FITCHBURG — The bigger the stage, the more motivated Amherst Regional’s Sophia Jacobs-Townsley is to perform.
The sophomore placed second in both the mile and 2-mile on Saturday at the Central/West Division I Girls Track and Field Championships at Fitchburg State University.
Jacobs-Townsley was happy to earn some valuable points for the Hurricanes, but a bit disappointed she did not win either event. She is not used to watching someone cross the finish line ahead of her.
“The 2-mile was disappointing because I won it last year,” she said. “I came in pretty confident, my expectations were high and I wanted a two-peat.”
The event was close between two fellow sophomores. Jacobs-Townsley finished in 11 minutes, 13.65 seconds and was edged by less than two seconds by Shepard Hill’s Rebakah James (11:11.90).
“At states, I’ll know who she is,” Jacobs-Townsley said. “Today, I was not as fast.”
She knows what it will take to improve.
“I will train hard all week and move forward,” Jacobs-Townsley said. “The competition was a lot stronger than I thought. You can’t always assume you will just plow through and win. I wouldn’t say I was shocked by the competition, but I was surprised by how competitive the field was.”
Sophomore Tess Reyes of Algonquin won the mile in 5:14.42. Jacobs-Townsley crossed in 5:19.83.
“At least I did better in the mile,” said Jacobs-Townsley, who was fifth in the event last year.
The competition figures to be even more fierce at the All-State meet on Saturday at Bridgewater State University.
“Sophia did a great job today and ran two good races,” Amherst coach Chris Gould. “Those girls just outran her.”
Neither Gould nor Jacobs-Townsley were about to second guess the way she ran the race. She started at the back of the pack before making a late push.
“They were great races and I was proud to watch,” Gould said. “After the 2-mile, it may have caused a little confidence crisis going into the mile because she wasn’t sure she had the legs to do it, but still ran a great race and I was very impressed the way it went.”
Wachusett won the title with 83 points. Northampton finished ninth with 40 and Amherst was 12th with 30.
Amherst gained a measure of revenge over Northampton by edging the Blue Devils in the 4×800 relay, winning by less than a second (9:56.93 to 9:57.89).
“It was a great job by Amherst and just a great race,” Northampton coach Ryan Davis said. “No one was fresh and whatever they had left, they put it on the line.”
Julie Hopley, Zada Forde, Isabela Shepard and Jacobs-Townsley composed the Amherst foursome.
Scarlet Sands Bliss, Mairead Blatner, Gretchen Savenson and Mary Yount made up Hamp’s relay.
Savenson took third in both the 400 hurdles (1:07.45) and long jump (16-5.50).
“Gretchen started our day with a great jump,” Davis said.
Northampton brought only 10 girls to the meet.
Emma Harder was second in the 200 with a personal-best 26.32.
“That was a phenomenal performance,” Davis said.
Sands Bliss finished fourth in the 800 in 2:24.76.