Girls Track Ends as Division Runner-Ups; Relay Teams Set Records

For the most part, everything fell into place for the Generals track teams during the Div. 4 Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend at .

boys' and girls' outdoor track coach Steve Sawyer said he will be sending a good amount of competitors to this weekend’s All-State Outdoor Meet at Bridgewater State University. And add in a few meet and school records broken in the process and it was an all-around good two days.

“I’m definitely not surprised,” said Sawyer. “All of the kids performed well.”

The girls finished in second place with 57 points, four points behind champion Lynnfield. The boys accumulated 25 points, good for 13th place.

“I knew (the girls) would be in it; it was close the whole way,” said Sawyer, whose team . “Lynnfield has a good group of seniors. They had a great day and deserved to win.”

The top eight places score points, while the top four finishers in each event advance to the All State meet.

The girls, who finished in first in the Div. 4 meet last year and runner-up in 2009, will be sending four individuals and two relay teams to Bridgewater.

The highlights were first-place finishes by Alison Lanois in the mile (5:05.76) and the 4x800 meter relay team. The relay quartet of Kerry Phelan, Meg Blatchford, Lanois and Emily Senning set a new Div. 4 meet record with a time of 9:39.67, breaking the Generals foursome of Phelan, Lanois, Emily Lanois and Kristen Ashley’s 9:41.47 set in 2009.

 Other All State meet qualifiers:

• Phelan in the 2-mile, third place, 11:23
• Natalie White in the 100 hurdles, third place, 15.89
• Camilla Worsfold in the triple jump, third place, 34 feet, 6 inches
• 4x100 relay team (Tyler Parady, Evie Unsworth, Claire Kawski and Robin Doroff), fourth place, 52.1

On the boys side Kendrick Poulin took first in the pole vault, while the 4x800 relay team of Ian MacLean, Chris Benevento, John Hills and Connor Lyons not only equaled their teammate’s first place finish, but did it in grand style with a new school and Div. 4 meet record.

The Generals crushed the old mark of 8:10.20, set in 1998 by , when they were clocked at 8:06.94.

"We have some top kids, just not lot of them,” said Sawyer, explaining his teams first place finishes. “I knew we’d score some points. I wasn’t surprised we scored in the events we scored in.”

Poulin cleared 12-6 and will be seeded 10th in this weekend’s meet.

“I knew he would finish in first. His real competition will come at All-State meet. He hasn’t had a lot of competition at this point,” Sawyer said.

Hills and Lyons narrowly missed qualifying for the state meet in the 800 meters, finishing in sixth and seventh, respectively.

* * *

Two weeks ago the squads competed in the Cape Ann League meet.

The girls finished in third place with 88 points, trailing only North Andover (98) and Ipswich (88). The boys came in ninth out of 11 teams.

The boys 4x800 relay team of MacLean, Benevento, Hill and Lyons set the league meet record with their time of 8:16.68.

Top finishers for Hamilton-Wenham:

Girls

• Shot put: Lauren Knopp, first, 32-6
• Mile: Lanois, first, 5:11
• 800: Lanois, first, 2:22
• 4x800: (Phelan, Blatchford, Claire Pacione, Emily Senning), first, 9:49
• 4x400: (Hannah Millimet, Andrea Sargent, Emily Horgan, Worsfold), third, 4:21
• Triple jump: Worsfold, second, 34-10 ¾
• 2-mile: Phelan, second, 11:47; Meg Blatchfiord, fourth, 12:12
• 100 hurdles: White, third, 16.24

Boys

• Pole vault: Poulin, first, 12-6
• 800: Lyons, first, 1:58.46; Hills, fourth, 2:01.72