Heading into Friday’s Merrimack Valley Conference Track and Field Championship, the goal was clear for the Central Catholic girls — a third straight team championship.
But the Raiders knew it wouldn’t be easy, taking on a powerful Billerica squad. What followed were clutch performances and drama for three straight hours at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.
After a quick Billerica start, the Raiders started to peck away with their depth, before finally sealing the title by winning the 4×400 relay, the final event of the meet.
Central earned the three-peat with 107 points, edging the Indians (100 points).
“Today’s championship was a result of everyone pushing past their limits, trusting themselves and one another and understanding that together, they can achieve great things,” said Central head coach Shawn Dumas. “It was a back-and-forth battle with a very talented Billerica team, and with everything on the line, the relay teams banded together to bring things home.”
In total, Billerica had six first-places finishes, while Central had just victories. But it didn’t matter.
Earning firsts for the Raiders were Arianna DiPietro and Emma Finch. DiPietro took the 55-meter hurdles (8.31), beating last year’s All-State champion Nyrah Joseph (8.40).
“I knew (Joseph) would be hard to beat,” said DiPietro, who also earned a second-place finish in the high jump, clearing 5-0, and was part of the fourth-place 4×200. “I knew my start would need to be explosive and every hurdle had to be clean to finish the job.”
Finch came through twice. First, she won the 300 with a time of 42.42.
“Even though I didn’t run my best time, I didn’t let the pressure of the moment get too big and knew I had an opportunity to score big for the team,” she said.
Later, Finch was the anchor leg of the winning 4×400 relay team, joining Laura Fennessy, Alyssa Furtado and Addison Shumskey. They had a collective time of 4:07.34, beating runner-up Haverhill by two seconds.
Senior Madeline Courtemanche took second in both the two-mile (11:18.34) and 1,000-meters (3:07.78). Other seconds came from Fennessy in the 600 (1:36.52), Cyan Scott in the shot put (35-02.75) and Naylhea Aguero in the long jump (16-6).
Haverhill’s Downer sets record
Haverhill finished fourth and were again led by the duo of Lauren Downer and Maddie Goncalves.
Downer won the 600-meter in a blazing 1:33.89 — breaking the school record and the MVC Meet record, held by Tewksbury’s Makayla Paige, who is currently running at UNC Chapel Hill and competed in the USA Olympic Trials last summer.
“Lauren broke Rebecca Stable’s 2010 school record of 1:34.98,” said Haverhill High head coach Mike Maguire. “With this performance, she is solidifying her place as one of the best middle distance runners in school history. Lauren has a great blend of speed and strength and has leaned to trust herself and abilities.”
Downer said she was shooting to break Stable’s record, but had no idea about surpassing Paige.
“My goal for this meet was to break the school record so I was extremely excited when I saw that I ran 1:33.89,” Downer said. “I never knew about the meet record, but when I finished the race, my dad told me I broke it and I was shocked, especially because Makayla Paige is such an amazing runner. That made me super happy.”
Eagle-Tribune All-Star Goncalves, after an unbeaten regular season, won the shot put for the second straight year with a 39-10, which was over four feet better than runner-up Cyan Scott.
“Maddie has been consistently great all season, being undefeated and having one great series of throws after another,” said Maguire. “Successfully defending her MVC crown from a year ago is a nice accomplishment. She had her sights on breaking the meet record today but I’m very pleased that she took care of business.”
This was the last indoor league championship meet for Goncalves, and she said she wanted to leave on a high note.
“Today’s win means so much to me, especially as my last indoor MVC meet. I was consistent in my series and kept my focus throughout the entirety of the meet. Thanks to head coach Maguire and special thanks to my throws coach, (Benny) Scovotti. I’m ready for the meets ahead and look forward to competitions ahead.”
Quarm part of two titles
Methuen’s Lauren Quarm captured the 55-meter dash for the third straight year with a blazing time of 7.29 seconds.
Quarm came back to anchor the winning 4×200 relay, joining up with Alysha Santana Sosa, Isabella Fiore and Kiera Fitzpatrick in 1:46.09. It was the second straight year that she was on the winning relay team.
“Going into today’s meet, I was filled with positive energy. Even though things might not have gone my way, I’m so grateful to be part of this winning 4×2 team. I’m incredibly proud of my relay this year; we’ve come so far in such a short amount of time, and I couldn’t be happier,” said Quarm.
North Andover, Central boys finish behind Lowell
In the boys meet, Lowell (115.5 points) won the title for the tenth time since 2011. North Andover (83) and Central Catholic (82) finished second and third, respectively.
The lone first place finish for Central Catholic came from Carlos Quintana in the high jump (6-4).
“I’m really happy about winning with my overall personal record of 6-4 even though I was super close to getting even higher with 6-6,” he said. “Being able to come out and perform at the meet that really mattered was amazing. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the amazing team we’ve built and my coaches.”
North Andover’s Joshua Quijada was crowned the 55-meter dash champion with his time of 6.62 seconds.
“I didn’t have the best race during the prelims, but I collected myself together before the final,” he said. “I knew that I had to prove myself. The competition really pushed me to run my best. I couldn’t have done this with my coaches, especially coach (Daniel) O’Connell for making me see the potential that I have. Most importantly I want to thank my teammates for pushing me to my limits every day.”
The other North Andover first came from Trey Kean in the shot put. He was battling with Argenis Luciano of Lawrence and Thomas Galusha of Central, before pulling through with his best throw of 51-09.25.
“I qualified for nationals which has been a massive goal for me since the beginning of the season,” he said.
Finally, Andover’s Ryan Todisco cruised with the first place in the two-mile, coming across in 9:25.50, which was almost 12 full seconds ahead of the runner-up Marco Lombardo of Chelmsford. Golden Warrior Kyle Haskell captured the other first place, in the mile (4:21.27).