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.
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.
