On Sunday, Jan. 27, members of the Bromfield girls indoor track team competed at the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association (MSTCA) Coaches Small School Invitational meet at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, with impressive results.
Junior Samantha Schoenberg, who qualified for the high jump, tied her personal record (PR) and the school record with a jump height of 5 feet 5 inches at the meet. This performance placed her first in the event and qualified her for nationals, and she will be jumping at the 2019 New Balance Nationals meet at the New Balance Track and Field Center at The Armory in New York City from March 8 to 10.
Junior Tessa McClain won her event and ran a PR of 2:57.87, just 0.27 seconds shy of the time needed to qualify for the 1000-meter event at the nationals. Sophomore Claire Stoddard broke a school record as well as her PR for the long jump with a distance of 17 feet one-half inch. She placed sixth in the event.
Six girls qualified for the meet, while five athletes competed. McClain and sophomore Hannah Beckman competed in the 1000-meter. Stoddard competed in both the long jump and the 55-meter hurdles; junior Liza Toll competed in the 55-meter dash; and Schoenberg competed in the high jump. Eighth-grader Molly Squire qualified for the 1-mile but did not compete in her final because of a minor hip injury.
Toll and Stoddard achieved personal bests in two other events. Toll ran 7.78 seconds in the 55-meter dash, and Stoddard ran a time of 9.86 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. Beckman ran her second-best time of 3:19.60 in the 1000-meter.
Coaches Jonathan Route and Greg Bourque were both pleased with the team’s results. Bourque said the main goal of the meet was to see everyone’s status heading into post-season championships. He said, “Not one performance was sub par, and the kids are all working the kinks out and are ready for the league meet on Friday.” Route said, “The MSTCA invitational is a testing ground for us. We don’t go into it with aspirations of team victories.”
Toll said her goal for this meet had been to do her best. She said that she was a little frustrated because, “I placed 10th, which means I missed going to finals by two places,” but that in the end, she was satisfied with her performance.
Toll is looking forward to the nationals where she, Stoddard, McClain, and Schoenberg will compete in the sprint medley relay (SMR). Their performance at the MSTCA Division 5 State Relays on Jan. 11 qualified them for this meet and placed them second in the state and 11th in the country.
Squire, the members of the SMR team, and Schoenberg (for high jump also) will be competing in the New Balance Nationals meet. Bromfield’s first league championship meet, where the entire team will be competing, will take place Friday, Feb. 1, at Fitchburg High School.
MSTCA Coaches Small School Invitational
Girls placements statistics
High jump—1, Samantha Schoenberg, 5 feet, 5 inches
Long jump—6, Claire Stoddard, 17 feet, one-half inch
55-meter hurdles—36, Stoddard, 9.86 seconds
55-meter dash—10, Elizabeth Toll, 7.78 seconds
1000-meter—1, Tessa McClain, 2:57.87
Sophia Zhou is
a Bromfield freshman.
