This is one of the best indoor championships I can remember. I’m using decibel level as an indicator. It was loud!! It offered everything a great meet could. I watched upsets, sterling performances by some of the best athletes in the state, high drama and melodrama. It is now 4:30 PM. I’ve spent the last two hours pouring over the pre-meet seeds, my own predictions and what I witnessed. I hope that in some small way I can convey that what I saw is remarkable. This was the “Super Bowl” of Hockomock League Track and Field.

When league favorite Francesca Peretti stumbled in the prelims and failed to make finals, it opened the door. Brittany Borchard easily posted the fastest prelim at 9.06. NA’s Jen McNamara was an eternity behind at 9.40. But when the gun sounded for the finals everything changed. JMac charged out to a big lead. Brittany closed the gap over the last two hurdles and the final decision could only be decided upon review of the photo finish. Despite equal times of 9.07 the photo revealed that the slight edge belonged to Mac. Perhaps the bigest surprise was the 3-4 Sharon finish by Nicole Ricciardi and Adie Sprague. Their position entering the meet was well outside the top six. Liz Daley (MN) shocked almost everyone with a 5th place and Alicia Zoneshine added even more unexpected points to mansfield’s early total.

Oliver Ames suffered more infield bad luck than could be imagined. With league leader Shanika Pitts running 7.48 in the trials she looked destined to become league champ. The “one false start” rule eliminated her from the finals. That gave Kristy Fuller the opening she needed. Kristy took full advantage and cruised to a decicive victory. Her closest competition was Meghan Crowley who avenged her dual meet loss to Adrienne Goldberg by a scant .04. Even closer was the .01 Goldberg held over Mansfield’s Courtney Lincoln. At 7.70 she gained a valuable 4 points for her team. Foxboro also capitalized by grabbing both 5th and 6th with Laura Clagg and Courtney Barletta. After two events the score was Franklin 26 and Mansfield 7. It started looking dimmer for the Hornets.

There were no early surprises as Hooly Heinricker continued to assert her dominance in the mid-sprints. Melissa Murphy secured second place but well behind the leader. Foxboro’s Mary Shea and King Philip’s Mary Schrader ran superior times to grab the next two spots. Moe Sullivan of Foxboro found he motivation to grab the next spot for Foxboro with a huge PR and Stoughton’s Jennifer Baryski grabbed the final point.
There were three DQ’s in the race.
Franklin 26 – Mansfield 15

Katy O’Brien continued to sparkle, ending four years of Hockomock League competition with a league leading 5:11.30 As expected, Katie Brague grabbed second. I had been warned to look out for Jill Sergi. She proved the prophet correct as she dropped 10 seconds off her seed time or third. Holly Cain, Rebecca Happnie and Lauren Brown placed as expected leaving a solid 5:49 by Jackie Oates out of the scoring.
Franklin 32 – Mansfield 24

Kailin Collins was up to the task of defending her league leading status. Katie Rizzolo hung tough to grab second. It was Ngoc Pham who provided the excitement by jumping all the way up to third, just edging team mate Kara Bowe. Marianne Mealey placed as expected. Though it looked like Abby Wessman might end up the outsider she came through with a fine race to grab the last spot.
Franklin 40 – Mansfield 34 (the lead continues to narrow)

There is no doubt that Allison Cuozzo is one of the top talents in the league. The speed work at the MSTCA Invite primed her for an incredible 1:36.08. A six second margin of victory in the race is totally unfathomable! The rest was nearly as expected. Ater Sionne and Brown it was 3M’s. In this case it was Kristen McCormick and Lauren Myers posting the biggest PR’s. Even with a PR 1:46.89 NA’s Andrea McKim had to settle for 7th.
Mansfield 43 – Franklin 40 (Mansfield quietly edges into the lead)

Franklin makes a dramatic statement to regain the lead in points. Meredith posted a 3:02.02 running all alone – just missing the meet record. The big news was Sam Robbins. Her 3:11.20 (6 second PR) shocked a lot of runners – and suddenly the Panthers were back in the drivers’ seat. Roumis and Miller also clocked exceptional bests for 3-4. Jess Quinlan grabbed 5th and Sarah Jaquette pleasantly surprised the Mansfield coaches with a bonus point at 3:19.49
Franklin 58 – Mansfield 48

Stephanie Guy gave it all she had but was unable to unseat Tricia Harrison (soory - picture not available) as the league champ. They tied on first throws at 37’2 but Tricia won by virtue of a better second throw. Kern and Schmidt performed as expected. It was Eryne Cotter who “came to play” with an improvement of 1’2” over her yearly PR to grab 5th. That left another recent breakthru thrower – Angela Cedrone in 6th a mere inch ahead of 55M dash champion Kristy Fuller
(Mansfield 62- Franklin 58) Mansfield regains the lead and will not relinquish it again)

This event provided all the drama that was expected and fittingly was the last completed. It was Kristen Oberlander who is breathing a little easier after escaping with the narrowest of victories. Both she and Ty Lynn Graham cleared league best jumps of 5’4 (the latter matching the school record set by Kare Pearce in 1986). Another 1st year jumper Stephanie Pratt jumped 5’ for third. Brittany Borchard and Kim Coughlin hung tough to join Meghan Crowley in a three way tie for the final points
Mansfield 80 – Franklin 66.33)