The Northeastern Conference season officially came to an end on May 23, when the conference’s annual championship meet took place at Danvers. This meet among other things helps determine the all-star teams.
The Marblehead girls finished third with 104.50 points, trailing only Peabody (150.50) and Masconomet (118.50). Beverly (72), Danvers (62.50), Gloucester (54), Swampscott (48), Saugus (43), Winthrop (3) and Salem (3) followed the Big 3 across the finish line. The top three individual Marblehead point scorers were Paige Tredwell (23 points, first in the 100-meter hurdles, second in the high jump, fourth in the long jump), Marri O’Connell (16.5 points, second in the two-mile, third in the mile, first in the 4×800) and Lucy Flynn (15 points, second in the 100, third in the 200, fifth in the 4×400).
The Marblehead boys ended up tied for third with Beverly after accumulating 95 points. Peabody (173) and Masconomet (133) were also the dominant forces on the boys side. Danvers (65), Winthrop (32), Swampscott (32), Gloucester (23), Salem (9) and Saugus (3) brought up the rear.
The top three individual Marblehead point scorers were Nate Assa (12.5 points, first in the two-mile, first in the 4×800), Will Cerrutti (12.5 points, first in the mile, first in the 4×800) and Jacob Szalewicz (12.5 points, first in the 800, first in the 4×800).
Girls high jump
Tredwell (5-0) was the silver medalist. “The conditions were less than ideal, and as a result the high jump took a long time, which required Paige to jump back and forth between three events (long jump, hurdles, high jump),” said coach Nolan Raimo.
Elise Burchfield (4-10), the only other Marblehead high jumper in this meet, finished seventh.
Boys high jump
This event didn’t start until 7 p.m., and at that point the mat was soaking wet and the conditions were miserable, according to Raimo. Clark Roszell (5-8) finished fifth. He opted to pass on his last attempt at 5-10 for safety concerns.
Seamus Crowley (5-4) struggled in the slippery conditions, and ended up 12th. Alex Humphreys cleared 5-2 to finish 13th.
Girls long jump
Tredwell (16-7) and Elise Burchfield (16-6.5) finished fourth and fifth. Arianna Leahy had a significant personal best leap of 15-6 to come in 11th. Campbell Crane (14-5, season best) ended up 13th.
Boys long jump
Colin Burke (18-6, personal best) just missed the podium with a 10th place finish. Elian Colon (17-9) was 14th, Ryan Corrigan (17-5) 17th and Nate Selby (16-2) 19th.
Girls triple jump
Crane (29-3.5) was the lone Marblehead triple jumper in this meet, finishing 13th.
Boys triple jump
Claudio Gusmao Gonzalez (32-8.25, season best) finished 21st.
Girls shot put
Lillian Reddy (30-11) is a bronze medalist in the shot put. Hannah O’Brien (24-10.5, season best) capped her shot-put career with a 14th place finish. Naomi Goodwin (22-8.5) was 22nd.
Boys shot put
Sophomore Logan McRae-Hughes (35-2) came in 19th.
Girls discus
O’Brien (84-8) ended up sixth. Reddy (79-9) was close behind in eighth place. Loren Liu (54-1) was 19th and Goodwin (52-11) 20th.
Boys discus
McRae-Hughes (105-7) came in 11th. Phineas Jakious (97-7) joined the discus squad recently, and was able to turn in a fine throw from a standing position.
Girls javelin
Arianna Leahy (54-2) finished 17th, Jesslyn Roemer (49-10, personal best) was right behind her in 18th place. Julia Betz (43-3, 20th) and Addison Rotigliano (43-0, 21st) rounded out the throwers in this event.
Boys javelin
Humphreys (137-11, personal best) took home the bronze medal after an impressive performance. Jakious (121-11) finished a close ninth, just missing the podium stand.
Girls 400-meter hurdles
Juliet Burchfield (1:14.94) set a significant personal best to finish sixth. Rotigliano (88.30), a relative newcomer to this event, still managed to finish 18th.
