BOSTON - Sometimes you have to just grin and bear it.
After initially disqualifying the New Bedford girls 4x200 relay, after the second runner apparently drifted over two lanes - from Lane 1 to Lane 3 - and interfered with all trailing teams, meet officials later overturned the ruling, allowing the Whalers to finish second in the race and leap from fifth to fourth in the team standings at Friday's Division 1 Championship Meet.
Though most coaches believed the Whaler runner wasn't interfered with herself, meet officials ruled that she was bumped and knocked out of her lane by another team's runner.
But the newly awarded points had much further-reaching effects, bumping Andover from second to third in the 4x200 race (and from third to fourth in the team standings), Newton South from third to fourth (second to third overall) and momentary winners
Lincoln-Sudbury from sixth to seventh, deducting a point from the Warriors' score and dropping them into a first-place tie with Dual County League rival Acton-Boxboro, the 4x200 victors.
Confused? So were all the coaches huddling around the scorer's table Friday night during the 20-minute deliberation. In the end, L-S lost its outright title, instead finishing tied for first with A-B with 46 points, while New Bedford's second-place 4x200 finish cost South two points (as well as a trophy) by dropping the Lions into third place with 44 points. The only team in the top-6 unaffected by the chaos, the Newton North girls placed sixth with 32 points.
``It was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster,'' said South girls coach Steve McChesney. ``Basically, when you stop and think about it, though, we did every thing we could to win a trophy at the meet so it was hard to be too upset.''
On the boys side, North senior David Smith followed up his All-State outdoor shot put title with an indoor Division 1 crown Friday. Preceded by a primal scream, the 2006 Tribune Boys Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year won with heave of 54 feet, 6 inches to give as the Tigers (12th place overall) 10 of their 12 points.
``I really wanted to do better,'' said Smith. ``I had a good week of practice and I was looking for 58 (feet) today. Next week, I'm hoping for 60 and I definitely think that's within reach.''
Although he was mystified by the scorer's decision, McChesney didn't want the confusion to obscure what he called a ``great day'' by his charges, fresh off the DCL Championship Meet crown.
Junior Candace Bailey edged out A-B senior and defending Division 1 champion Natalie Crutchfield for the second week in a row, winning the 55 dash in 7.28. Bailey also led the fourth-place (or was it third?) 4x200 relay of Dani Pensack, Desirie Skeet and Azeezah Gray.
``I have to thank God,'' said Bailey. ``I'm very religious and I don't think I could have done it without him. I was hoping for 7.28 and I got 7.29. It was nice to beat (Crutchfield) and show people I can do it.
``As far as next week, I'd like to win it, but it has more to do with what time I run and I'd like to break 7.2,'' Bailey added. ``Second-place would be all right if I run well, but I'm not too fond of third.''
Seeded fourth coming in, junior Diana Braver placed third in the 600 (1:38.85) while leading off the second-place 4x800. Senior Ann Norris, and sophomores Juliet Ryan-Davis and Bridget Dahlberg completed the 4x800 foursome, which clocked a 9:41.26 to snap the previous meet record (Wachusett, 9:42.92).
Trouble was, crosstown rival Newton North's contingent shattered the mark, winning in 9:32.84. Sophomore Carolyn Ranti led off, followed by classmate Emma Kornetsky and seniors Kat Chiong and Jess Barton.
Barton also led an all-Newton top-4 in the 1-mile, winning in 5:01.66. Ranti came in second (5:10.49), while Dahlberg finished third (5:13.25) and Ryan-Davis (5:14.27) was fourth.
South also received crucial points from senior Emma Rudie in the 2-mile (fourth, 11:46.03) and senior Skeet (fifth, 9.03).
``If you look at our results girl-by-girl,'' McChesney said, ``we did have our best (Class) meet ever. But this year the competition is the toughest that we've faced. I am happy for the league that we went 1-2-3.
``We actually had more girls score points than any other team in the competition,'' he added. ``We just didn't have the firsts that the other teams did.''
For North, Tracy Isman placed fifth in the shot put (32-9) and Chiong was sixth in the 600 (1:42.23).
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In addition to Smith's victory in the shot, the North boys scored in two other events as junior Seb Putzeys took sixth in the mile (4:31.91) and the 4x400 relay placed sixth in the 4x400 relay (3:31.58).
For South, senior Sam Donovan came in fourth in the mile (4:30.41).
