GIULIANA LIGOR stands atop the podium at the Div. 4 State Meet. Ligor’s time of 1:42.70 in the 600 meters made her a state champion. (NRHS Track Photo)
BOSTON — On Feb. 17, the NRHS girls’ track and field team travelled as a team to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston for one last time in the 2021-2022 season as they competed for the state championship against all of Division 4 (school with enrollment ranging between 730-880 students). North Reading is listed at 737 and according to MIAA enrollment they were one of the smaller teams in the division but were still one of the favorites going into the meet as they had won the team relay championship earlier in the season, which is a meet that tests the depth of the team.
Despite the team’s depth, the state championship is based upon how your top performances compete on that one day and unfortunately the Hornets were still recovering from illness and injury that had affected the team over the last few weeks. The Hornets did not let this hold them back as they finished in an impressive 7th place out of 50 teams, 30 of which scored at the meet. Holliston won the meet with 66 points, followed by Wilmington (50), Medfield (45), Pentucket (42), Newburyport (37), Pembroke (31), North Reading (30), Pope Francis (27), Austin Prep (18) and Ludlow (16) to round out the top 10 teams.
Giuliana Ligor and Ava McIntyre were the top scorers with 10 points each, making up two-third’s of the team’s total points. Ligor, in only her first season of track as a freshman, ran yet another remarkable 600 meter run, running in the seeded heat against the top athletes in the state. She went out conservatively for the first two laps waiting to strike on the last lap and that’s exactly what she did moving up in the last 100 meters passing multiple athletes en route to a 600 Meter State Championship in 1:42.70. Her performance advanced her to compete in the Meet of Champions, at which the top 3 athletes from each of the 5 divisions in the state competed against each other on Feb. 26 (results not available at press time).
Ava McIntyre also advanced to that meet as she finished 3rd in the 55 meter dash with a personal best of 7.45 seconds. She also took 6th in the Long Jump (16’ 3.5”) which was far from her personal best of 17’ 2” but impressive considering she only had 10 minutes to compete in the event and then immediately had to run over to the clerking of the 4×200 meter relay. She led off that relay which took 5th place in 1:51.50 and was joined by Belle Lazure, Madison Vant and Kayla Budny.
Rounding out the point scorers for the Hornets were Emma Mini who took 6th in the Shot Put (32’ 10”), Annalise Butler who took 7th in the two mile (12:05.24) and Ella Monteleone who took 7th in the High Jump (4’ 10”),
The Hornets finished their 2021-2022 season with a 4-0 record in the Cape Ann League, a state relay championship, a runner-up finish at the CAL Open and a 7th place finish at the Division 4 state championship. Coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos was named CAL Coach of the Year and the team earned the CAL Sportsmanship as well.
The indoor Hornets will graduate some excellent senior athletes (Alyssa Demetri, Madison DiNapoli, Sophia Galuppo, Brooke Harrington, Anne MacLellan, Samantha Magner, Emma Mini and Ella Monteleone) but have plenty of returners with many 8th grade athletes looking to join the ranks next year.