Bridle Takes Second in 400 At All-State Meet

She may have already received her diploma, tossed her cap in the air and hung her graduation gown in the closet, butsenior has yet to put the final touches on her high school track resume.

Four days after graduating, Bridle ran her fastest ever time in the 400 meters, taking second place in the MIAA All-State championships at Fitchburg State College on Tuesday. Bridle, who has 10 Merrimack Valley Conference championships and a Division 2 state championship to her credit, knocked three-tenths of a second off her previous best time in the 400 and posted a career best 57.76 clocking at the all-state meet.

"It's really remarkable, when you think about it," "She put aside all the distractions of senior week and graduation and the meet being postponed twice (due to rain) and ran her best race ever. You hardly ever see that happen at this point in a kid's career."

Bridle, who will run track at Bucknell University next year, finished second to Acton-Boxboro's Maya Jarostuck, who won the event in 57.36. Bridle's previous best 400 meter time was 58.07 at the New Balance Nationals last June. Her best time as a senior was the 58.18 clocking she posted to win the Division 2 State Championship just over a week ago.

"As coaches, we always worry about the distractions the kids face in senior week, but it didn't seem to affect Jess," Byrnes said. "She is focused like no one else out there. She always has been. Even as a freshman she had the capacity to focus on her goals from months and months away and relentlessly go after it. That's her best quality as an athlete. She's talented and hard working, but she has an extraordinary capacity to focus."

Bridle's time, which stands as the third fastest 400 in Tewksbury High girls track history, qualified her to compete at the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina again this year. Bridle will run both the 400 meters and the 200 meters at nationals

"She's a threat to break the school record in the 200," Byrnes said. "The track at nationals is fast. If she runs the way she did at the MVC meet (where she took the league championship) she'll have a shot."

Bridle won't be the only TMHS track star traveling to the nationals, either. Bridle teamed up with senior Sarah Hogan and sophomores Kelly Quigley and Sara Semenza to take third place in the 4x400 meter relay in an eye-popping time of 3:56.52. The foursome shaved nearly five seconds off their previous best time in the 4x400, as all four runners broke the 60-second mark.

Bridle and Hogan both ran 59.0 splits, while Semenza clocked a 58.4 and Quigley ran a 59.7 leg. It was the first time that either Hogan or Quigley had cracked the 60-second barrier. The foursome fell just .04 seconds shy of tying the school record.

"We thought four minutes was a good goal for them," Byrnes said. "We never expected them to take a run at the school record. Sarah (Hogan) and Jess got us off to a great start and then Quigley and Semenza ran great legs."

Hogan, Quigley and Semenza will accompany Bridle to the New Balance National meet, as will sophomore Jenn Schultz, who will likely take Bridle's spot on the 4x400 meter relay team as Bridle is competing in two individual events.

Hogan, who will study nursing at UMass-Amherst next year, capped her senior season in style with her first-ever sub-60 second 400.

"Sarah broke 13 in the 100 at the MVC meet to win the league championship, and now she's broken 60 in the 400. Those were two of her biggest goals," Byrnes said of Hogan. "She and Jess hit Senior Week hard and then they did their recovery work and hit the track thing hard, too."

Semenza, who was second behind Brilde in the Division 2 State meet, ran a 59.02 in the 400 meter finals at the All-State meet and took ninth overall. Devin Kelly, a junior, was 25th in pole vault.