Big 17:13 Win for Triton's Keely MaguireNEW -
John Nepolitan Story, Photos (in story) -
Larry Byrne Story Boys Results Page -
Girls Results Page -
all results, including JV, Freshmen At left, Keely Maguire leads Emily Jones; at right, Robert Gibson for the win. Photos by The Track Junkie - Triton Regional sr Keely Maguire establishes herself as Foot Locker contender with 17:13-17:31 win over Bromfield MA jr Emily Jones. Maguire's time trails only Nicole Blood and Lindsay Donaldson on this course, all-time, and is ahead of Ari Lambie.
- NE#4 Lincoln-Sudbury MA girls top NE#7 Bromfield, 28-60
- NE#3 Brookline MA and its #1 man Robert Gibson both triumph. Brookline scores 46 to NY#4 Smithtown's 74. Gibson runs 15:13 to win over Gabe Pacione 15:19
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Motivated Maguire Surprises Herself; Gibson Pulls Away From Pack; Solid Wins for Lincoln-Sudbury, BrooklineBy John Nepolitan
Championship Girls - Throughout 2006, Keely Maguire (Trinton Regional HS, Ma) was running in the shadow of Emily Jones (Bromfield, Ma) and felt that she had an outside chance at qualifying for the Foot Locker Championships. A late season bout of tonsillitis knocked Maguire out of contention at the Footlocker Northeast Regional while Jones went on to qualify for the National Championship. This disappointment motivated Maguire to come into the 2007 season in even better fitness with the goal of making the Northeast team in November.
Coming into this weekend’s Brown Invitational, Maguire had hoped to run in the 17:40s, a time that Jones ran last year, figuring this level of performance would be on target for a chance to making it to San Diego. A fast opening mile of 5:24 and having Jones on her shoulder through the first 2 miles pushed Maguire well below her goal. She crossed the finish line in 17:13.9 – the 3rd fastest time ever on the Goddard Park 3.05 mile course ( 70 meters short of 5000 meters) behind the 16:53 record of Nicole Blood (Saratoga, NY) and just in front of Ari Lambie. From the start it was a total two women race and a surge with about 1200 meters to go would take Maguire clear of her state rival.
The team race was also a battle between top Massachusetts schools. Coming into the weekend, Lincoln-Sudbury was ranked 4th in the Northeast following their 6th place finish in the Girls Eastern States race, but a small field here tightened the scoring up and gave 7th ranked Bromfield a chance for an upset.
Jones gave Bromfield the first scorer over the line for the two top contenders, but she was very quickly followed by Andrea Keklak(Lincoln Sudbury) and her Bromfield team mate Liz Lee in 4th and 5th, giving Bromfield a short-lived lead. Lincoln-Sudbury would slam the door on the threat 14 seconds behind Lee as the rest of their scoring 5 would come across the finish line within 2 seconds, claiming 8th-9th-10th-11th . Meanwhile, Northport(NY) was doing all they could to sneak past Bromfield, getting runners home in 12th-14th-15th-17th, but they were missing the very low number to overcome the 2nd place of Jones as Bromfield would hold on for 2nd.
Left, Andrea Keklak - #1 Lincoln Sudbury runner; right, Dana Jamieson leads home the Lincoln Sudbury packKeely Maguire – “I was really surprised. We went through the mile, and my coach was there. He yelled 5:24 and I was hoping to run 5:40 pace. I was really worried and so I just kept saying to myself ‘you can’t die.’ It really helped having him (her coach) there. My goal was to get 17:40, not 17:14.”
“I was expecting Emily Jones to be in front of me because last year that I kept thinking that is where I want to be. So I trained all summer and did 50 miles a week. I’ve been doing the right things with my eating and training and really monitoring; trying to get good sleep and really doing everything because I really wanted to break 18:00 for 5k.”
(In regard to the move of breaking away for the win)“It was not really until the end. She (Jones) was trailing off of me, because that is how she runs, and I kept expecting her to pass me. At the end, I had nothing down that straightaway. I just wanted to keep myself from falling. My goal is to be in the top 10 (at Footlocker Northeast) and go to Nationals. Last yea,r we were planning that I may have been able to get a top 10, and I came in 20th because of my tonsils. In fact, I had to go to an emergency room in New York since my tonsils were touching each other. She(Emily Jones) came in 9th last year (at Regionals) and I was a little bit behind her at the state meet, but not that much. So it was possible last year (to qualify for San Diego) and this year I am just aiming to qualify. This is exactly where I need to be, in fact better than were I need to be.”
Left, Varsity I winner Brianna Welch; right, Varsity II winner Clare BuckGirls Varsity I – Brianna Welch (North Shore, NY) had the credentials to run as an individual in the championship section, but wanted to run with her teammates and try to win team crown. Welch did what was expected of her, going to the front and grab the win and the 1 point that goes with it, but it would not be enough as Shoreham-Wading River, NY would take team honors, 59-94, over North Shore.
Girls Varsity II - Clare Buck (Hopewell Valley, NJ) overcame the fast start by Anne Twombly (Exeter, NH) to run a swift 18:11.9 to claim the top prize.
Early stages of the Boys Championship - from left #1783 Giovanni Signoretti, #1891 Lee Berube, #1074 Robert Gibson, Dylan Trotzuk and #1288 Gabe PacioneBoys Championship – In 2006, Smithtown (NY) upset the region’s #1 team, Collegiate, (NY) and returned in 2007 hoping to once again knock off a highly rated team – this year in the form of Brookline (Ma).
