Boys & Girls Track
The Manchester-Essex team had a truly amazing performance up and down the line for both teams for the CAL Championships run at The Reggie Lewis Center on February 18.
"For many years, I have noticed that usually after the state relays, the team gets a boost of confidence and they start to improvements as strides as the season approaches the end. This certainly is the case with this team," stated Coach Nelson Desilvestre. The girls had an incredible day as they scored 19 points and finished eighth overall. The boys also finished eighth overall with 8 points. I told the team on the bus that we had 13 personal bests yesterday. After including the relays, that number jumped up to 17.
The girls led the way today with Caroline MacKinnon earning the star of the day as she ran a personal best time of 1:40.82 which was a whole 10 seconds off her time, finished second and broke the school record by almost a full second. Caelie Patrick almost matched her teammate with an astounding run in the 1000, also finishing second and improving her time by 8 seconds (3:10.71). Amy Vytopilova ran personal bests in the 55 (8.01) and finished sixth in the 300 with a junior record setting performance of 45.43. The 4 x 800 team of Whitney Turner, Sabine Cooper, Summer Demeo, and Brigid Carovillano ran 11:48.13 for sixth place with Summer running a PR in her split. Caelie, Faye Bourgeois, Amy and Caroline ran 4:56.66 in the 4 x 400 to also capture sixth place. Brigid ran a 7-second PR in the 600 (1:57.46), Sabine ran a PR of 3:49.64. Summer destroyed her time in the 1000 by 19 seconds running 3:50.00 and Whitney shaved 19 seconds off her mile time to 6:02.37.
Not to be totally out done by the girls. the boys had a great day as well. They were led by Jack Newton who finished fourth in the 1000 with a pr of 2:48.60 and fourth in the high jump (5' 8"). Nate Gardner lowered his sophomore hurdle record again (9.39) and did 17' 3.25" in the long jump. Tyler Cronin also has a great time in the 600 lowering his PR by 5 seconds to 1:36.78. Lucas Rodi set a PR in the 1000 (3:09.86) as did Connor Morgan in the 300 (40.37). Sam Heanue ran the 1000 in 3:15.55, Charlie Lations ran the mile (5:13.25) as did Logan Cooper (5:18.57). Lucas ran a PR split in the 4 x 800 of 2:27 as did Tyler in th2 4x200,27.4 and Cam Roundy (29.7).
On Tuesday, February 15, several athletes participated on the first ever Rising meet. We had three personal bests tonight. Lucas Rodi had a 9 second PR in the 1000 (3:00.43) and Sam Heanue also had a PR (3:11.29). Connor Morgan finally broke the 40 second mark in the 300 (39.98). Liv Cahill was the only girl who ran tonight ran the 55 in 8.95.
On Friday, Feb 18, the team raced at the MIAA Division 5 Championships.
"We had 14 athletes participate in the meet. Six boys and eight girls represented us. All of them are underclassmen so the future looks bright if everyone comes back and we are able to grow the program," commented Coach Desilvestre.
The girls finished 13th overall with 12 points while the boys finished 29th with two points. The team recorded 13 personal bests including improvement in the school 600-meter school record and class record in the 55-meter hurdles. Caroline MacKinnon was the star of the day as she improved on her 600-meter school record running 1:40.50 which was good for second place and an automatic invitation to the All-State meet next Saturday. Caelie Patrick finished fifth in the 1000 (3:12.52). The 4 x 800 team just missed out on a medal by finishing ninth with a time of 11:03.09. Brigid Carovillano had a PR in the 600 (1:56.09), Summer Demeo and Sabine Cooper had personal bests in the 1000 with times of 3:49.52 and 3:45.32 respectively. Whitney Turner also ran a PR in the mile while breaking the six-minute mark with a time of 5:58.46.
On the boy's side, Jack Newton was the lone point getter as he finished seventh in the 1000 with a personal best time of 2:45.95. Nate Gardner continued to improve his sophomore record. Tyler Cronin ran 1:43.43 in the 600, Charlie Lations 5:07.54, Logan Cooper 5:17.85 and Sam Heanue 5:36.64 all ran in the mile. The 4 x 800 team of Jack, Lucas Rodi, Charlie and Logan ran 9:10.48 for 11th place. with all four of them running personal best splits for the 800. Nate, Tyler, Sam and Lucas ran the 4 x 400 to a time of 4:02.79 with Sam and Lucas running personal best on their splits.
The All-State meet will be held on Saturday, February 28 at the Reggie Lewis Center. Several athletes have expressed interest in participating in the State pentathlon on February 28 for the girls and March 1 for the boys.
Girls Basketball
The Manchester Essex Hornets finished the regular season 5-15 last week with two hard fought contests. Hosting Lynnfield on Tuesday night, the Hornets battled back and forth with the Pioneers for four quarters before Lynnfield pulled away at the end to defeat the Hornets 32-39. Senior captain Emma Fitzgerald led the Hornets with 9 points. Junior Calista Lai and sophomore Mercedes O'Neil each had 5 while junior Kendall Newton added 4 and senior captain Amelia Donnellan Valade 3. Senior Parker Brooks, sophomore Phileine Dewidt and freshman Ella Arnsten each added 2 in the effort. On Thursday the Hornets celebrated their 4 seniors by fighting to the bitter end of a tough and physical game. The Hornets lost 35-42 to a strong Hamilton Wenham team. Fitzgerald led the Hornets with 11 points while Lai and junior Paige Garlitz each added 9. Parker Brooks and 4 and Mackay Brooks 2.
The Hornets await the seeding for the MIAA division 4 statewide tournament.
Boys & Girls Ski
The Manchester Essex alpine ski team season finished out last week with the North Shore Ski Leagues annual Interscholastic Race. This race is composed of the top eight racers from each school in the league representing both the boys and girls’ teams. As opposed to the regular season this race is made up of two runs starting with the more technical slalom race which is followed by a giant slalom run. Emma Wonson, Gracie Susko, Lydia Schwartz, Anya Bixby, Rose Warren, Kiernan Day, Casey Twombly and Sienna Crocker raced for the girls’ team. Cameron Light, Owen Bappe, Tristan Rogers, Peter Shaw, Owen McLain, Grey West, Finnegan Straub and Tucker Nichols competed for the boys. Rose Warner, an eighth grader facing off against high school racers had the top finish for the Hornets with a combined time of 49.11 seconds and an eighth place overall.
"It's been a real joy watching Rose race this year," said head coach Tim Wonson. "She is a fantastic racer and a better teammate. She puts in a ton of work and its awesome seeing it pay off. Her future is very bright in this league. " Seniors, Wonson, Susko, Light, Bappe and Rogers all skied well. "We had a great team this year," said Wonson, "what we may have lacked in experience we more than made up for in attitude and sportsmanship." Wonson went on to say, "I'm especially pleased with the Captains, Cameron was amazing, he helped in ways he may not yet realize. His positive attitude and willingness to try are inspiring. As for Emma, well she's my daughter, she was at the first meeting I attended when they first asked me to work with the team. She was in first grade, now she's graduating soon and moving forward. The team has been an amazing and powerful part of our lives together. I'm so great full for that. The team. The kids. Skiing. I look forward to skiing with her, with the team and with any of our past racers in the future. We will get out; we will try and we will ski fast!"
