East Longmeadow girls indoor track team wins third consecutive title
Greg
Cameron, February 11, 2013 10:25 p.m.
Central
High's (701) Diamante Spencer takes the win in the 55 meters at the PVIAC Indoor
Track Championships Monday night at Smith College. - (Staff photo by Michael Beswick)
NORTHAMPTON – For the East Longmeadow Spartans, they're once, twice, three
times the champions.
The three-time champions won with 71.50
points for their third consecutive title. In second place, Northampton High had
62 points.
“We had no expectations going into tonight’s meet,
we have a lot of new people and a lot of new faces,” East Longmeadow coach
Michael Budd said after the meet held at Smith College. “We were just happy to
be here. They were relaxed and what they did was create the finest hour in the
history of East Longmeadow High School Girls Track and Field.
To clinch the title, a
last lap kick in the 4x400 Meter relay by Gabriella Weithofer brought home the
title for the third year in a row in that final hour.
“That’s
our Captain,” Budd said. “How she goes, our team goes,” he added.
From Weithofer’s perspective the last lap chance was a daunting one,
but one she reveled in.
“It was nerve-wracking, but you feel
special knowing that it could be you that could push your team in the end,”
Weithofer said. “I knew that we needed the points really bad and I didn’t want
to let our team down.”
Weithofer leapt 16’ 11.5” to take the
long jump title.
“I didn’t expect to win,” Weithofer said
humbly. “I have to thank all of my coaches,” she added.
To win
any title in any team sport, depth has to come into play and that’s something
the Spartans have in spades. The team also has some serious camaraderie.
“It’s so fun being on this team,” Weithofer said. “We have so much fun
altogether.”
East Longmeadow’s Paige Suse took home the high
jump title, with a height of 5-02.00. That event win went a long way in the
Spartans’ victory on Monday night.
Westfield’s Allyson Morin
took home the 1 Mile title with a time of 5:17.45. Morin, also the top-seed in
the two-mile, out classed the rest of the competition by 58 seconds to take home
her second win of the night.
“I’ve trained hard enough in the
two-mile where it doesn’t really affect me,” Morin said. “Honestly, I just think
the two mile is easier. I’m more confident in myself. I can focus on my pace for
the first half of it and for the second half I can focus on finishing off well.”
Diamante Spencer upheld that notion with a scintillating 7.46
in the 55 Meter Dash. The Central star blew away the competition in the finals
race. The time was the Central sprinter’s best mark of the year.
Spencer’s speed came in handy for the 4x200 Meter Relay that saw the
Golden Eagles fly ahead of the competition. With a time of 1:51.58, Spencer and
Luise Venderheyden led the way.
The top-seeded Venderheyden was
bested in the 600 meter by Northampton Mia Toffoli. Toffoli won by mere
two-tenths of a second.
Adrienne Pascucci, a speed demon in the
55 Hurdles, clocking in at 8.94, besting the competition by nearly half a
second. Her finals time marks a personal and event best for the season in the
event.
Pascucci was also a finalist in the long jump and high
on Monday night, finishing second in both events in PVIAC’s.
Not to be excluded from the fast company, Agawam’s Ashley Monahan nearly bested
her next-closest competition in the 1,000 Meters. The Brownie runner was nearly
a second clear of the field in the finals heat in 3:07.00.
In
the field events, Mahar’s Sabrina Silva reclaimed her crown in the shot-put. The
much-heralded field athlete took home the top prize with a distance of 40 feet
seven and a half inches.
Next week sees the conclusion of the
indoor track season with the state finals in Roxbury. That meet will be held at
the Reggie Lewis Center
