Several members of Newton North’s boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams competed at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Meet of Champions on Saturday, Feb. 24.
The meet is designed as a competition of the best track and field athletes in Massachusetts, across all leagues and divisions. For the girls’ team, junior Ciara Evans competed in the mile. The 4×200 team, junior Sawyer Gallivan, sophomores Brooke Bennett and Penny Blumenthal, and freshman Sophie Finkelstein, also competed. For the boys’ team, junior Leon Shultz competed in shot put, along with the 4×800 team: seniors Reeve Darby and Gabriel Grove and juniors Nate Hill and Thomas Ruane.
“You run against the best of the best,” said Gallivan. “It’s such an experience because you get to see other fast runners compete against each other.”
The competition from very talented athletes was an exciting challenge, said Grove.
“In a lot of racing sports you get better if you race faster people,” he said. “That’s when you’re really putting down PR, that’s when you’re really improving not just yourself but for the team as well.”
Grove added that he enjoyed getting another chance to race members of teams that he raced against in the regular season.
“It’s refreshing when you have people that you’ve been competing with all season go to the state meet or the Meet of Champions, because it’s kind of like even though you compete against them, they kind of become your home,” he said.
The meet took place at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, where most of the indoor track meets are held throughout the season. Evans said it was nice to be on a familiar track racing familiar opponents.
“This was my third year running,” she said. “I was excited to be back and running with the best runners in the state.”
Despite placing 4th overall, Evans was not satisfied with her results, but she hopes to continue to get faster.
“It’s definitely a cool experience to be able to race with such incredible athletes even if the results don’t always go the way I was hoping,” she said. “I also leave learning something new and excited to come back next year.”
Scoreboard
Newton North High School
Basketball, Boys (14-6)
Entered MIAA Division 1 playoffs seeded 13th
Basketball, Girls
Framingham: 49 (13-7), Tigers: 41 (9-11)
Entered MIAA Division 1 playoffs seeded 22nd
Hockey, Boys
Waltham: 4 (11-9-1), Tigers: 1 (6-11-2)
Gymnastics (5-0):
MIAA Sectional Championship meet, South: 140.025
Alpine Skiing
Nordic Skiing, Boys (4th)
Nordic Skiing, Girls (6th)
Swim and Dive, Boys (2-6)
Track, Boys (4-0)
MIAA Meet of Champions
Track, Girls (3-1)
MIAA Meet of Champions
Wrestling (4-3-1)
Newton North and South Girls Hockey (4-15-1)