WESTFIELD — Northampton sophomore Theodore King-Pollet stuck his tongue out and threw up the “hang loose” sign with both hands as he crossed the Roots Athletic Center finish line.
He and teammate Jude Mourad teamed with two West Springfield runners to complete a 4x800-meter relay in 9 minutes, 46.41 seconds to close the Roots Speed Week No. 2 meet Friday. They threw it together at the last minute for the sake of competition and to add some speed work after running distance races earlier in the morning, practicing the spirit of the meet.
“It was a little last minute. It was fun though,” King-Pollet said. “It’s still early in the season. It was fun to be out there, it was fun to run fast.”
Local indoor track and field teams haven’t had many chances to complete close to home this season. Smith College barred outsiders from using its facilities for the second consecutive year, which sent coaches searching for potential venues. The PVIAC hosted a meet last month at Wheaton College and will return there next week.
Northampton coach Brandon Palmer has started a track club out of the facility – the Roots Track Club – which made it easier for him to organize the meet with seven schools represented from Western Massachusetts. Both the PVIAC and MIAA sanctioned the meet, so times registered there will help runners qualify for the divisional state meets in March. Palmer also threw in a handful of other events at the running-only affair to spice it up like the 4x37.5 meter shuttle relay that features runners sprinting back and forth at each other across a short section of track or distances that are only contested at the national level to allow runners to potentially qualify for national meets.
“When there wasn’t facilities to do things, doing stuff here gives more opportunities,” Northampton coach Linda Rowbotham said. “They want to compete. They’re hungry to compete.”
Roots also previously hosted a practice meet and a development meet, but Friday’s was the largest this year. The league will return for another meet at Roots later this season and also compete at Wheaton next weekend.
Originally, Frontier girls coach Bob Smith wasn’t sure about taking a bus full of students down I-91 on New Year’s Eve because he thought it was a night meet. Then he was informed the running-only event started at 10 a.m.
“I told them ‘we’re in,’” Smith said. “We’re really happy they ran this meet. This is our first year in indoor track, and they’re having a blast.”
In addition to the closing 4x8, King-Pollet also placed second in the boys two-mile in 10:22.12.
Northampton’s Norah Reade won the girls 1,000 in 3:34.92. Frontier’s Bianca Peur a followed in second (3:51.16).
Hampshire Regional’s Nick Brisson ran away from the boys 1,000 field in 2:57.19, more than eight seconds clear of his closest competitor.
“I was going for a 2:55, so I was going to try and pace with that, seeing if anyone was going be leading and stick with them. I was leading from the start, so it was kind of hard to pace.,” Brisson said. “It was nice to get any chance to compete and get a time in because states is a few months away. It’s really nice to have a chance to race.”
His Raider teammate Gulian Marconi placed first in the boys 400 (55.35), while Audrey Perrone of Hampshire completed the girls 400 in 1:13.06 racing only her best effort.
Frontier’s Claire McFarland won the girls 600 in 1:57.39 at the front of a 1-2-3 Redhawks finish. Una Millette was second (2:10.83), and Angelina Egland took third (2:20.99).
Freshman Josie Fosnot hit a mark even she didn’t expect, crossing the girls 300 line first in 46.62 seconds for Frontier.
“I did not think I could do that. I ran a 48 (last meet) and there were two people there that ran 46, and I thought it was a crazy thing that I couldn’t do,” Fosnot said. “I don’t know (where it came from). I just ran as fast as I could.”
Frontier’s Sasha Malo completed the two-mile in 14:43.71, the only girl to compete in the race.
Northampton’s Nora Thomas took second in the girls 60 (9.1) followed by teammate Camilla Brewer in third (9.22).
Bianca Peura placed second in the girls 1,000 for the Redhawks (3:34.91) and mile (6:58.86). Angelina Egland followed her in third in the mile (7:25.48).
Sophia Leone of Frontier finished third in the girls 55 (8.21).
Northampton’s girls 4x2 took second (2:08.33).
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.