Forget California; the latest gold rush is right here on the North Shore.
A total of 20 boys or girls relay teams won state championships at the six different Mass. State Track Coaches Association state relay meets held around the Commonwealth over the last four days.
Two teams (Peabody’s boys and Masconomet’s girls) were second overall in the team standings, but the Ipswich High girls and St. John’s Prep took the ultimate prize. The Tigers winning the Division 6 state crown and the Eagles claiming their fourth consecutive Division 1 spring state relay title.
Ipswich’s win was a dramatic one, with the Tigers’ 62 points ending up just one ahead of Joseph Case. Not only did the Tigers win four state titles, but they also set a new meet record in three of those championship events.
“Overall, I was very proud of how other girls really stepped out of their comfort zones in a few events to earn points,” said Ipswich coach Marty Binnette. “It was a great meet.”
Kameya Perron broke the Ipswich individual pole vault record by clearing 10-feet and teamed with Alana Novello (7-0) and Lily Harper (6-6) to set a relay record as well. Perron also ran a led of the gold medalist shuttle hurdle relay with Novello, Izzy Greeneaf and Stella Whitten in a meet record 68.67 seconds.
Whitten won three golds, teaming with Harper, Novello and Soren Shearer to break the meet record in the 4×400 (4:20.79). She also ran the winning 4×800 alongside Shearer, Moira Healy and Mary Love.
The Tigers also grabbed a silver medal in the 4×200 while scoring points in the long jump and triple jump relays with Amelia Mooradd contributing.
In Division 1, St. John’s Prep took gold in the long jump, sprint medley and shot put to help rack up 62 points. Ahmir Hykel, Dayvian Sullivan, Lincoln Massaro and Dan Padley won the SMR in 3:32.08, Tireni Asengua, Alex Turrisi and Merrick Barlow on the long jump and Anthony Ragosa, Gael Garcia and Nick Sideridis won the shot.
The Eagles’ 4×100 of Hykel, Sullivan, Quinn Hubbard and Brendan Burke was second in 42.45 and broke the previous D1 meet record.
St. John’s Prep also scored in the high jump, javelin, triple jump, shuttle hurdle, 4×200 and pole vault.
The Ipswich boys won the D6 gold in the shuttle hurdle behind Benji Lotchefeld, James Dick, Joe Wertz and Ange Tshimbabme (1:15.69). The Tigers were also runners-up in the 4×800 and 4×1600 races with Wertz, Huck Harlow, Aidan Baran, Alex Young, Max Jones and Reid Soininen earning medals.
Masconomet brought home a big trophy as runners-up in Division 3 for a second straight year after medaling in 11 events to earn 59 total points.
Five Masco teams took silver medals: The sprint medley (Sami Lalikos, Amanda Schneider, Jenna Lindsay, Ellie Green, 4:32.21), the 4×200 (Piper Testa, Brooke Appelstein, Lalikos, Schneider, 1:49.22), the 4×400 (Lindsay, Schneider, Lilly Podgurski and Testa, 4:17), the triple jumpers (Boughner, Losee and Podgurski) and the high jumpers (Caroline Losee, Greta Hartung and Mara Siewko).
Sophie Doumas also helped the Chieftains pick up points in both the shot put and discus while the distance medley and 4×100 also scored.
The Division 2 runners-up from Peabody had a remarkable four state championships. The trio of Alex Jackson, Jackson O’Brien and Areno Saint-Victor both won double gold as the same threesome took first in the shot put and discus. Evan Bedard also won two titles, teaming with Kobe Avery and Aniel Espinal to win the long jump and combining with Riley Michaud and Brian Stevens in the triple jump.
The Tanners had two different SMR teams place with one in third and one in fourth for ten total points and the javelin relay also scored.
In the D3 boys meet, Ashwin Prasad, Adam Toleos and Haven Novack earned gold for Masconomet in the javelin. The foursome of Nathan Molina-Lopez, Nicco Cefalo, Robbie Connelly and Arbri Halilaj grabbed silver in the 4×200, while Toleos, Novack and Max Hayward were bronze medalists in the discus.
A pair of state champions reside in Marblehead with the boys winning D3 gold in the 4×1600 and the distance medley. The Magicians were third as a team as Nate Assa, Isaac Gross, Will Cerrutti and Alex Hersey captured the DMR (10:53.15), while Gross, Assa, Henrik Adams and Cerrutti earned top honors in the 4×1600 (18:02.14).
The Magicians also finished in fourth place in both the 4×100 (Jacob Bobowski, Thomas Carlson, Ryan Corrigan and Hersey in 44:39) and the shuttle hurdle (Elian Colon in 1:10.08).
The Magicians girls were sixth in the team standings with two state champs in the discus and high jump squads. Rachael Albert (112-5) led the discus team with Hannah O’Brien and Lilian Reddy and Paige Tredwell paced the high jumpers with Elisa Burchfield and Greta Sachs.
Marri O’Connell, Cat Piper, Kate Twomey and Manuela Puente earned fourth in the DMR (13:28.55) while Tredwell, Burchfield, Grace Mortenson and Arianna Leahy claimed fifth in the shuttle hurdle (1:13.14), and the foursome of Ava Machado, Sadie Halpern, Lucy Flynn and Charlotte Roszell claimed sixth in the 4×100 meter relay (51.41).
Danvers used a pair of first place showings from the foursome of Sean Moore, Chuck Garlin, Will Conklin and JJ Rooney to take seventh place as a team in Division 4. They broke a meet record in the 4×1600 relay, winning in 18:11.57, while the quartet also captured top honors in the distance relay in 10:51.55.
In Division 5, Bishop Fenwick got a second place finish from its distance medley foursome of Julia Davis, Maeve O’Donnell, Tess Keenan and Marianna Kay in 13:27.58.
Back in Division 2, Beverly’s boys 4×1600 of Charlie Bossler, Ryan Whiting, Jason Provost and Riley McGoldrick broke the school record and finished fourth in 18:51.69. The Panther shuttle hurdle of Leo Sheriff, Anthony Rust, Charlie Silva and Harry Silva also set a school record (68.81) and placed fifth. The boys 4×40 was also eighth.
For the Panther girls, long jumpers Adeline Abell, Grace Galbreath and Julia Guanci took home silver medals in second place.
Peabody’s girls scored points in the shot put, discus, triple jump and javelin led by Alessandra Forgione in all three throwing events. Makayla Kokozenis paced the jumpers and Madison Holleran also placed in two throwing events.