ligor, Callie MacLellan and Hayden MacLellan as well as junior Quinlan Kelly, sophomore Kate Denehy and freshman Paige Vant.
Ligor led the way with a gold medal performance in the 400 Meter Hurdles, winning her third consecutive Massachusetts Championship in the event after having finished 3rd place in the event her freshman year and going undefeated from that date forward.
Her winning time of 1:00.06 is the fastest time run this year in New England and ranks her 14th in the nation.
Ligor came back on day two and placed 2nd in the 100 Meter Hurdles with a time of 14.01 smashing the school record of 14.36 set by Katelyn Gorgenyi in 2021. Ligor graduates from NRHS with 10 school records: Five individual events in the 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 100 Meter Hurdles and 400 Meter Hurdles and five relay events in the 4×200 Meter Relay, 4×800 Meter Relay, Shuttle Hurdles Relay, 800 Meter Medley Relay and 1600 Medley Relay.
Ligor also anchored the school record setting 4×800 Meter Relay team made up of Kelly (2:28), Callie MacLellan (2:21) and Vant (2:30) in 2:22. Their time of 9:41.03 lowered the school record they set a few weeks earlier by over 2 seconds. This team worked hard in their respective individual events all year and came together twice this season and both times beat the school record. A remarkable feat for these four athletes.
Kate Denehy held her own in the Triple Jump leaping to a 15th place finish going 34′ 10″ just a few inches shy of her performance at the previous week’s D5 State Championship. Seven of the athletes ahead of her are seniors so that ranks her 8th amongst returning athletes going into next season. Look for her to improve in the event over the next two years.
Joining Ligor on the podium for the 100 Meter Hurdles was Hayden MacLellan who ran 15.04 in the preliminaries and 15.16 in the finals for 7th place. Callie MacLellan was 11th in 15.39 seconds, just missing out of the finals.
These three hurdlers will join forces with teammate Katie Zimmerman and compete at the New Balance National Outdoor Championships in Philadelphia on June 22.