Across the state of Massachusetts 2052 girls contested the long jump during the 2012 indoor season. When all was said and done, only 12 athletes from other schools finished ahead of Kayla in the State Open Championship held Sunday. Kayla improved on her 19th seed to place 15th with a jump of 15’11.25″. It would taken a big PR 16’11” jump to score in the meet, and Kayla gave her all on her last attempt toward that but fouled by a hair. She completes the season with a PR of 16’8″ ranked 23th in the state and 57th in New England. Teammate Carla Forbes won the competition in a state record 20’1.25″, now ranked #3 in the USA.
Kayla organized an impromptu combined girls/boys team dinner at our house the night before, and we didn’t screw it up, as both the Newton North girls and boys team brought home team titles (photos, milesplit coverage). The boys did it in spectacular fashion, being counted out in 6th place going into the relays. First they took third in the 4x200m and then followed with a dramatic 4x400m win to tie for win with Mansfield. Jared has to fill a slot in one of these!
Kayla’s concludes her indoor track high school career next week, contesting for the National Championship in the 4x55m shuttle hurdle relay at the Armory in New York City on March 10th.
Nanny and Papa journeyed 6 hours for the 2nd meet in a row to support Kayla and see the competition.
Kayla soared 16′ 7″ on her first attempt — her 2nd longest all-time performance –to place 6th in the Massachusetts Division 1 state championships (photos). She came in seeded 5th based on her big PR last week of 16’8″, but would have only been seeded 12th based on her previous season best of 16’1.75″.
Carla Forbes won in a meet record, USA #4 19’9” on her final attempt.
Newton scored an amazing 20 points in the event placing athletes 1st, 4th, 6th, and 7th and taking half the slots in the 8-person final. The team jumping depth in the event became as big a news as Carla’s record, with the Globe, Herald, the Newton track blog, The Newton Tab, and Milesplit mentioning her and her teammates accomplishment in their meet summaries. That’s about as newsworthy a 6th place as they come!
Only three athletes from the other 47 schools attending got in ahead of her, with one being the #2 hurdler in New England from Somerville.
Kayla was Newton’s 6th highest point scorer, contributing 3 points to Newton’s 66-43.5 victory over Lincoln Sudbury as well as key early confidence-building momentum for team, which trailed until the final relays started running. She was one of only 6 Newton athletes to score in individual events and one of only 3 to compete in two individual events (She also ran the 55m hurdles in 9.53 for 24th, matching her incoming seed).
Note that without Carla’s point contribution (winning LJ, 55m, and anchoring 4x400m), Newton would still have barely won, with Kayla’s hypothetical 4 points moving up to 5th providing the margin over Lincoln-Sudbury.
Kayla gets her “Metal”
Kayla performance qualified to return to the State Open next week as 19th seed in the state-wide meet which brings together the top 24 competitors from the divisional meets. Nanny and Papa made the long trek to Boston to support Kayla and see her compete (sorry no photo). Thanks Nanny and Papa!’
The metal-ists:
From the globe:
Junior standout Carla Forbes won the long jump with a meet record of 19 feet 9 inches, and teammates Kayla Wong (16-10 3/4) and Kayla Prior (16-7) took fourth and sixth place, respectively.
From the Herald:
Almost as stunning as Forbes’ effort was Newton North putting four jumpers on the medal stand in a thorough domination of the event.
From Milesplit:
As impressive as Forbes’ jump was, it was almost overshadowed by the fact that Newton North put four athletes in scoring positions. In addition to Forbes and Wong, Kayla Prior finished 6th (16’7â€) and Maeve Larkin was 7th (16’5.75â€). All totaled, Newton North walked away with 20 points in the event!
From the Tab:
The win was the second of the day for Forbes, who also defended her long jump title with a meet-record leap of 19 feet, 9 inches. That effort erased Arantxa King’s 2007 mark of 19-6½. The Tigers were thoroughly dominant in the event with four athletes taking home medals.
Senior Kayla Wong was a strong fourth in 16-10¾, while senior Kayla Prior took sixth (16-7) and junior Maeve Larkin was seventh (16-5¾). Newton South junior Kyra Visnick was eighth with a 16-2-¾ leap.
North picked up a whopping 20 points with that one event and the Tigers never let up as they captured their third consecutive team title with 66 points. Joe Tranchita’s squad scored in eight of 12 events to easily defeat Lincoln-Sudbury (43.5) and Acton-Boxboro (36).
