AGAWAM — While she wouldn’t call it a dynasty, Northampton head girls track and field coach Linda Rowbotham was thrilled with her team’s three-peat at the Division 1 PVIAC meet on Sunday afternoon.

The Northampton girls won in convincing fashion, accumulating 104 points to beat second-place Longmeadow (91 points).

“I was very pleased with the underclassmen, and I love the guts that the seniors showed. The seniors really kept the glue together and they did what we needed them to do today,” Rowbotham said. “I wouldn’t call it a dynasty. I think that it’s a group of great people, easy to coach and I love them.”

Most of Northampton’s athletes doubled or tripled in different events in order to collect the points they needed to earn the team win. Despite that, the Blue Devils had a couple athletes walk away with championships on Sunday at Agawam High School.

Freshman phenom Allie Sullivan made waves in the high jump, clearing five feet to claim the title; she was also the only first-year competing in the event. She was helped along the way with a recent Northampton graduate, hurdle star Quincy Biddle, staying at her side to help encourage her; Biddle and fellow alum Riley Cole stepped in as volunteer coaches with boys head coach Eric Pfalzgraf and other coaches unable to make the meet.

“I had a new person (Biddle) by my side so it was a lot more helpful to calm my nerves and get my mark down,” Sullivan said. “She was very supportive. Every time I was nervous about something, she would help me.”

Sullivan also took sixth in the 100 dash (13.14).

Northampton’s other first-place finisher was sophomore Maeve O’Neil, who ran away from the competition to take first place in the mile, beating second place Ada Grant by a solid seven seconds.

Kira French fell just shy of a title in the 400 hurdles, taking second place with a 69.86; she also finished sixth in the 400 dash. Amherst’s Elizabeth Sawicki bested her in that event with a winning time of 68.17, along with a surprise fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles (17.61). She also tied for eighth in the pole vault.

“I was trying to go out faster at the start because I had trouble going out in starts before,” Sawicki said. “(I focused on) getting out and trying to run as fast as I could, and being in the middle lane helps more.”

Camilla Brewer was also a runner-up in the 100 hurdles (17.12) and was fifth in the long jump (15-9). Amherst’s Brooklyn Court was an inch behind her (15-8) in sixth.

Northampton’s Norah Reade was fourth in the two mile (12:23.84), third in the mile (5:40.07) and fifth in the 800 (2:31.96). Tess Geiss-Benton also tripled, taking sixth in the two mile (12:55.12), eighth in the mile (5:52.40) and 10th in the 800 (2:39.58).

The Blue Devils 4x800 meter team of Anna Zamer, Lily Zamer, Lila Hensley and O’Neil also took second with a time of 10:54.62.

ALFANDARI DEFENDS TITLE, ADDS ANOTHER

Amherst sophhomore Logan Alfandari came into Sunday’s meet as the defending champion of the discus. He spent this season improving his shot put and qualified for that as well.

The only thing better than one championship? Two of them.

Alfandari defended his discus title with a mark of 157-04, nearly 20 feet ahead of his teammate Moniha Krouch, who placed second (138-02), and Alfandari also won the shot put with a throw of 49-6.5.

“I had something to prove,” said Alfandari. “It feels good. I peaked at the right time in the season, and I have some momentum to carry into states next week and then all the bigger competitions that are in late May and early June.”

As excited as he was to show his talent, going 1-2 in the discus with Krouch made the victories all the sweeter for Alfandari.

“It is amazing. It’s the best feeling ever,” he said on earning the top spots with Krouch.

Besides Alfandari’s victories, David Pinero-Jacome showed off his sprinting speed in the 800 meter run, taking first place with a 2:02.59, just ahead of Northampton’s Davis Wheat in third (2:033.55). The 800 mile was a “who’s who” of local mid-distance running; besides Pinero-Jacome and Wheat, Amherst’s Nico Lisle took fourth (2:04.21) and Pinero-Jacome’s twin brother Miguel placed seventh (2:07.10).

“Honestly with that first lap, the first 200 meters was pretty slow, so I started kicking with like 500 (meters) to go,” Pinero-Jacome said. “I was just trying to win, and I was trying to help my brother run a pretty fast time too.”

Pinero-Jacome and Alfandari helped lead the ’Canes to a fifth-place team finish (62 points) ahead of eighth-place Northampton (47 points).

Northampton’s relay team shone at the end of the meet. The 4x800 team of Wheat, Alex Sirois, Jude Mourad and Jack Kamins took first with a time of 8:34.28, and the 4x100 team of Jake Fein, Rowan Hodgson, Juan Aams-Causton and Jimmy Moore finished second with a 41.41, nine hundredths of a second ahead of third.

Wheat also took sixth in the javelin (141-3) just ahead of Holyoke’s Dylan Lubold in seventh (137-1).

On the track, Northampton’s Teddy King-Pollet unleashed an absolutely lethal kick in the two mile, making up a 30 meter gap in the last lap to overtake West Springfield’s Reno Caronna for second place (9:57.51). Will Larson (10:33.81) and Samuel Woodruff (10:50.68) took sixth and eighth, respectively, for Amherst in the two mile.

His teammate Kamins also used his sprinting speed to take third place in the mile (4:31.86) ahead of Mourad (4:38.14).

Inigo de los Reyes (53.31) and Owen Platt (53.90) took seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 400.

Jaden Diaz took sixth in the shot put (40-9) for the Purple Knights and teammate Elijah Quinn placed 10th in the mile (4:51.70).

Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.

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