Tough day at the track for Northampton
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WESTFIELD - Even without its usual anchor, the Northampton 4x400-meter relay team is still pretty good, even if the final result Saturday doesn't show it.
Adrienne Pascucci, Mia Toffoli, Emma Larson and Phoebe Hopkins finished eighth in 4 minutes, 0.60 seconds in an incredibly fast relay at the All-State Track & Field Championships at Westfield State College.
"We ran a really good time," Hopkins said. "We had two freshmen on the team and we've never run this team before. We've never run just the four of us."
Senior Natalia Paine, the Blue Devils' usual anchor, left the meet to attend her graduation. Larson filled in for her, while closing duties were left to Hopkins. Both are juniors.
"I probably would have done the same thing in her position," Hopkins said. "Gradation is big. You don't want to miss that as a senior."
Six teams broke four minutes, led by Tewksbury which won in 3:56.02.
Marblehead, which finished seventh, ran 4:00.36.
"Those teams were crazy good," Hopkins said. "I'm happy with it."
Paine, meanwhile, had anticipated running her 400-meter race in which she was seeded fifth. But with time running out after a weather delay, she chose to leave the meet to attend her graduation which started at 6 p.m. in Northampton. The final 400 heat, which would have included Paine, started at 5:45 p.m.
"It wasn't easy for her," said Blue Devils coach Nate Kraft. "I don't envy that decision for any senior, let alone someone who is in position to win an all-state title in two events."
Paine already knew she was going to miss the relay. When a storm cell passed through shortly after 3 p.m., the meet was delayed for 30 minutes.
"She was very disappointed," Kraft said. "When the weather delay happened she looked at me, and we talked about it - if it's delayed it's going to be tough," Kraft said. "And pretty much if (the delay) ended 10 minutes earlier, she probably would have stayed."
Paine, who is headed to Harvard, was seeking her first outdoor all-state title.
"It's a tough decision that she had to make," Kraft said. "The one thing you look at is she has four years of running ahead of her and she has accomplished a lot in high school. That's a big thing. It's a shame she had to make that decision. I feel bad about that."
Newton North won the girls championship with 40 points. Andover won the boys title with 52.
New England qualifiers
Tchuijo Nkamebo of Amherst Regional and Brianna Tabin of South Hadley each finished fourth in their events and earned a spot at the New England championships June 12 in New Britain, Conn.
Nkamebo finished fourth in the triple jump with a 45 foot, 6.5 inch leap. He reached that mark on his second-to-last jump of the competition.
"It's pretty good actually," Nkamebo said. "I was expecting to jump 46 again but I don't know what happened. I took six steps instead of seven because last week I pulled my hamstring. Usually with seven I'm able to run faster."
The Amherst sophomore won the triple jump at the western Massachusetts championships May 29 with his only jump of 44-10½, and he was seeded sixth at the state meet.
Olisa Obiefuna of Saugus won in 45-9.24, followed by Ricky Arisme of Somerville in 45-7.75 and Gregory Hilliard of Brockton in 45-7.5.
Nkamebo, who was one of five athletes younger than a junior or seniors in the event, kept a close watch on the competition.
"I usually hang around to see what I can improve so it can make me a better triple jumper," Nkamebo said. "I picked up when I jump, I jump high instead of high and forward and to extend myself."
Tabin placed fourth in the 200 in a personal record 25.22 seconds.
Rebecca Robin of Arlington won in 24.77, followed by Hannah Janeczak of Doherty in 24.89 and Selena Yates of Holyoke in 25.17.
"I thought that with all the good competition I'd just go out there and get a PR," Tabin said. "They were a lot of great runners."
Tabin had the luxury of running against Robin and Janeczak in her semifinal heat. Tabin was third behind Robin and Janeczak in the heat.
"It allowed me to know what kind of pace they were going to go at," Tabin said. "It was good practice for the final."
Tabin was stuck in the outside lane in the final. It wasn't until after she took the corner that she could see where she was in relation to the other sprinters.
"It gets you down but it motivates you to do more," Tabin said. "When someone is neck-and-neck with you it makes you push so much harder."
Record-breaking run
Ian Lutz of Northampton broke the 36-year-old school record in the 2-mile. The junior finished 11th in 9:36.07.
Lutz placed first in the first of two heats, but did not get to run against John Bleday of Xaverian and John Murray of Shrewsbury. Bleday won the final in 9:04.87, and Murray was second in 9:05.34.
Titi Fagade, who grew up in Northampton before moving to central Massachusetts after her freshman year, was looking forward to running the 400 against Paine, her former teammate. Fagade was unaware Paine had left for graduation.
"I wanted so badly to run against my old teammate, to end our year," said the senior at Wachusett Regional in Holden. "I didn't know she was going to leave."
As Fagade made her way around the track, it seemed like she had never left western Massachusetts as cheers followed her the entire race.
"I know a lot of people here," Fagade said. "I have friends in Northampton, friends here and friends in Hadley and Amherst. A lot of people are here."
Fagade placed fourth in the 400 in 57.16. Hannah O'Flynn of Ipswich won in 56.16, Mimi Narbonne of Bromfield was second in 56.80 and Kendall Knous of Franklin finished third in 56.87.
Fagade also anchored Wachusett's fourth-place 4x400 relay team in 3:56.71.
Fagade understands the decision Paine had to make. Fagade will skip the New England championships in order to attend her graduation.
"You only graduate from high school once," said Fagade, who will run next year at Fordham University. "I've run a ton of track meets and I'm running in college. I'll have plenty of more track meets but only one high school graduation so I want to go to that."
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com.
