Good thing we got all that settled.
Four days after the Dual County League Championship Meet at Weston High and five days after rain washed out the originally scheduled date, the full story can finally be told.
And for the Newton South boys, it was worth the delay.
Though the Lion boys left Weston with darkness falling after five hours of competition on a cold, windy afternoon knowing they'd capped their undefeated regular season with a DCL Championship Meet title, the particulars were a little hazy.
Originally slated for Wednesday, the meet was to be scored by automatic timer, but with a timer unavailable for Thursday night, the scoring had to be done by hand. As such, the places and times, particularly of the field events, were uncertain as of Thursday night. And such, the breakdown of the Lions boys' victory remained on hold.
No longer.
With a pair of event wins from freshman Ross McDonald and single wins from Boye Akinwande, Sam Donovan, Gerald Arneaud, and the 4x400 relay team, the Lions piled up 131 points, 24 better than second-place Lincoln-Sudbury. The South girls, 7-1 in the regular season, placed third as a team with 95 points, behind undefeated regular season champ and All-State favorite L-S (145) and Concord-Carlisle (105).
McDonald won the long jump (20-7) and pole vault (12-6), taking another step in what South coach Matt Capstick call a ``remarkable'' freshman season.
``School record,'' said McDonald without hesitation when asked about his goal for the pole vault. ``I thought I had the long jump in the bag, but I wasn't sure about the pole vault. I didn't quite get it, but good enough. I was also a little short of my goal in the long jump (22 feet), but anything over 20 on a not-so-perfect day make me happy.''
Akinwande, meanwhile, completed an undefeated season within the DCL setting an eight-inch PR in winning the triple jump (43-5).
``I was aiming for 44 because I was setting the bar high,'' said Akinwande. ``But I was happy when I got 43. I was concerned because the Weston kid looked good this season, but he got around 42. There are still things I can work on for next week (the Division 1 Meet), like in my last phase of my jump, I'm a little too hunched over. Maybe I can fix that, stay taller and get more height so I can jump farther. When I got the 43-5, that was the straightest I'd gone in all year.''
Arneaud won the 400 (50.0), Donovan took the mile in a PR 4:26.23 and the 4x400 (Arneaud, Senyo Agawu, James Huth and Justin Albert; 3:31.87) emerged victorious as well.
``I've had some injuries, so the plan was for me to just go out, stick with the leaders and let them do the work,'' said Donovan. ``I was told not to go for time, that I'd get it with a fast field like this. They went out fast, I just relaxed and with 500 to go, I made a surge.''
After finishing 7-1 - losing only to L-S - and placing second to L-S this past winter, South relished the chance to take down their chief rivals. Aside from the event winners, the Lions had 12 other top-six performances.
Senior Brad Pruente finished second in the 110 hurdles (15.21) and third in the 300 hurdles (40.8), while Agawu (200, 22.7), Andrew Wortham (2-mile, 10:00.8) and Huth (100, 11.12) placed second in their events. Senior captain Joe Treff took third in the shot put (42-6.5) and fourth in the discus (127-10), while Albert, a senior, was third in the 200 (52.24) and junior Roy Ribitsky was fourth in the pole vault (11-0). The 4x800 relay (Alex Long, Tal Inbar, John Beck, Andy Greenspon; 8:50.9) placed fourth as did Cameron Fenn (2-mile, 10:05.9). Beck finished sixth in the mile (4:37.9).
``The guys worked so hard day in, day out and they really came together as a team,'' said coach and former Lion distance runner Capstick. ``They stayed focused all year, especially for this meet. They knew that the scoring structure at the league meet is different and that different teams teams can affect how things can play out. They knew just because we went 8-0 in the regular season, that doesn't necessarily mean a win at the league meet. But everybody came in and executed perfectly.''
Though the South girls fell just shy of its goal of 100 points, a third-place finish in the league meet of the state's deepest and most-talented league has been a predictor of future success. Last year, the Lions placed third to the same two teams at the DCL Meet before taking second at the Division 1 Meet the following week.
``L-S just has too much for any other team to beat,'' acknowledged South coach Steve McChesney. ``C-C could very well earn a trophy (first or second place) in Division II with their big-meet points. We had a lot of kids produce incredible marks that just did not earn the points that we needed to place higher.''
Junior Candace Bailey had a stake in 26 points, setting a school record in winning the 100 (personal record 12.1), anchoring the 4x100 relay to victory (51.1), and placing fourth in the long jump (16-2).
``I wanted to get a 12.2 going in,'' said Bailey. ``I was hoping and praying for that because I hadn't done well at the Weston Twilight Meet and I thought I had a shot at the school record (12.3). I'd gotten a 12.4 in the meet before this (the regular-season finale at Bedford), so I was tired of getting those times.''
Sophomore Bridget Dahlberg won the mile (5:04.2), setting the pace for two other Lions in the top-four.
Freshman Madeleine Reed took third (5:20.2) and sophomore Juliet Ryan-Davis finished fourth (5:20.5) in a race featuring the indoor All-State champion in the 1,000 (L-S's Molly Binder) and the defending indoor and outdoor mile champion (Dahlberg).
Running a controlled pace, Dahlberg completed the first 800 meters in 2:28 before attempting to lose Binder over the next 200. Reed and Ryan-Davis tried to stay close, cutting Binder's lead down to two seconds in the last 200, but Binder held on to take second.
``I'm going on a nice downward curve as far as time this season,'' said Ryan-Davis. ``It wasn't my PR, but it was as well as I could have done today, so I'm really happy with it. I do cross country and the best race I've ever had was when it was snowing out, so the cold didn't bother me.''
``I broke 5:20 last race, so I wanted to do that again,'' said Reed. ``I got almost exactly 5:20, so I'm happy with that.''
South boasted three other winners as Elisabeth Jeyaraj claimed the shot (31-5), the 4x100 team of Pebbles Banks, Katherine Sandson, Azeezah Gray and Bailey finished first and the 4 x 800 relay (junior Diana Braver, Ryan-Davis, Reed, Dahlberg; 9:55) also won.
In addition to running the lead leg of the victorious 4x800, Braver accounted for six other points, placing fourth in the high jump (5-0) and fifth in the 800 (2:24.2). Banks also placed fourth in the 100 (13.2), while sophomore Kelsey Karys (11:37.0), senior Emma Rudie (11:40.0), and freshman Melanie Fineman (11:51.0) finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the 2-mile. The 2-Mile, in particular, highlighted the depth of the DCL competition as South scored only seven points despite three state-level times.
``We only scored 7 points in the 2-mile and that is amazing,'' said McChesney, at once lauding the efforts of Karys, Rudie and Fineman and praising the field. ``These marks in other leagues would have put all four into scoring. Any other year in the DCL we would have had 16 or more points from these kinds of times.''
The 4x400 team of Julia Frieze, Ann Norris, Mary Kate Cronin, and Alana O'Brien clocked a 4:22.2 to take fourth place with freshman Cora Visnick placing third in the pole vault (8-0) and Nalis Mbianda posting a fourth-place showing in the javelin (99-5).
Both the South boys and girls travel to Lowell High Saturday (9:30 a.m.) for the Division 1 Meet. With Dahlberg (mile) and Bailey (55 dash) coming off All-State indoor titles and favored to win the mile and 100, respectively, the Lions girls are in the hunt for a trophy with L-S the overwhelming favorite. The boys, meanwhile, are looking for a top-five finish.
