The Weston boys’ track team found itself looking up at Amesbury at the top of the standings for almost the entire day at the MIAA Eastern Mass. Division 4 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Ipswich High School on Saturday. Until the last heat of the day, that is.
Peter Diebold helped spearhead a drastic turnaround for the Wildcats, who were in 12th place with just 15 points and trailed Amesbury by 32 with six events left.
Diebold broke his own meet record from last year in the 400 meters, winning in 49.31 seconds to pull Weston within 10 points with four events to go. Then he ran anchor for the Wildcats’ 4 x 400 relay team in the last event.
Connor Lehman, Ramin Kiani, Eddie Kong, and Diebold posted a time of 3:30.98 in the final heat to win the 4 x 400 and deliver the Division 4 team title to Weston. Diebold’s teammates mobbed him at the finish line.
“I mean, we just knew that we had to have one team between us and [Amesbury] to win,’’ said Diebold, a sophomore. “I think earlier in the meet they were 10 points ahead, but we knew it wasn’t over. When we saw them the heat before, we were like, you know what, all we have to do now is beat Watertown because they’re our biggest competitors and as long as we have one person between us, we got it.’’
Things were a lot less dramatic for Amesbury on the girls’ side, as the Indians made no doubt of their Division 4 title a year after coming in second by just 1 point.
Senior Michaela Halloran gave the Indians an early advantage, breaking her own meet record in the 2-mile in 11:14.21 and helping Amesbury finish with 93 points in a wire-to-wire win.
“I’m pretty bad at kicking it at the end,’’ said Halloran. “I usually never, ever kick it. But it’s usually during championship season that I find the kick . . . It is a little bit of pressure to try and beat your own records and keep up with first place, but overall I’m really happy about it. Can’t get much happier than winning.’’
Weston placed second in the girls’ meet, and Pentucket, Old Rochester, and Seekonk rounded out the top five.
Amesbury finished second on the boys’ side, followed by Watertown, Dover-Sherborn, and Pentucket.
Watertown junior Mange Camara broke his own meet records in both the 100 meters (11.07) and 200 meters (22.03).
Seekonk junior Cameron Garabian won both the girls’ discus and shot put, with her discus throw of 130 feet 4 inches shattering the previous meet record of 106-4.
Ipswich senior Kellen Waters set a meet record in the boys’ mile (4:27.43), using his home-track advantage to move from third place to first in the last 300 meters.
“I think the biggest factor was the wind we have,’’ said Waters. “There’s always a wind on this track, and knowing where it was and being able to fall behind those kids to guard myself from it helped a ton. And it’s just comfortable being here. I don’t have to worry where anything is.’’
Division 3
A week after a car crash killed four Stoughton High School students, some of whom were on the Black Knights track and field team, sophomore David Peters raced with his former teammates in mind Saturday at the MIAA EMass Division 3 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at North Reading High.
Peters claimed the 110-meter hurdles title in 14.64 seconds.
“If they were here they would definitely be cheering me on and I just love them so much,’’ Peters said.
Wakefield won the boys’ title with 77 points while North Reading (108.58 points) won the girls’ title, besting two-time defending champion Milton (103).
North Reading girls’ coach Sotirios Pintzopoulos knew his team wasn’t going to win the relays. So he planned for points elsewhere.
“I knew we needed to win this meet prior to [the relays], whereas a lot of schools were saving their power for the end,’’ Pintzopoulos said. “The strategy was just get up on teams quick.’’
On Thursday, the Hornets tallied 47 points between the pentathlon and pole vault events. Ali Grasso (2,763 points) dominated the pentathlon and Isabella Parrett (10 feet) claimed the pole vault title. Sophia Casciano and Rachel Hill finished second and fourth, respectively, in the pole vault to pad the Hornets’ lead.
On Saturday, Grasso finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (15.71) and the triple jump (37-2), both of which are pentathlon events.
“Division 4 is a very talented division in itself,’’ Pintzopoulos said. “But to move up with the big schools and still come out on top, I feel great and the girls are incredibly happy. “
In the boys’ meet, Wakefield placed second in five events. Matt Greatorex paced the Warriors by placing second in both the mile (4:28.74) and the 800 meters (1:57:76).
Wakefield’s lone individual victory came on a throw of 52-8¼ from Patrick Redmond in the shot put. The throw is a personal best and it qualified Redmond for nationals by one-quarter of an inch.
“We talked to the kids that it’s not about always the first places, it’s about holding those seconds and thirds, those become huge,’’ Wakefield coach Ruben Reinoso said. “And sometimes people get locked up in first places. We are looking at the overall and hoping to place in every single event that we have kids in.’’
Dan McLoone reported from Ipswich and Josh Schafer reported from North Reading.
