Seeing how smoothly Peabody’s Alex Jackson moves around the circle and how far the shot flies when it leaves his hand, you’d never believe he’s just a only sophomore and has using the spin technique for mere months.
Jackson’s throw of 54-feet-7 3/4-inches was another personal best, Peabody High school record and was more than enough to win the Division 2 state title at Saturday’s championship meet at the Reggie Lewis Center.
“Alex has such a high level understanding of the way the hips and the shoulders work together,” Tanner throws coach Jay Smith said. “The most impressive thing is his consistency. He’s throwing 54 feet multiple times several weeks in a row.”
It was also a remarkable afternoon for Peabody’s girls high jump crew. Senior Brianna Ewansiha won the D2 state title in the event by clearing 5-feet-4-inches. The leap was matched her personal best and came after a few key adjustments in her technique in the days leading up the NEC meet a few weeks ago.
“The girls high jump is such a competitive event, to come out on top says a lot,” said Peabody high jump coach Moisse Irizarry. “I’ve been coaching Brianna since he was a sophomore and seeing her win a state title is a bucket list moment for me. She’s incredible and her confidence has grown and grown this year. She had to go out and prove to herself, how good she is, and she did.”
Teammate Lindsey Wilson cleared 5-foot-2 and finished third to give the Tanners two medalists in the event. Wilson was also fourth in the high hurdles and Peabody’s girls were third as a team with 45 points with podiums and Meet of Champion qualifiers up and down the lineup.
In the shot put, school record holder Aaliyah Callahan took silver with a heave of 38-feet-2 1/2 inches. She’s already qualified for the New England meet and nationals and has been impressive with her consistency this season.
“She’s also only been throwing for two years, which is such an impressive thing,” Smith said. “Her personal best last year was 29 feet and now she’s over 40. Aaliyah is a powerful athlete and a really hard working kid.”
Savanna Vargas had a big day for the Tanners, coming in third in the dash (7.31 seconds), ninth in the long jump (16-02) and also running a leg of the sixth place 4×200 relay along with Yosmery Batista, Marissa Simmons and Tamama Kemigisha.
Miler Sarah DiVasta cruised to a third place finish of 5:07.12 as well.
Batista was also ninth in the 300 (43.36), the 4×400 relay of Batista, Connie Patturelli, DiVasta and Wilson was tenth (4:23) and the 4×800 of Kyra Buckley, Madi Barrett, Patturelli and DiVasta was eighth (10:16).
In terms of the Tanner boys, Justin Franco placed fifth in the dash (6.63 seconds) while medaling with the 4×200 relay team of Eli Batista, Colin Ridley and Shaun Conrad with a third place time of 1:33.13. The 4×800 relay of Josh Trelegan, Declan Smith, Ryan Faletra and Sebastian Pizzaro was eighth in 8:42. Kobe Avery also placed 12th in the long jump and Logan Tracia was 13th in the 1000.
Qualifiers for next week’s Meet of Champions (the former All-State meet) Saturday back at Reggie Lewis Center will be the top three finishers from each of the five divisional meets plus the next best nine times and distances. Athletes that meet an exclusive “super qualifier” standard can also advance.
“Overall, it’s one of the biggest groups we’ve ever had for All-States. It’s a little bit more difficult to make it in this new format so we’re really proud of that,” head coach Fernando Braz noted.
For Beverly, points-leading junior Leo Sherriff qualified for the finals in the high hurdles but wasn’t able to run. The Panther 4×200 relay of Dan Conant, Shane Barker, Osman Solano and Devon Smalls came in ninth place (1:35.99) and the 4×800 of Calvin Barrett, Ronan Maloney, Charles Bossler and Isaac Fryling finished 13th (8:51.29).
The Panthers girls were led by Meredith Pasquarosa, who was eighth in the dash (7.48) and also qualified for the finals in the hurdles. Claire Brean picked up eighth in the 600 (1:41.09) with freshman Grace Williams in ninth (1:41.88). Allison Prasse was 15th in the mile (5:37),
The girls 4×400 relay of Pasquarosa, Brean, Kaiitlyn Burgess and Izzy Sullivan finished seventh (4:14.86) and the 4×800 of Brean, Tara McNeil, Prasse and Williams was also seventh (10:11). Mya Perron picked up sixth place in the shot put with a heave of 34-feet-7-inches.
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Sunday at the Division 3 championship meet, Marblehead’s girls were fourth as a team led by the gold medal winning state champion 4×200 relay of Cate Trautman, Ava Machado, Devin Whalen and Claire Davis, who ran 1:48.78.
Keira Sweetnam’s picked up a second place finish in the high jump with a leap of 5-foot-4. Whalen was eighth in the high hurdles, Trautman was sixth in the dash and doubled up to come in fifth in the 300 (42.12). The Magician 4×400 of Juliet Burchfield, Maren Potter, Kawinthida Merrigan and Kate Twomey was sixth in 10:34 as well.
For the Magician boys, Ryan Thompson won the D3 state title in 600 (1:24), Alex Hersey was seventh in the hurdles, Harrison Curtis was eighth in the 300, Isaac Gross was sixth in the 2-mile (9:39) and Errol Apostopoulos was sixth in the long jump.
For Danvers, Liv St. Pierre came in eighth in the 1000 (3:10.57) and Courtney Hinchion placed eighth in the mile (5:29) with Bobbi Serino running a solid 5:39. Emma Eagan earned a bronze medal in the 2-mile with a time of 11:41 and Cali Abbatessa grabbed a bronze in the shot put with a toss of 33-feet-6-inches.
Chris McCrea was eighth in the 600 for Danvers, J.J. Rooney came in ninth in the mile (4:37), Will Conklin was seventh in the 2-mile (9:59) and Sean Moore was ninth (10:02).
Masconomet’s Jenna Lindey was sixth in the 600 (1:42) and Nathan Moline was seventh in the high jump (5-10).
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At Friday night’s Division 1 meet, St. John’s Prep high jumper Drew McStay won the championship with a leap of 6-foot-2. The Eagles 4×200 relay of Chris McDonough, Brady Pallotta, Brendan Burke and Cooper Johnson also claimed gold in 1:32.86 and St. John’s wound up second as a team with 55 1/2 points behind champion Newton North.
Distance ace Nathan Lopez placed in both the mile (fourth, 4:20) and 2-mile (third, 9:14) while Paul Lovett picked up fourth in the deuce. Callum Brown was third in the high jump, McDonough was fourth in the hurdles, Dylan Aliberti was fifth in the long jump, Gael Garcia managed sixth in the shot put with a personal best 46-6 and the 4×400 relay was fourth overall.