Seniors Tessa McClain, Sam Schoenberg, Liza Toll, and junior Claire Stoddard set a meet record and qualified for nationals in the 1600-meter sprint medley relay with a time of 4 minutes 12.63 seconds at the MSTCA Division 5 State Relays meet Saturday, Jan.18, at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
From left: Champion relay team members Claire Stoddard, Liza Toll, Tessa McClain, and Sam Schoenberg. (Courtesy photo)
In addition to success in the sprint medley relay, the Bromfield girls track team came in fourth overall in the relay meet with a score of 26 points. Sophomore Pariss Eanglee, Toll, Stoddard, and Schoenberg came in second and qualified for states in the 4×200-meter relay with a time of 1:50.95. Eighth-grader Emma Squire, freshman Molly Squire, junior Kaitlyn Ostrowski, and junior Helena Justicz ran the 4x800m relay; and junior Hannah Beckman, junior Marley Ferguson, eighth-grader Marissa Flynn, and Justicz ran the distance medley. Both came in fourth with times of 10:53.92 and 13:42.56 respectively.
The Bromfield boys track team entered two relays. The 4×200-meter relay run by freshman Liam Morrison and juniors Jack Yu, Angelos Phathas, and Jordan Colon had a time of 1:44.99. Freshman Sam Secor, Colon, Yu, and junior Nathan Woolcock ran the sprint medley relay with a time of 4:17.68.
From left: Hannah Beckman and Tessa McClain tuck in behind Lauren Long of Lunenburg in the 1000 meter event at Fitchburg High School on Jan. 15. McClain and Beckman took first and second place, respectively. (Photo by Jen Manell)
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the girls team suffered its first loss of the season to Lunenburg (47-44) at Fitchburg High School. The boys team also lost (75-15). The girls team has won four meets overall and lost one. They are second in their league behind Lunenburg. The boys team has won one meet and lost four.
Assistant Coach Ellis Toll described the strengths and weaknesses of the teams thus far in the season. He said the teams are strong overall: “We have lots of very talented and driven individuals.” Often one of the biggest challenges is the limited number of team members. “The boys … have performed very well, but we lose because the other team gets free points in events where we don’t have enough people to participate,” Toll said.
Toll said the girls team has intensive drive as well as potential to perform well in the rest of the season, especially at this year’s league meet. But one of the biggest goals for the team is working on the details of its performance. “There are some small things, like perfecting handoffs or the best time and place to pass someone in a distance race, that we can and will work on in the next few weeks. Those are the kinds of things you don’t think about too often, but if and when you mess them up, they can really have a big impact on the end results,” he said.
The teams compete next on Wednesday, Jan. 22, against Ayer Shirley at Shrewsbury High School at 4 p.m. The MSTCA Coaches Invitational is Saturday, Jan. 25, at 8:30 a.m. at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
Fiona Morrison is
a Bromfield senior.
