On January 10th, 2014 the NYA Panthers Indoor Track & Field team was finally able to compete in a regular season track meet. Our first competition was cancelled twice due to weather which makes the remaining meets that much more important. The athletes were both excited and nervous for the first real competition of the season. It seems that nervous and excited is a strong combo for this team, however, as the girls squad finished 2nd behind Greely in the 8 team competition while the boys finished 5th with only 8 competitors.
Since this is the first competition of the year there are no real times or distances (except for a handful of events) to use for comparison for the new athletes but the veterans saw some significant improvements. Point scorers in the distances were Matt Malcom who won both the 1 mile and the 2 mile in state qualifying times and Hannah Austin who also won the 2 mile (also in a state qualifying time). The girls 4×800 (Sarah Austin, Hannah Austin, Claire Maurer, and Kate Hilscher) also combined for a strong 2nd place finish. Matt Malcom was also awarded the Sr. Division MVP of the meet. The MVPs are selected at the conclusion of each meet by a panel of coaches.
In the sprints the Junior Division girls nabbed 3 places in the 55m dash with Emily Baker and Emily Taylor finishing 2-3 with Alex Wahlstrom close on their heels in 5th. Emily Taylor’s time of 8.10 was a significant (almost half a second) improvement over last year. In the Junior Girls 200m Emily Taylor continued her assault on her personal bests with a 1 second drop in the 200m to dip below 30 seconds for the first time and also place 5th. In the 400m both divisions were able to score points for the team as Alex Wahlstrom and Mackenzie Sangster combined for a 1-4 finish respectively in the junior division while Muriel Adams and Kayla Rose finished 5-6 in the senior division. On the boys side Michael McIntosh had a banner night breaking the school record in both the Sr. 55m dash and the Sr. 200m dash. He finished 1st in the 55m and 2nd in the 200m (both were state qualifying times). Xander Bartone also had a phenomenal night as he won the Jr 400m and the Jr 200m with ease. His time in the 400m was fast enough to qualify him for the state meet while the 200m time was a new school record in the Jr. Division. Xander also was able to place 4th in long jump which made him an easy choice for the MVP of the meet in the Junior Division.
In the hurdles and jumps NYA also had significant success. In the hurdles Jillian Bjorn-Caron won the Sr. Division by almost a full hurdle length while Lizzie Lewis ran a strong 2nd race to improve her time and finish 4th. In the Jr. Division all 3 girls placed in the top 6. Isabelle See, Mackenzie Sangster, and Acacia Bright placed 4-5-6 respectively. In the jumps Linnea Hull set a new personal best in the pole vault by clearing 7′ which was good for 3rd place. In the Sr. girls high jump Adela McVicar hit a career best height of 4’10” which qualifies her for the state championship and gave her a tie for 1st place. In the long jump Emily Taylor broke the 13′ barrier to place 3rd while Acacia Bright and Hailey Buthy both earned new personal bests. In the triple jump 3 of the 5 girls who competed in the event earned points for the team with Isabelle See placing 5th and Jillian Bjorn-Caron and Adela McVicar tying for 6th.
Lots of excitement in the shot circle as Muriel Adams and Shelby Peavey both placed in the senior division (2nd and 4th respectively). Shelby’s toss of 25-6.5 was also a new career best. Abby McKelvy just missed placing but also threw her career best. In the junior division Sarah Cooper improved by almost 2′ while Amelia Demetropoulos improved by over 1′. On the boys side Dagen Braun was just outside of scoring range but was able to increase his personal best by around 1′.
In the relays the Jr. Girls 4×200 won the competition easily and almost set a new school record. Emily Baker, Emily Taylor, Alex Wahlstrom, and Mackenzie Taylor combined for the 2:01.70 finishing time. In the Senior Division Jillian Bjorn-Caron, Lizzie Lewis, Adela McVicar, and Melanie Regan ran a strong race and finished in 5th. The Junior Division boys ran their first ever relay and finished 5th for the team.
Overall the meet was a huge success. To find full results, photos, all the new school records and top 5 performances plus the list of state qualifiers click the links on the left side of this page.
See you next week at USM for our meet at 6:30pm