O'Keefe sets track record, captures mile at New England championships

By Staff Report Mar 8, 2011, 11:02am

Also, Rebecca Robinson of Arlington (Mass.) sets record in the 300; Paris Taft of Career (Conn.) posts fifth-best 600 time in the country.

Defending New England champion Greg Boursiquot of Stoughton (Mass.) (55-meter hurdles) and MIAA All-Stater Kathy O'Keefe of Newton South (Mass.) (mile run) were among the gold medalists last Friday night at the annual New England Secondary Schools Principals Association Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Boston.

Boursiquot ran a 7.45 to narrowly edge fellow Massachusetts competitor Josh Quinnie of Attleboro (Mass.) (7.49) and win his second straight New England crown.

Kathy O'Keefe.
Kathy O'Keefe.
Photo by Mike Braca
O'Keefe, a Boston College, recruit, set a New England record and established a personal best in the mile with a time of 4:54.82.

"The record was definitely on the radar," O'Keefe told the Boston Herald. "The pace was a little slower than I wanted. (But) the shadows in Reggie Lewis make you feel as though there's someone right with you."



Rebecca Robinson of Arlington (Mass.), who was a double winner at the MIAA All-State meet the previous week, also set a New England record by running a 39.08 in the 300. That felled the 13-year old mark previously held by another Mass. runner, Foxboro's Allison Culley.

Other state track and field winners at the New England championships were as follows:

Boys 600, Andre Rolim, Somerville (Mass.), 1:20.75; Boys 4x200 Relay, Newton North (Newtonville, Mass.), 1:31.77; Boys 4x800 Relay, Acton-Boxborough (Mass.), 7:56.76; Girls 55 hurdles, Vanessa Clerveaux, Brockton (Mass.), 8.20; Girls High Jump, Kristen McDonagh, Mansfield (Mass.), 5-7; Girls Shot Put, Lauren Duggan, Norwood (Mass.), 40-11 1/4; Girls 4x800 Relay, Lincoln-Sudbury (Sudbury, Mass.), 9:13.72.

The Connecticut contingent fared also fared well.

Paris Taft of Career Magnet (New Haven, Conn.) won the girls 600 in 1:33.96, fifth best in the country, and Northwest Catholic (West Hartford, Conn.) sophomore Sarah Gillespie won in the 1,000 (2:55.37) was the only other individual girls winner. Maya Walton of Danbury (Conn.) took the long jump (18 feet, 5 1/4 inches).

Boys individual winners included: Alex Levine of Danbury in the boys 1,000 (2:28.97, eighth U.S.); John Wlasuk of Newtown (Conn.) in the shot put (58-3 3/4); Jamie Tobias of Bloomfield in the high jump (6-9); and Jake Scinto of Cheshire (Conn.) in the long jump (22-6 1/4). Scinto was also fourth in the high jump (6-5).



Relay winners: Bloomfield girls 4x400-meter (meet record 3:56.17, 11th U.S.); Windsor (Conn.) girls 4x200 (1:43.98); and Staples (Westport, Conn.) boys 4x400 (3:25.46).

Connecticut correspondent Paul Rosano contributed to this report.