Girls Distance
1000m
Long-striding Mia-Claire Kezal won the ME 800m state championship and had not run a 1K this year, and though she came in only 8th seeded, she had enough experience from sub 3:00 1Ks in past years to know what she had to do here. Taking the lead at 700m and staying clear and out of trouble, Kezal rolled to an ME state record with a 2:53.47. Kali Holden came in only 10th seeded, but after earlier stints of tripling in the distance events, she had just the 1K to focus on, and ran a smart race behind Kezal to get pulled home in a time that knocked 4 1/2 seconds off her PR for the silver. Olivia Birney chopped more than 4 seconds off her PR for the bronze, and indeed the top 7 finishers all set big PRs in this race.
1 Mia-Claire Kezal 12 Thornton Academy 2:53.47 2 Kali Holden 12 Trumbull High School 2:54.58 3 Olivia Birney 12 Simsbury High School 2:55.46 4 Shea Podbelski 11 Norton High School 2:55.93 5 Bria Benigni 10 Maloney High School 2:56.25 6 Emily Mrakovcic 12 Wilton High School 2:58.06 7 Tess Wasiolek 10 Branford High School 3:03.39 8 Ashlynn Witt 11 Wachusett Regional 3:06.47 9 Grace Kirk 12 Cony High School 3:07.21 10 Anna McElhinney 11 Billerica Memorial HS 3:07.24 11 Annie Vigue 9 Cheverus High School 3:08.68 12 Amelia Vandongen 9 Mt. Desert Island HS 3:11.29
1 Mile
Sophomore Cary Drake was one of the gutsiest stories from New England's as she had only the 13th-rated seed time coming in while running undefeated in ME. Taking the lead from the beginning and running twenty meters in front for most of the race, Drake seemed to be in complete control at the bell. But Anna Keeley, CT's top miler with Rachel St. Germain opting for the 2 mile, and RI 1500m champ Caroline Cummings battled furiously with each other during the last lap while closing on Drake. At the finish Keeley and Drake stretched for the line and maybe Drake's lean ended a little short of the line to give Keeley the win by thousandths of a second as they both clocked 5:01.52. Both runners got huge PRs, Keeley by 5 seconds and Drake by 12, while Cummings also notched a PR while finishing a few steps behind for the bronze. In 4th was VT 1500m champ Loghan Hughes who came in as a 15th seed with a converted time of 5:15.08 which she transformed to a 5:06.63 at New England's.
1 Anna Keeley 12 Fairfield Ludlowe 5:01.52 2 Cary Drake 10 York High School 5:01.52 3 Caroline Cummings 11 La Salle Academy 5:02.44 4 Loghan Hughes 12 Bellows Free Academy-St Albans 5:06.63 5 Ava LoVuolo 11 Marshfield High School 5:09.02 6 Summer Bejarano 12 Silver Lake Regional HS 5:09.29 7 Sydney Kelleher 11 New Milford High School 5:10.49 8 Anna Omelchenko 10 Wilbur Cross High School 5:12.10 9 Caroline Jankowich 11 Classical High School 5:12.48 10 Kelly Jones 11 Lauralton High School 5:16.65 11 Jaz Vanderhoof 12 Thornton Academy 5:18.76 12 Grace Carr 11 Cumberland 5:20.74
2 Mile
CT top runner Rachel St. Germain focused on running her first indoor 2 Mile for New England's, so she was going to get a PR and the only question was how much better the time would be than her converted 3200m seed mark. The answer was about 16 seconds, as she rolled to a US #7 time of 10:36.93. There was a strong nutmeg flavor to this race as athletes from CT took the top four spots, with 1 mile champ Anna Keely, Katherine Sanderson, and Katie Marchand all running to big PRs to finish 2nd through 4th.
1 Rachel St. Germain 12 Somers High School 10:36.93 2 Anna Keeley 12 Fairfield Ludlowe 10:49.61 3 Katherine Sanderson 12 Hall High School 11:02.14 4 Katie Marchand 11 Trumbull High School 11:03.01 5 Megan Randall 12 Bangor High School 11:06.24 6 Elizabeth Donahue 12 Reading Memorial HS 11:11.05 7 Julianne Teitler 12 Darien High School 11:12.42 8 Caroline Collins 10 Nashoba Regional HS 11:14.63 9 Mia-Claire Kezal 12 Thornton Academy 11:17.62 10 Keaney Bayha 9 Pilgrim High School 11:17.79 11 Callie DeDecko 10 Barnstable HS 11:23.80 12 Kylie Marion 12 Narragansett Regional 11:24.97