Tewksbury Girls Make It Seven League Titles In A Row

The back of their training t-shirts says it all for the Tewksbury High girls track and field team.

In spite of inclement weather and in spite of the fact that their training facility is now buried beneath the partially constructed , the Tewksbury High girls track team has not missed a beat this season.

On Monday it was business as usual as the TMHS girls ripped off an impressive victory in a showdown between two unbeaten teams,  running away with an 86.5-58.5 win over Billerica and clinching their seventh straight Merrimack Valley Conference Division 2 championship in the process.

"This (championship) was probably a little tougher than the last few because Billerica was so tough and we had just a little tougher set-up than usual," said "But I think it says a lot about the kids and I think it probably says how solid things were in the past. We had some seniors set some good examples and set some good traditions, and I think this year we had to fall back on those to some extent."

With training split bewteen the high school, the Ryan School and Lowell's Cawley Stadium, Byrnes and his coaching staff often had to rely on their upperclassmen to get training sessions organized while the coaches made their rounds.

Monday was no different as the upperclassmen led the way to the title-clinching win over Billerica which, like Tewksbury, had entered the meet with a perfect 5-0 record. But seniors Lauren Andella , Andrea Caprio, and Ashley Toland made sure Billerica didn't leave unbeaten, as each of them earned important pioints with critical first place finishes.

Andella took a pair of firsts, winning the 100-meter hurdles in 18.1 seconds and winning the triple jump  with a leap of 31'1".

"Lauren just quietly scores a lot of points for us," Byrnes said. "She's the unquestioned leader in our hurdle/vault group and she was the highest vote getter out of all the captains two seasons in a row. She's very well respected among the kids and if I gave you the box scores for the past two years you'd be surprised at how many points she's scored."

Tucker, on the other hand, has not scored many points at all this season, having recently returned from a leg injury. But Monday's impressive win in the mile run, in 5:36.3, was her second victory in the last two meets, and Byrnes thinks his senior All-American has regained her health at just the right time.

"Leanne could have been the best miler in the MVC this spring if she had been healthy," Byrnes said. "She's really just tuning up for the big meets and today she looked good. I'd say she looked 100 percent healthy."

Caprio followed last Wednesday's school record-setting 123-foot toss in the javelin with another winning performance on Monday, leading a sweep in that event with a 109'8" throw on a cold and drizzly day.

Toland ran a very strong 69.1 second 400-meter hurdes in spite of poor track and weather conditions, and won that event.

But it wasn't just the seniors who led the way. Junior speedster Jess Bridle pulled off the triple win to key Tewksbury's championship effort, winning the long jump, the 400-meters and the 100 meters. Bridle ran 64.1 in the 400, cleared 14'1" in the long jump and snapped off a 12.7 second clocking in the 100-meter dash to turn in another 15-point day.

"We've never really kept track of points," Byrnes said. "But she (Bridle) has an awful lot of them this year.  In fact, one of Billerica's coaches mentioned after the meet that Jess is pretty much a match-up nightmare.  She's a threat at 100, 200, 400, long jump, 4x400, and 4x100, and it's impossible to tell where she'll be."

Juniors and were also winners for Tewksbury.  Jacintho took first in the discus at 101'5" and Hogan clocked 28.2 in the 200 meters to win that event.

But perhaps Tewksbury's most important win was in the 800, were freshman Sarah Semenza took first place in 2:27.0. Semenza's emergence in the 800 allowed Byrnes to push Tucker up to the mile, and get another win at that distance.

"The Billerica girl she beat is one of the better distance runners in the league," Byrnes said of Semenza. "Sara controlled the race against her. For a freshman she looked very experienced today."

Tewksbury also earned five important points in the 4x100-meter relay with Allie Luppi, Liz Marchand, Sarah Hogan and Hannah Sedgwick finishing in 53.0 seconds.

Other key contributions for Tewksbury included sophomore Arianna Smith's second place finish in the 400, and yet another sweep in the javelin. As has been their custom, juniors Rebecca Clark and Courtney Spinelli took second and third behind Caprio in the javelin, completing a perfect season for that trio. Tewksbury's javelin throwers won every available dual meet point this spring, beating their opponents by a collective score of 54-0.

Freshman Kelly Quigley had a pair of seconds in the triple jump and the 400-meter hurdles while senior Kim Fairweather took second in the high jump, with sophomore Jen Iannacci and freshman Ashley Callahan tying for third.

Freshman Aly Spencer took second in the 100-meter hurdles behind Andella, and sophomore Devin Kelly was second in the pole vault with Amanda Cossar third.

Emily Parker was third in the two mile, Hannah Sedgwick was third in the 100.

Seniors Lauren Spencer, Darlene Welch, Heather Carroll, Ali Russell, Liz Connolly and Taylor Martel also competed in their final dual meet in a Tewksbury uniform.

"This was a rewarding way to close out the dual meet season." Byrnes said. "The kids have been through quite a lot this season; several rotating practice locations,
re-scheduled meets, and weather that just didn't want to cooperate for more than
a day or two in a row.  And we lived by that 'No Track? No Problem' mantra, but
the truth is that at times it's been difficult, and they pushed on through it
anyway.  They did a great job, and they earned this one."  

Tewksbury competes in the MVC championship meet this Saturday afternoon and evening at Lowell's CawleyStadium.

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