Giovanni Signoretti (Smithtown) jumped right to the front and tried to stretch out a lead, but tucking right in behind him was a pack which included the Brookline trio of Robert Gibson, David Wilson and Michael Burnstein, Gabe Pacione (Hamilton-Wenham HS, MA), Lee Berube (Ticonderoga, NY) and Dylan Trotzuk (Collegiate). The group slowly drew away from the rest of the field, with Signoretti staying at the front as the leaders went past 2 miles. Not far past the 2 mile point, the back of Signoretti’s right shoe got pulled off. He continued with his shoe half on, but would give up the lead to Gibson.
Coming back into view of the large collection of fans with 800 meters to go, Gibson started his drive for home which would carry him to a 6-second win over Pacione. Signoretti would continue running with a shoe half off until the final straight when Berube pulled along side. At that point Signoretti kicked off the shoe and was able to hold off Berube for 3rd place.
(see photo at left)Missing from the race was defending champion and 2006 Footlocker Finalist Brandon Jarrett (St Benedicts, NJ), who strained a groin muscle at last week’s Manhattan Invitational. The damage was minimal and Jarrett should be back in time for another run at a Foot Locker berth.
The team race was not as close as the individual battle as Brookline’s up front power was just too much for Smithtown. With Gibson already over the line, Brookline would put 3 more runners in the chute before Smithtown would get its 2nd runner in. Like many of the other teams looking for a top 2 placing at the Northeast NTN Regional meet, Brookline has a strong top few runners, but now must work on getting its 4th and 5th men closer to the front trio if they are to have any chance of making it to Portland. Today their 1:22 second 1 to 5 man spread did not hurt them due to the small size of the field, but it could cost them at Bowdoin in November.
Robert Gibson – “It was kind of surprising. I did not know what to expect coming in to today. I was just trying to stick with kids in front and just try to run off of people.”
Coming up that last little hill in the woods, I was telling myself I don’t have any speed anymore, so I might as well just go now. So I took off with like 1200 to go and just tried to hammer it into the line.”
“As a team I was just happy to see Wilson and Burnstein in right behind me. Giovanni (Signoretti of Smithtown) was leading through 2-1/2 miles, then I hopped up there and Berube jumped up there too. We kind of rotated it around for 400 meters and then after that last hill I took off. I felt really good the whole way through, and once I hit that hill I felt I had it.”
“I think our chances for NTN are looking pretty good so far. We have to see how we stack up against Danbury hopefully we will get in. I like that course (Bowdoin Park site of the NTN NE Regional). It had a good variety of hills, flat and trails.”
Boys Varsity I – From the very start, Pat Schellberg (Delbarton School, NJ) was at the front of the first boys’ varsity race. He stayed there to the finish, crossing the line in 16:02.8. Behind Schellberg, Delbarton would put 3 other runners in the top 25 to lock up the team title over Hopewell Junction (NJ), 82-96.
Boys Varsity II – In the early stages, Colin Anderson (Northport, NY) assumed the lead, but during the middle mile Bobby Andrews (Shoreham Wading River, NY) took over and powered away to a 15:48.2 – 16:08.8 win. Shoreham would put all of its scorers into the top 10 to easily take the team crown over Northport, 23 – 132.
Left, Bobby Andrews wins Varsity II; right, Pat Schellberg wins Varsity I raceLarry Byrne's ReportThe 25th Brown HS XC Invitational was conducted today at Goddard State Park, in Warwick, Rhode Island over 5000 m of a flat, mostly wooded trails....made somewhat muddy due to 24 hours of rain on Friday. However, a cloudy day gave way to sunshine as the championship races got underway, with the temp. hovering about 68-70 degrees all day.
The Boys race was an easy romp for senior Robert Gibson in 15:13.7, leading his NE #3 team to an also easy victory at 46 points, over New York's #4 Smithtown with 74, followed by a NE "bubble" local squad, East Greenwich, RI
The watched-for dual between Gibson and St. Benedict's Brandon Jarrett, never occurred as the NJ team was a no-show at the line today. So, in-turn, the Brookline flash outran Gabe Pacione [Hamilton-Wenham]; Giovanni Signoelli [Smithtown], Lee Berube [Ticonderoga] and Dylan Trotzuk [Collegiate] easily in that order.
On the Girls side, senior Keely Maguire, the lone entrant from Triton Regional, ran away from Bromfield's Emily Jones, the 2006 outdoor New England 3,200 m champ and ranked 19th in the current DyeStat Foot Locker Girls Favorites Top 20 List. In fact, Keely's time of 17:13.9 is the 3rd fastest over this course, behind the 16:52.0 by Nicole Blood of Saratoga Springs and the 16:54.0 by Lindsay Donaldson, then at Lincoln-Sudbury, both in the 2003 Brown race, and moved past Ari Lambie's 17:15.0 while running for Bromfield, into 4th place.
As the results indicate, it was a two girl race, from about the 2,000 m mark, with Keely opening up a 50 meter gap to the tape.
In the team battle, Lincoln-Sudbury, the NE #4 continued it's mastery over cross-state MA rival Bromfield, the current NE #7, 28 to 60, with Northport, NY a close 3rd at 66.
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