Lowell High girls finish second at Division 1 outdoor track championship

NORTH ANDOVER – Throughout the entire hot afternoon, the Lowell and Andover girls track teams battled it out, passing one another in the team standings. But in the end, the Golden Warriors were able to pull through, coming away with a total of 81.5 points, which was just ahead of Lowell's 70 during the second day of the Division 1 Track and Field Championship Meet at Merrimack College.

The Red Raiders were led by a pair of first places with Annamaria Mbuyu in the long jump and Ronnie Jones in the triple jump, but the team was led by a large number of athletes who performed well above expectations to help Lowell finish as the state's second best team.

"We knew that Andover were going to get a bunch of points today with the pole vault and the high jump. We knew that was going to be a lot for them and it would be tough to overcome," said Lowell head coach Nate Kraft. "They got thirty-something points just from those two events alone. I am so proud of our girls. They did everything that we asked them to do. I don't think we were at our best on Thursday and we were still just one point off our projections. (Saturday), we were fantastic. I don't know what else we could have done to win this meet. The girls were just outstanding. I’m so proud of the effort they have put in all season."

Mbuyu won the long jump with a mark of 18-01, was second in the triple jump (36-08.75) and was sixth in the 100-meter hurdles (15.60).

"I have been injured the last two weeks. I hurt my (right) hamstring so I took some time off and missed the MVC Meet," explained Mbuyu. "I think I first hurt it at the state relay meet and then it just kept getting worse. I saw the trainer and took some time off, so that's why I think I was able to come back here today and jump 18-1."

When she arrived at the meet, Mbuyu wasn't quite sure if she would stick the landing and become a state champion.

"I knew that I could come close to my personal record, but I didn't know how things would turn out. Winning this means a lot. I have worked really hard this season and battled through injuries," she said.

Jones started off the meet Thursday by taking third in the discus with a throw of 112-05. On Saturday, she was part of the seventh-place 4×100 relay team with Martha Koroma, Isabella Patino and Anneliese Nogueira with their combined time of 50.40. In between that was her second straight Division 1 state title in the shot put, throwing 41-9.

"I came into the meet seeded second and I knew that if I got a big throw (I’d be in the mix)," said Jones. "I’m always nervous whenever I face Skye (Petrie-Cameron of Newton North), who is such a great thrower. I was hoping for one big throw and I got it, 41-9 so I’ll take it and that's a solid day."

Jones added that she's just so proud of the entire team for not just finishing second at the meet, but for the overall dedication and loyalty to the program since day one.

"I’m proud to be a state champion, but really my focus was the team winning the title. We didn't do it and got second," she said. "We all really wanted to win it. The team has been working so hard all season. When it's raining, when it's freezing, when it's too hot, we’re still out there practicing. We really work for this, especially being an inner city public school. We don't have any recruiting or outreach programs like these other schools have. But the kids who are here, just work so hard so taking second place is just so great for the program."

Besides the 4×100 relay, the 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams finished sixth and eighth, respectively, to earn some points. The 4×400 finished sixth behind Britney Ogiegor, Quinn Petzold, Nogueira and Bridget Geary with a combined time of 4:05.91 and then the 4×800 team was eighth in 9:56.43 behind Annie Gilman, Ella Machado, Serena Nguyen and Sabrina Cady.

Geary was also second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:08.43) and seventh in the 400 (1:00.05), Petzold was sixth in the long jump (16-11.50) and Ogiegor was eighth in the 200 (26.54). Also scoring for the Red Raiders were Pearl Kalungi, who was second in the javelin throwing 126 feet, and Drea Defreitas, who compiled 2,112 points to take sixth in the pentathlon.

The Ghosts finished 13t, compiling 26.33 points. Audrey Smagula had a busy two days as she was fifth in the pentathlon on Thursday, only to come back to finish second in the high jump clearing 4-9.

Alin Aydogan was third in the pentathlon, which included taking second in the long jump (17-2), third in the 100-meter hurdles (16.36) and third in the shot put (26-7). Tara Morris was was eighth, including getting fourth in the shot put, throwing 25 feet.

Also scoring were freshman Abby Hennessy, who was fourth in the 400 (59.24) and sixth in the 800 (2:16.54), and the 4×100 relay team was eighth in 50.46 seconds behind Alexa Pantoja, Nadia Swepson, Leandra Duah-Asamoah and Jordan Bishop.

Perhaps Khai Yin should watch more YouTube videos before meets. The sophomore captured the 110-meter hurdle title in 14.88 seconds.

"I woke up this morning, went on YouTube and searched the best things to do before a race," he said with a laugh. "So I did all of that, ate good, did a little jog around my neighborhood and then just tried to have the best race that I could."

And he did that without his training partner, senior Nidlair Olivier, who was one of the state's best hurdlers during the indoor season.

"(Winning) means a lot to me. Nidlaire was supposed to be here running, too, but he got injured so I just tried the best I could to take his place and do the best for the team," said Yin.

In order to come away with the title, Yin said he listened to the adviceassistant coach Darren Div gave him before the race started.

"Coach Div told me not to concentrate on the hurdles in front of me. He said just to look straight and memorize the hurdles and get over without thinking. I got over them and in the middle of the race, I started seeing shadows passing near me so I knew that I had to keep pushing and give it all that I could," said Yin.

Also scoring for Lowell were Emmanuel Trinidad, who was third in the discus (145-03), Evan Imasogie, who was sixth in the 100 (11.13), and the 4×800 relay team of Jarlen Arango, Alex Wahpo, Schneider Pierre, Raymond Edjejobwo finished fourth in 8:00.18.

On Thursday, junior Paul Bergeron easily took home the two mile eventin 8:51.88, which was over eight seconds ahead of another talented runner, Nathan Lopez from St. John's Prep.

"I had a good start but I really didn't want to lead. So maybe after the first 1,200 (meters) I took over and just tried to use my strength," said Bergeron.

This is Bergeron's first outdoor state title after finishing in third place last year. He had tremendous success in cross country and then indoor track, including several strong performances at nationals.

"I feel good. I’ll be ending my season (next week at All-States). I ran a lot during the indoor season. It's not like I’m beat up or anything, but I just want to really focus on my senior year," he said.

Also for Westford, Josh Forty finished eighth in the pentathlon by compiling 2,974 points, which included finishing tied for third in the high jump, clearing 5-7.

Division 5: The Groton-Dunstable boys finished a solid seventh overall with 39.5 points.

Neil Aradhya finished third in the mile in a clocking of 4:24.25 and Dylan Paradis also captured third with a 46-07.25 throw in the shot put. Ben Cullip collected fifth place in the vault with a leap of 10 feet even.

On the girls side, Georgia Brooks placed ninth in the mile in a time of 5:24.5.

Division 6: The Tyngsboro boys and girls competed in Westfield.

On the girls side, sophomore Addison Collins finished 10th in the 100 hurdles with a personal best time of 16.97. Freshman Isabella Duarte finished 26th in the mile in 6:01.93.The 4x800m relay with Collins, freshman Emery Gramer, sophomore Audrey Mahon and Duarte was 18th with a season-best time of 12:13.76.

On the boys side, freshman Christian Riley finished seventh in the 110m hurdles in 16.37 (15.95 in the prelims), scoring the only points for the day. The 4×800 team of junior Alex Panneton, senior Jack Gramer, eighth-grader Ethan Levesque and senior Colin Riley finished ninth with a season-best time of 8:50.71.

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