Girls Track and Field: Crowley, McKunes Shine at Freshman/Sophomore Meet

Heading into a rare week with no meets thanks to school vacation, the Holliston girls track team is 1-2 following a 102-34 loss to six-time defending Tri-Valle League champion Hopkinton on Thursday.

But the young Panthers showed the rest of the state what the future holds when they placed ninth at the prestigious New Balance Freshman/Sophomore Invitational at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham.

The meet hosts teams of all sizes from all over the state and is routinely dominated by the Division 1 powers such as this year’s champion, Acton-Boxboro.

But led by a first- and fourth-place finish by sophomores Briana Crowley and Morgan McKunes in the long jump, the Panthers defeated most of the schools of equal or smaller size, and even outscored some of the state’s top powers in higher divisions.

Crowley’s win and McKunes’s medalist finish were no surprise to anyone who saw the long jump against Hopkinton Thursday. In just her third try at the event, Crowley cleared 16 feet, 0.5 inches, a full foot further than her personal best. Although she finished one inch shy of first place, her mark ranks her in the top 10 of the entire state. McKunes cleared 15-8, which puts her among the top six in a very competitive event for the TVL.

At the Freshman/Sophomore meet, the wind was howling straight at the jumpers, and the temperature struggled to break 40 degrees. With nearly every one of the seven girls seeded 15 feet or over straining to break 14-0, Crowley and McKunes had the best and fourth-best jumps in the preliminary round. After no one was displaced in the finals, their places stood and Crowley had emerged as the champion of the meet at 14-10.5.

McKunes then finished 10th in the 200 a mere five minutes after her last attempt in the long jump.

Against Hopkinton, Vicki Palmatier remained undefeated with another win in the shot put, while Steph Paolillo lowered her time for the third straight meet with a victory of her own in the 400 hurdles. McKunes and senior captain Kendra Costello also qualified for the state meet in the 200 with times of 27.8 and 27.9 seconds, respectively.

The Panthers next lace up their spikes when they travel to Medfield on Tuesday, April 26. They will host Dover-Sherborn two days later, and compete in the Division 3 State Relays on Saturday the 30th at Stoneham High School.