Boys 400-meter hurdles
Sophomore Noah Jackson (59.67, personal best) sprinted below the 60-second mark to finish fourth in a competitive field. Colin Hart (1:02.81, personal best) battled to a ninth-place finish. Brady Leveroni (1:08.37, personal best) came in 14th.
Girls 100-meter hurdles
Tredwell (15.68, personal best) defended her championship in this event to bring home gold, once again. “In a two-year track career, Paige has won four NEC titles in the 55-meters and 100-meter hurdles, and three more in the high jump. That’s seven championships out of eight opportunities,” said Raimo.
Elise Burchfield (17.08) finished sixth. Leahy (18.45, personal best) was 12th, Faith Apostolopoulos (20.96) 25th and Rotigliano (21.05, personal best) 26th.
Boys 100-meter hurdles
Jackson (17.44) sneaked into the finals with a seventh-place finish in the preliminaries, and that came after an exhausting 400-meter hurdle race, according to Raimo. He then upped the pace in the finals to finish fourth with a personal best time of 16.48.
Nate Jendrysik (17.09, season best) finished sixth. Colon (17.64) ended up eighth.
Girls 100
Flynn (12.78) was awarded the silver. Charlotte Roszell (13.90) finished eighth.
Boys 100
Corrigan (11.58, personal best) captured fifth in the preliminaries, and also fifth in the finals (11.67). Jacob Bobowski sneaked into the finals with an 11.68 preliminary time. He came in eighth there, before moving up to sixth in the finals with a time of 11.81. Selby (11.98) was 15th and Julien Poitevin (12.05) 19th to round out the Marblehead participants in this event.
Girls 200
Flynn (26.29) took home the bronze. “The conditions were miserable at the start of this race, but yet, Lucy ran just .3 off her personal best,” said Raimo. Roszell (28.02, personal best) finished 12th. Freshman Sophia Patterson cracked the 30-second barrier to end up20th. Lidia Jasmine Tiedra (30.88) finished 23rd.
Boys 200
Bobowski (23.86) picked up two points for the team with a seventh-place finish. Poitevin (24.85) was 16th, and Ethan Horgan (25.26) 20th.
Girls 400
Gabby Hendy (65.66) led the way for Marblehead to secure 10th place overall. Freshman Phoebe Fontella-Tuttle (1:05.71, personal best) finished 11th. Liv Carlson (67.55) was 14th and Sophie Bacon (71.14, personal best) 19th.
Boys 400
Eben Weed (54.16, personal best) came in seventh. Slater Johnson (55.61) was 12th, and Jack Franklin (55.92) 14th.
Distance open races
O’Connell was the second highest Marblehead scorer in this marathon event. She accumulated 16.5 points after running the mile, two-mile and 800. Nate Assa, Cerrutti and Szalewicz each scored 12.5 points after winning their open distance events to go along with coming out on top in the 4×800 relay.
Girls 800
Sarah Munroe (2:24.91, one-second personal best) finished second in the 800. Freshman Norah Walsh (2:31.99, one-second personal best) also scored some big points for her team with a fourth-place finish.
Boys 800
Marblehead had four boys in the 800, and all four had season or personal best times. Leading the pack was Szalewicz (1:55.60), who was the conference champ in this event. “Jacob had a serious injury in April and as a result throughout this season there was concern that he wouldn’t be able to compete in the NEC Meet or any other postseason competition, or at best he would be in a limited capacity, but he didn’t panic,” said assistant coach Will Herlihy. “He kept up with his rehab, did the right things whenever he could and trusted that the fitness he had built up over the past four years of running would carry him through. He just needed to get to the starting line, and that was exactly what happened.”
Henrik Adams (2:01.12, two-second personal best) finished fourth after edging out the fifth place Beverly
runner by eight one-thousandths of a second, literally winning by timing his lean at the line better than his opponent, according to Herlihy. “But it goes beyond the lean, Henrik gave himself that chance by being in the right position throughout the entire second lap of the race, which just goes to show that everything that happens in a race matters, not just the final second that everyone sees,” added Herlihy.
