Day 1 of the MIAA Division 6 Outdoor Track & Field Championships was pleasant to Hampshire County participants, as a couple of local athletes earned state titles in their respective events at Tufts University in Medford on Friday evening.
South Hadley’s Maggie Crawford followed up her Western Massachusetts crown in the 400-meter hurdles with a first-place finish at the state level. Crawford ran a time of 1 minute, 4.94 seconds to cross the line first, over a half second ahead of Ipswich’s Alana Novello.
Elsewhere, Frontier’s Ben Cachiguango came into the day the favorite to win the 400-meter hurdles on the boys side, and he didn’t disappoint. The senior — who won the event at the Western Mass. Division 2 meet as well — completed the race in a time of 55.73 seconds, beating out Lunenburg’s Michael Laine by nearly a full second (56.70) to take first place on the day.
South Hadley, Frontier, Easthampton and Hampshire were the local schools participating on Friday, so let’s take a look at how each program fared with many more athletes still to compete in Day 2 on Sunday.
Aside from Crawford, Stella Martinez was the only other girl to compete for the Tigers on Friday. Martinez came in 17th in the triple jump with a leap of 31 feet, 10 inches.
On the boys side, it was a day filled with personal-bests. Nathan Hutchinson ran a PR time of 2:00.44 in the 800, taking fifth place, Micah Litovich set a personal record in the discus, throwing it 132 feet, 8 inches to take home 12th place, while Trevor Sullivan (PR 10:18.96) grabbed 15th place in the two mile and Martin Dixon (PR 1:03.67) finished 26th in the 400 hurdles.
Cachiguango’s state title highlighted the Redhawks’ day, but Evan Hedlund also turned in a strong outing – taking third in the two mile (9:40.18). John Reloj placed 19th in boys discus (124-10), Adrien Pazmandy took sixth (11-6) in the pole vault while Gus Radner came in eighth (10-6) and Henry Pleasant took 21st (9-0) in the pole vault.
For the Frontier girls, Lilly Novak placed fourth in discus (98-7), Sylvie DiBartolomeo took ninth in the two mile (11:49.60), Abbi Grover took 10th in discus (87-7), Addie Moorey took 13th in the 800 (2:32.87), Maddie Antes placed 15th in the 400 hurdles (1:12.55) and Phoebe Radner came in 19th in the 800 (2:36.61).
With a handful of distance events occurring on Friday, the Raiders girls team was busy, as they are known for their prowess in the distance events.
Charlotte Letendre turned in the best finish of the day for the Hampshire girls, running a 2:30.05 in the 800 to finish 10th. Ada Corner set a personal best in the two mile (12:08.57) in two mile to earn 13th, Amelia Perry ran the 800 in 2:34.25 (15th) and Keegan Butler was close behind Perry in the 800 (2:35.81, 17th) as was Lucy Skawski (2:36.66, 20th). Kathleen Barry (12:27.71) and Alex Henrichon (PR 12:32.62) ran the two mile, finishing in 18th and 20th place, respectively. Natalie Dunlap rounded out the Raiders girls’ day with a 1:16.14 in the 400 hurdles, good for 25th.
For Hampshire’s boys, Oscar Schiff set a new PR in the two mile – finishing in 10:08.57 to nab 11th place. Owen Cubi also set a new personal best, running the 800 in 2:04.21 (14th). Augustus Niswonger rounded out the Raiders boys competitors on Friday with a PR of his own, clearing 9 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault (18th).
A pair of Eagles athletes hit the track on Friday, as junior Morgan Wijnhoven and senior Addie Barr competed in Day 1 at Tufts.
Wijnhoven turned in a 12th-place finish in the 200 prelims, running a time of 27.52. She did not qualify for the finals, but put up a very respectable time among a total of 27 participants in the event. Barr set a PR in the 800, crossing the line in 2:36.23 to take home 18th place.
The lone local school participating in the Division 3 meet is Holyoke, and the Purple Knights had just one athlete compete on Friday. Ryan Kennedy of the Purple Knights boys team finished in eighth place in the 400 hurdles, turning in a time of 59.16.
