The members of the Cambridge Track & Field team competed in their first races of the year at the annual Intrasquad Meet held February 21. The rain stayed away as distance runners and sprinters all had the opportunity to run with and against their team mates in this official time trial. A couple of school records were broken, which bodes well for the team as they head to the Zaxby's Archer Invitational on Saturday with the varsity runners.
Leading off the events was the longest race of the meet at just under two miles: the 3200m. This resulted in first place finishes from Carson Ertwine ('19), with a personal best of 10:29, and Leah Capomaccio ('20), who ran a personal best time of 13:20.
This was followed by the first relay event of the afternoon, the 4x100. For the girls, the Cambridge 'A' team comprised of Taya Jackson ('19), Ryan Jackson ('20), team newcomer Michaela Prevallet ('20), and Lexi Lay easily led the field and finished in a time of 52.86, almost 8 seconds ahead of the second place team. On the boys' side, the top three teams finished within just over 1 second of each other for one of the closest finishes of the evening. The 'C' team emerged the victor and included Hayden Gardella ('21), Graham Browning ('21), CJ Thompson ('19), and Evan Bell ('19) crossing the finish line in 48.10.
Julianna Finelli('20), who tends to run middle distance events, won the 1600m girls' race, with a personal record of 6:08. Yahya Merchant('20) led the field for the boys, breaking 5 minutes for his first time, with a personal record of 4:59.
The 400m dash, with its one full lap around the track, was closely contested with Lexi Lay('20) just edging out newcomer Delaney Goodell ('19), and running a personal best of 1:01. Jack McHale('20) came in just ahead of Hayden Gardella ('21) with a 54.87, and like many of the winners at this meet, also set a personal record.
All runners then had a chance to catch their breath, as the next races were the girls' 100m hurdles and boys' 110m hurdles. The athletes, parents and coaches all pitched in to get the hurdles lined up. Michaela Prevallet ('20) led this field by just over four seconds, with a personal best time of 17.61. She will be chasing that school record of 15.86 for sure this season! Newcomer Garrick Kourany ('19) led the boys, winning by 2 seconds in a time of 18.35, just under a second shy of the school record of 17.56 set two years ago.
The 800m race was hotly contested for both the girls' and boys' teams. Junior Delaney Goodell beat fellow junior Grace Gerlach by just over a second to set a new school record of 2:24. This was six seconds faster than the previous record set last spring. The boys' race was even tighter, with Jack Filan ('19), who typically runs the 3200, crossing the line 0.58 seconds ahead of Tanner LeeMaster ('18), for a personal record of 2:01.25.
Ryan Jackson ('20) set the second school record of the evening when she ran 200m in 25.58, leading the field by 4 seconds. For the boys' races, Christian Graham('20) led the first heat to finish in 24.71 and that was enough for the win, despite two more heats that had finishers within 0.3 seconds of his time.
The second to last event of the evening was the 300m hurdles, and for the girls it was quite the race between Taya Jackson ('19), a state qualifier her sophomore year, and Michaela Prevallet ('20), with Taya finishing 0.59 seconds ahead of Michaela for the win. Her time of 48.12 was just over a second slower than her school record. Garrick Kourany ('19) won more comfortably for the boys 300mH to finish in 46.14.
Finally, the entire track and field team, including sprinters, jumpers, throwers, and distance runners, were all part of a 4x400 race to finish off the evening. The Cambridge 'A' teams won handily, as they are generally comprised of those runners who are the most experienced at sprinting one lap around the track. For the girls, this included Lexi Lay, Delaney Goodell, Taya Jackson, and Ryan Jackson. For the boys, the team was comprised of Evan Bell ('19), Jack McHale ('20), Tanner LeeMaster('18), and Carson Ertwine ('19).
Upcoming meets includes the Archer Invitational on Saturday, February 24, for the varsity runners, a small meet at Centennial on Wednesday, February 28, and next week will end with the two day Milton Showcase Invitational, at which many school records are often broken.
