Hornets set new 4×400 meter relay record at state qualifiers
BOSTON — The girls indoor track and field team went 2-2 in the regular season and were not considered one of the top teams in the Cape Ann League based on regular season performances. Despite this the team went into the CAL Championship Meet with a positive mindset as they sought to defend their Back to Back Championships from 2023 and 2024. In the pre meet meeting, coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos reiterated that this meet was certainly within their reach to win but that the team would need to have season-best performances from multiple members of the team in order to succeed. When all was said and done, every single athlete on the team of 14 competing had season-best performances.
The Hornets won the meet with 91 points, tying with the 4-0 Newburyport Clippers, who also scored 91 points. Although infrequent ties have occurred in track meets before, unfortunately there is no tie-breaker in the rules. Triton was third with 74 points and Essex Tech was 4th with 67 points. The rest of the CAL scored as follows: Pentucket (50), Manchester Essex (36), Hamilton-Wenham (34), Amesbury (27), Ipswich (21), Lynnfield (12).
Leading the team with a whopping 30 points was captain Giuliana Ligor who won three events worth 10 points each and broke league records four times. She began her day at 5:35 p.m. taking first in the 55 Meter Hurdles preliminaries with a new league record of 8.33 seconds, breaking the record set by Katelyn Gorgenyi (NRHS-21) which was 8.51 seconds. Fifteen minutes later, Ligor won the finals with a time of 8.15. This crossed the record she just set minutes earlier and was a .38 second gap ahead of 2nd place in the race and .86 seconds ahead of third place. The time is ranked 2nd in Massachusetts across all divisions.
An hour later, she came back in the 600 Meters fighting off two Clippers who took the race out quick boxing her in. Ligor responded well and took back the lead halfway through the race and never looked back, winning with a time of 1:36.37 breaking her own league record of 1:36.59 set just last year. Thirty minutes later, Ligor wrapped up an impressive evening with a victory in the 300 Meters with a time of 40.26 seconds, breaking the record set by Shannon Conway (NRHS-07) which was 40.94.
Captain Callie MacLellan stepped it up with 23 of her own points. She was 4th in the 55 Meter Hurdles, running 8.85 in the trials and 9.07 in the finals. She was 2nd in the Long Jump (16’ 4.5”) and won the High Jump with an impressive leap of 5’ 4”.
Quinlan Kelly pulled off an impressive triple in the Mile, 1000 Meter and 4×400. She started her day with a personal best in the One Mile going 5:43.73, taking 4th place. She followed that up with a grueling 1000 Meters which was run just 30 minutes later with a 7th place finish in 3:29.01. To wrap up her day,Kelly ran a leg of the 5th place 4×400 Meter Relay (4:27.74) which secured the 91 point tie with Newburyport. Running in that race with her were Avery Keller, Julia Petrosino, and Abigail Meier. Meier was also part of the 3rd place 4×800 Meter Relay (11:25.71) along with Adelyn Kelly, Kathryn Attwood and Riley MacDonald. MacDonald ran the anchor leg just 20 minutes after finishing the Two Mile with a 7th place finish in a personal best of 12:54.76 covering her last lap in 40 seconds.
In the sprints, jumps and hurdles, juniors Katie Zimmerman and Giuliana Auciello came up strong, scoring 12.5 points for the team. Zimmerman had a season best time of 9.70 seconds in the 55 Meter Hurdles, followed by Auciello, who also had a season best in 10.19 seconds. Zimmerman also took third in the Long Jump (15’ 10.25”) while Auciello took third in the High Jump (5′ 0”), both with personal best performances. Zimmerman was also part of the 7th place 4×200 Meter Relay (1:55.07) along with Julia Scammon, Madison Forbush and Avery Keller. Freshman Madelny Favuzza showed a promising future in the sport as she took 9th in the Long Jump (14’ 4.5”) and 5th in the High Jump (4’8”).
The Hornets victory marks the third year in a row that North Reading took the CAL Championship, sending the seniors off in fashion. The rising seniors will have big shoes to fill as they seek to take a 4th consecutive title next year and go undefeated for their High School career.
Just days after winning the Cape Ann League Championship, the Hornets went to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston with four athletes for the 4×400 relay and one goal in mind: setting a new school record. That is exactly what they did.
The old record of 4:07.94 (conversion from 4:07.7 hand timed) was set back in 2002 at the CAL Championship and has been in coach Pintzopoulos’ view for a few years now but the Hornets have never had a chance to put their top four runners in the event at a meet where they didn’t’ have to run multiple races. On Saturday, the MSTCA Last Chance Qualifier Meet offered them a perfect opportunity to achieve their goal.
Leading off was Callie MacLellan who was the first to break, covering her first 200 meters in 30.3 seconds and following that up with a 32.0 second lap (1:02.3 split) handing off with the Hornets in first with Newton North closing fast. Kelly was passed early in her first lap but stayed with her competition, splitting 31.5 and 32.2 (1:03.8 split) and closing a 10 meter gap down to 2 meters. Meier ran a strong first lap of 31.8 keeping with Newton North but fell off on the second lap running 34.0 (1:05.8 split) with opponents taking a 20 meter lead when the baton was handed off to the NRHS anchor, Ligor. Ligor ran a speedy first lap in 26.8 but was still 20 meters back, but on the back stretch of the second lap, she started pressing and closed the gap, taking the lead with 50 meters to go running a second lap in 29.0 for a split of 55.8 seconds.
“The clock on the infield hit 4:08.0 right after Ligor crossed the line so we knew it would be close and when the official results were posted on the board moments later it read 4;07.74, a new school record,” said Pintzopoulos. The record had stood since 2002 run by classmates of Pintzopoulos who graduated the previous year in 2001. The record was 4:07.7 hand timed converted to 4:07.94 and was run by Jennifer Rippel (NRHS-2004 and Hornet HOF Class of 2015), Michelle Wilkinson (NRHS-2002), Meghan Carrette (NRHS-2002) and Vanessa Rodgers (NRHS-2003).
The current quartet time of 4:07.74 is ranked 1st in Division 5 and 4th across all divisions in Massachusetts, only 1.5 seconds behind the current top team, Wellesley (4:06). Look for the Hornets to contest the event again later in the Championship season.
The Hornets will next compete at the Division 5 MIAA State Championship this Sunday at the Reggie Lewis Center, where they will seek to three-peat for the State Championship as well.