Will Cruikshank (2:06.59, one-second personal best) finished ninth, just missing out on the podium. Felix Regnault (2:13.81, a seven-second personal best) ended up 12th.
Girls mile
It was her second event in the first 35 minutes of the meet, but O’Connell (5:41) still finished third in the mile. “Marri was the only runner at the meet to run both the two-mile and mile, and she finished in the top three in both,” said Herlihy.
Jesslyn Roemer (6:22.25) was 14th, while senior captain Maren Potter (6:58.50) closed out her high school career in the mile with a 20th place finish.
Boys mile
Cerrutti (4:27.94) successfully defended his NEC crown. “I think it’s important to step back and appreciate how impressive it is that Will is able to make 4:27 look easy, because that’s a fast time,” said Herlihy. “Will controlled the race throughout, despite some push from J.J. Rooney of Danvers, but as is the case so often, when Will turns on the jets there’s just no keeping up with him.”
Zach Pike (4:50.89, a four-second personal best) finished seventh. Filip Grubor (5:00.86, nine-second personal best, 14th place) came close to breaking five minutes.
Girls two-mile
O’Connell (11:35.18) finished second to Ella Braz of Peabody, one of the best runners in the state. “Marri’s time of 11:35.18 is a great sign as she continues to rehab from a long-term injury that has kept her mostly sidelined since January,” said Herlihy. “Marri dictated the pace for the majority of the race, before getting passed with about 250 meters to go. Instead of letting Braz go easily, she wound up her legs for one final surge through the last 200 meters, and was able to repass Braz in the home stretch. However, she was ultimately held off by the Peabody runner in the final sprint. This was Marri’s best two-mile time since her personal best run of 11:03.44 last spring.”
Ruby Assa (12:38.79. five-second personal best) closed out her conference season on a high note with an eighth-place finish. Sophomore Evelina Beletsky (14:01.62) also went into this race without expectations, and was able to deliver a quality run to come in 11th overall.
Boys two-mile
Nate Assa (9:13.36) was matched up against Will Conklin of Danvers, one of the best two milers in the state. “They both went into the race planning to push each other. Nate was in control throughout, but he could always feel Conklin on his shoulder, which kept him pushing. In the end, it was Nate’s closing speed that was the difference. He closed his final lap in 62 seconds to finish on top, smashing both the meet record and existing school record in the process,” said Herlihy.
Senior Jonah Potach (10:38.94) ended up eighth, a seasonal best for him and only a few seconds shy of his personal best time.
Girls 4×100
Camryn O’Brien, Carlson, Tiedra and Roszell (55.24) finished sixth.
Boys 4×100
Selby, Bobowski, Corrigan and Thomas Carlson (45.90) ended up fifth. “The highlight of this meet was Carlson returning to compete following an ACL injury last fall,” said Raimo. “Tommy has worked incredibly hard to step back on the track this season, and it was an awesome moment to see him grab the baton to close out the relay.”
Girls 4×800
The Marblehead foursome of sophomore Maggie Miller, freshman Evie Becker, freshman and track newcomer Grace Ladouceur and O’Connell (10:42.47) came in first. “These girls came together as a group to run for each other in order to pull out this win,” said Herlihy. “Marri put the hammer down as the anchor and never relented to easily secure the win, while running the second fastest split of anyone in the field.”
Boys 4×800
Adams, Assa, Cerrutti and Szalewicz teamed up to secure this relay sweep in style by setting a new meet record time of 8:16.32. It was also the second-best time in school history.
Girls 4×400
The Magicians quartet of Munroe, Walsh, Flynn and Hendy (4:24.54) finished fifth.
Boys 4×400
Weed, Franklin, Johnson and Hart (3:44.93) worked together to come through with a solid second place finish.
