Devils' relay team second in New England
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The Northampton 4x400-meter relay team was fortunate to earn a spot at the New England championships. When the Blue Devils arrived Saturday, they showed everyone they belonged.
The Northampton team ran a perfect race and set a blistering time as it finished second in 3 minutes, 53.01 seconds at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Conn.
The time is a new school record by 2.5 seconds, something Blue Devils coach Nate Kraft thought his team could accomplish.
"Did I think we were actually going do to do that? I didn't know," Kraft said. "Three, fifty-three was everything going perfectly and that's what happened."
Danbury won the event in 3:52.52 but the two teams did not compete against other.
To qualify for the New England competition, a relay team or individual athlete needs to finish in the top six at the state meet. Northampton finished eighth but because two teams scratched, the Blue Devils were able to attend.
Hamp was originally seeded 15th at New Englands but moved up to 11th after more scratches. Running in the next-to-last heat freshman Adrienne Pascucci, freshman Mia Toffoli, junior Phoebe Hopkins and senior Natalia Paine slowly distanced themselves from the field to win by over six seconds.
Danbury won the final heat by more than four seconds.
"It's so amazing," Hopkins said. "Personally I didn't have any expectations and I didn't think we'd PR by that much. When Natalia crossed the finish line we were astounded."
Courtesy of Track and Field Videos on Flotrack
The team executed Kraft's plan to perfection. Pascucci stuck with the leaders, Toffoli gave the team its initial lead, Hopkins lengthened it and Paine closed the door. When Paine ran down the back stretch, she extended her lead to almost 80 meters.
"Someone had announced (the time) as I crossed the line," Paine said. "I was in complete shock."
Pascucci's split time was 61.1 seconds, Toffoli 57.9, Hopkins 57.8 and Paine 55.9.
"They were ecstatic. They all were," Kraft said. "It was unbelievable."
While the Blue Devils have qualified for the national high school meet, they will not attend.
"I'm glad to end this season on this," Hopkins said. "It would be exciting to say we went to nationals but that never crossed our minds. It's nice to end on such a good note."
Other local athletes
Amherst Regional sophomore Tchuijo Nkamebo finished 12th in the triple jump with a final mark of 44 feet.
South Hadley junior Brianna Tabin finished 10th in the 200 in 26.44 seconds.
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com.
