Indoor track teams enjoy success

Girls finish fourth in Division 3, boys 10th

BY JOE MCCONNELL

The Marblehead High indoor track teams took part in the annual Division 3 state championship meet at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Roxbury on Feb. 19. The boys finished 10th, while the girls ended up in the top five in fourth place.

Boys 55-meters

The season-long friendly rivalry between Harrison Curtis and Thomas Carlson ended with a narrow victory for Curtis (6.88), who finished 13th overall. Carlson (6.89) was right behind him in 14th place.

Carlson’s future is bright, because the top sophomore time in the division was 6.88, according to coach Nolan Raimo.

Girls 55-meters

Cate Trautman led the way finishing sixth overall with a new personal best time of 7.54. She easily bested her previous time of 7.62.

Ava Machado finished 11th with a time of 7.65, and Sadie Halpern (7.76) ended up 21st.

“At the beginning of the season, Cate wanted to focus on the 300 after a successful 400 spring campaign the previous year,” said Raimo. “Cate ran a 7.78 three years in a row, but was frustrated with the 55. However, she still came out for the event this season after a fantastic offseason and ended up shattering the school record by over a tenth of a second that also shaved a quarter of a second off her previous best time.”

Boys 55-meter hurdles

Alex Hersey finished seventh with a new personal best time of 8.50. Errol Apostolopoulos (8.99) was 19th.

“Alex and Errol have made tremendous progress over the course of the season in the hurdles, and they will have one last shot in the event at the

TIMELY rOLL pentathlon on March 1,” said Raimo.

Girls 55-meter hurdles

Devin Whalen (9.36) finished eighth after running a personal-best time of 9.17 in the preliminary round. Claire Davis (9.58) was 15th, and Elise Burchfield (9.92) 25th.

“It was a day of bad luck for the hurdlers,” Raimo said.

“Devin tagged the last hurdle in the finals that set her back a bit, and Claire battled back from an illness this week to compete.”

Boys long jump

Apostolopoulos finished sixth with a huge jump of 20-2.25 that places him third all-time in the school record books.

Hersey (19-3.75) missed the finals by three inches to finish 10th.

“For multi-event participants like Errol and Alex, bad events inevitably happen when you’re competing,” Raimo said. “Errol had a herculean effort in the long jump following a sub-par hurdle race. His tenacity was on full display, and it was awesome to witness it.”

Girls long jump

Charlie Roszell finished 19th with a leap of 14-6. Claire Davis (13-7) was 27th.

Boys high jump

Apostolopoulos finished 13th with a clearance of 5-7.

“Errol, with his other events already mentioned, has a limited amount of time to practice the high jump, and so a 13th-place finish at the state divisional championship meet is great,”

Raimo said.

Girls high jump

Keira Sweetnam (5-4, personal best) continued to climb the ladder to finish second. Burchfield (4-8) was 12th. “Elise, like Errol and Alex, bounces around between a lot of events, and her clearance of 4-8 at the state divisional championship meet is quite impressive,” Raimo said. “Keira’s jump of 5-4 qualifies her for the nationals. She is the first athlete to qualify for nationals in my tenure, and I imagine the first one since A.J. Ernst in the last decade.”

Boys 300 Curtis (37.09, personal best) continued his long-sprinting career with an eighth-place finish. Sebby Pantzer (37.29, personal best) was 11th “Harrison and Sebby are