The South Hadley girls track & field team made history on Saturday.
After three straight close finishes, the Tigers came through and won their first championship in any of the three running seasons.
South Hadley took home the District F&G Division 2 championship with 97 points, Saturday at Mohawk Regional in Buckland.
“It was one of the most exciting things we’ve done in a long time,” Tigers coach Nick Davis said.
South Hadley had an idea big things could happen this season. During the indoor season, the Tigers took second at the state Division 5 meet.
“The momentum coming from indoor and taking the runner-up trophy was huge because they knew they had the talent to do it,” Davis said.
Lee-Lenox was second with 80 points. Hampshire Regional was seventh with 39 followed by Frontier Regional with 36.
South Hadley took home three first-place medals.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Morgan Harrington, Kyra Schoenfeld, Lindsay Marjanski and Sarah Fudger won with a school-record time of 4 minutes, 11.96 seconds.
Marjanski, a freshman, ran a 60.03 split, while the remaining three ran sub-63s.
“It was the perfect relay,” Davis said. “We couldn’t have imagined being that fast.”
The performance came with the title locked up.
Just after the 4×800 relay of Jocelyne Rondeau, Anna Moriarty, Olivia Blaney and Harrington placed second (10:29.33), the Tigers learned the results of the javelin and triple jump.
Thanks to 18 points from Sophie Gatzounas, South Hadley moved comfortably ahead of Lee-Lenox.
Gatzounas won the javelin with a mark of 117 feet, 11 inches. She was a second in the triple jump (32-7). Gatzounas was seeded sixth in the event and improved her mark by five inches.
“We knew we were going to have it after the 4×8,” Davis said. “The points for the triple jump and javelin came in and Sophie got us second in triple, which we weren’t expecting at all.”
Savannah Sudyka capped the individual wins for South Hadley by taking the shot put (34-7¼).
Contributing to the championship was South Hadley’s depth as the Tigers took home several top-five finishes.
“We’ve never won a Western Mass. title with the girls,” Davis said. “It was amazing considering how close we were the last few years. We finally figured out we have to be more balanced across the board.”
Marjanski was second in the high jump (5-0) and fourth in the 200 (27.37).
Rondeau was third in the 2-mile (11:48.98) and fourth in the 800 (2:24.11).
Fudger was third in the 400 hurdles (67.76) and fourth in the 400 (62.77).
The 4×100 (53.37) was also fourth.
The performance left the Tigers confident entering Saturday’s Central-Western Mass. Championship.
“We have high expectations and the girls want it,” Davis said. “They have a target on their back but they’re ready for it.”
Jordan Wytrych was fifth in the 200 (27.57) for Hampshire.
In the 100 hurdles, Hannah Labrie of Hampshire Regional was third (17.22), while Fiona Ferry of Frontier was fifth (17.83).
In the pole vault, Hampshire’s Melissa Gagnon took first at 9 feet, while Jaime Byrne of Frontier was second at 8-6. Jillian Scott of Hampshire was fourth at 8-0.
Kimani Topolski-Burgess of Frontier was fifth in the long jump at 15-4. Teammate Lisa Portier tied for fourth in the triple (32-1).
Frontier’s Olivia Vecellio was fourth in the discus (90-4).
In the 4×100, Frontier was third (53.31) and Hampshire fifth (53.96).
Hampshire was fifth in the 4×800 (10:50.74).
Monson won with 114 points. Frontier was 11th, South Hadley 14th and Hampshire Regional 16th.
Frontier’s Alex Sharp was third in the 2-mile (10:41.27) and fourth in the mile (4:56.45).
Hampshire’s Chris Vayda was fourth in the 2-mile (10:42.45).
South Hadley’s Nick Lajoie was fourth in the 110 high hurdles (16.99).