A pair of South Hadley track and field athletes repeated as state champions Sunday at the Division 4 state championships meet at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Jon Horstman won the boys 600-meter race, while Brianna Tabin took home the crown in the girls 55-meter dash.

Horstman finished in a time of 1 minute, 23.23 seconds, besting his sectional championship time of 1:26.43.

"I'm excited about winning, and I feel very proud, similar to how I felt winning it last year," Horstman said. "It wasn't my best time, but it was pretty close. I know I can still run faster."

As was the case at the sectional meet on Feb. 4, the senior came into states as a considerable favorite.

"With Jon being the favorite by that much, we knew what he'd have to run, and he was able to execute that," said Tigers coach Mike Brouillette. "His western Mass. race was conservative, we knew how much of a window he'd have there. By conserving the energy it would help him down the road, and that strategy has worked."

Horstman will be placed in the fast heat at next Saturday's all-state competition in Boston.

"It's going to be great to compete in the fast heat," said Horstman. "I feel I can run 1:21 and maybe even a little faster. The competition will be much greater. At western Mass. I went about 80 percent, at states I went pretty hard but not my absolute best."

Tabin repeated as state champion in the 55 dash with a time of 7.31. She also beat her western Mass. time of 7.43.

"I'm really happy with my performance," Tabin said. "As usual I was a little slow out of the blocks, but I put in a lot of effort in my overall sprint, and to see it pay off is great. My form throughout today was better than in recent races."

Brouillette agreed with Tabin's assessment of her performance.

"She really came on," he said. "We needed her to have the confidence in her speed. Her times were not quite as good as last year, but for her to run fast times today will help for next week. We're going to continue to work on reaction times on the blocks. That will be the difference."

The senior, now a two-time sectional and state champion, said she felt some pressure going in as the one to beat.

"It's a little bit more pressure as defending champ," she said. "Anyone who makes it to states can really run, so it felt good to do it again. I definitely feel ready for all-states. I just need to react better to the gun than I have been, and I'll be fine."

Tabin came in second last year at the all-state competition with a time of 7.24.

Division 3

The Northampton track and field teams finished higher that any other western Massachusetts team at Saturday's Division 3 state championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

The Blue Devils girls came in fourth overall with 35.5 points. Pembroke won the title with 64 points.

Mia Toffoli had the best individual performance of the day, coming in second in the 600-meters with a time of one minute, 36.43 seconds. Phoebe Hopkins (1:38.82) was fourth in the same event.

In the high jump, Adrienne Pascucci finished tied for third at 5 feet even.

Charlotte Lellman's fourth-place time of 11:30.99 in the 2-mile established a new school record

Northampton's 4x400 team of Pascucci, Toffoli, Emma Larson and Hopkins earned a third-place finish at 4:08.30. Their 4x200 team of Casey Keedy, Emily King, Emily Hannigan-Page and Catherine Lamond came in fifth and put up a school record time of 1:49.58.

The boys team finished 11th overall with 16 points. Bishop Feehan of Attleboro was first (74).

Alex Sullivan came in third in the 1000-meter and set a new school mark at 2:33.78.

"I was really pleased with the way we competed," said Blue Devils coach Nate Kraft. "Both the boys and girls competed at a high level, and that translated into good placing. The points that we gathered just happened."

The top three in each event advanced to the all-state competition next weekend, as well as the next 12 best finishers across all four divisions.

Division 2

Amherst Regional competed in the Division 2 track and field championships Saturday in Boston.

The Hurricanes boys were 36th overall with one point, earned by James Traester with an eighth-place finish in the mile at 4:33.72. The 'Canes girls came in 34th with two points. Mercedes Fissore-O'Leary came in seventh in the 1000 at 3:10.56.

Michael Wilkinson can be reached at mwilkinson@gazettenet.com.