Grey Ghosts Fall Short But Show Improvement On Track

It certainly wasn’t a day to write home about, but the Grey Ghosts of Westford Academy weren’t without quality performances at the MIAA Division 1 East Sectional Meet in Andover last weekend.

The Ghosts finished with the girls earning 21 points and the boys grabbing 19.5 points on the day, a result good enough for 13^th place in both genders. However, neither team was in true contention for the overall meet title, with the girls falling 72.5 points short of Newton North’s championship winning total and the boys finishing 56.5 points behind Acton-Boxboro’s final first place tally.

Still, WA was able to make their mark in several events, most notably in the boys’ pole vault, where the Ghosts got a first place finish from the 14-foot result of junior Brendan Sullivan, and a sixth place result from the 11-foot mark set by fellow junior Joe Meyer, good enough to earn the Academy 13 of their 19.5 points on the boys’ side.

Westford’s other points on the boys’ side came thanks to the efforts of Adonis Carrasco. The senior was able to land a 6-foot-4 leap in the high jump that tied him with Brookline freshman Nicholas Scott, with Carrasco also taking a sixth place finish in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 15.68 seconds.

Carrasco’s high jump and Sullivan’s pole vault performances earned them trips to the All-State meet on June 4 in Bridgewater with Carrasco and Sullivan finishing twelfth and second respectively in their events among all the sectionals held throughout the state.

Meanwhile on the girls’ side, no Ghosts were able to win their individual events outright, but several were able to post finishes near the top of the pack.

Freshman Lauren Steele finished fifth the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.10 seconds, only .95 seconds behind the first place performance of Andover’s Eve Bishop.

The Ghosts continued to get on the scoreboard without winning outright as senior Caitlin Sheridan took seventh in the 800 meter run, senior Lexie Brearley earned fifth in the 400 meter hurdles, sophomore Laura Shapiro placed seventh in the pole vault and senior Emily Raczelowski finished seventh in the shot put.

Raczelowski’s mark was tenth best among the various sectionals in the state, earning a trip to Bridgewater next weekend along with Carrasco and Sullivan.

Although the team championship might have been the ultimate goal of some Grey Ghost fans, both teams’ totals were markedly better than at the 2010 Division 1 East Sectionals, as there the girls were only able to score 13 points and the boys finished second to last with 2 points