Here is a slideshow of the long jump competition:
The winning seniors:
The winning team:
Kayla was featured in a photo gallery on the Boston Globe website on State Champions:
From a photographer friend. I bought the original as a download.
Jared entered 3 events yesterday in the Northeast indoor classic (photos, results). The meet included athletes from around the Northeast and Canada. Jared competed in the long jump, 200m, and 55m dash.
The 200m dash was run in unseeded heats, with place among the 36 entrants determined by electronic timing. Jared won his heat and placed 5th overall, just missing out on 2nd by 0.32 (see youtube video below).
In the 55m dash, Jared won his trial heat to qualify 3rd in the field of 21 with a time of 7.32. He then improved his speed in the final (thee hours later) with a 7.18 3rd place, holding off 4th place by a photo finish 0.001 margin. Ahead of him was the Junior Olympic Northeast 100m champ (1st) and the New England 100m champ (2nd) (results).
In the long jump he faced a strong field of 26 jumpers, and bested all but the Northeast Junior Olympic champ from New York with a personal best jump of 17′ 9.25″ for 2nd (results). He nipped the 3rd place jumper by 1″. Check out (photos of competitors in long jump).
Jared has competed in this meet twice before. Three years ago, at age 11, he ran the 55m dash in 8.78 and the 200m in 32.34 (results). Five years ago in 2007, at age 9, he ran his first ever meet at this meet at MIT, running the 55m in 9.06 (13th of 24) and the 400m in 1:23 for 9th of 15 (results).
For calibration, Jared’s marks would place him 6th in the long jump and 10th in the 55m in the NVL championships. Among the 470 freshman boys competing this year in New England, he would rank 28th in the long jump. Among 1561 freshman competing in 55m dash, he would rank 35th. Among the 155 freshman in the Bay State league, he’s 0.01 out of 1st in the 55m.
Kayla had a great Bay State Championship meet Wednesday (Tab Article, photos, jump sequences, results). She came in ranked 9th in the league in the long jump. After an opening foul, she soared 16′ 8″ for an all-time PR, raising her indoor PR by over a half a foot. She followed up with a 16’7″ and advanced to the finals. She placed 5th in the competition behind teammates Carla Forbes and Kayla Wong, with just 2 athletes from the remaining 11 schools getting in ahead of her. Maeve Larkin placed 7th to put 4 Newton athletes in the top 7. Kayla now ranks 20th state-wide in the long jump and 49th in New England.
In the 55m hurdles, she hit her 5th straight personal best, dropping her time from 9.47 to 9.32 for a surprise advance to the finals where she placed 8th with a 9.35. She came in seeded 14th in the league and upset several athletes with faster times. Newton advanced 4 athletes to the 8-person hurdle final! See the picture sequence of the hurdle race.
As far as I can tell, Kayla was one of only 4 athletes to place in top 8 in two events, with the other three being Carla, Kayla W, and Melissa Darling of Weymouth.
From a Connecticut perspective, she ranks 11th in Long jump and would place 4th in Class LL meet and be 4th seed in the Class L meet.The hurdle mark would rank her 22nd in CT. Both long jump and 55m hurdles performance would win the NVL meet in each event.
Remember back in 2009 when Kayla was spotted volunteering on infield (photo below) during the ESPN-HD broadcast of New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (formerly Boston indoor games)? Now in 2012 Jared was on the track in front of a sold out Reggie Lewis crowd of 4000 people.
After some strong encouragement from his big sister, Jared went out for the Waltham Track club indoor team and made the cut to run one of the two boy legs on Watham TC’s co-ed 4x200m relay, which was the 2nd event of Saturday night’s New Balance Grand Prix. Jared ran the lead off leg in a sizzling 26.3 (running extra distance on first turn in lane 3 due to traffic) and hit his goal of getting in ahead of the 4-time defending champions the Cambridge Jets. Unfortunately tough teams turned up from Rhode Island and Boston, with the Rhode Island lead-off being the kid the New England Junior Olympic 100m champion. Jared brought Waltham in at 3rd place, which they held onto. Here is a photo sequence of the 4x200m race..
Here is the team walking out onto the track with #2 all-time pole vaulter Jenn Suhr in the foreground:
Competitors come off the 1st corner:
Back stretch:
2nd corner:
Home stretch:
Relay handoff (shot off the Jumbotron):
Warm down:
Because the meet only allowed two roving photographers on the infield, and most of the professionals were in a pen at the finish line, Dad got one of the few still sequences of Jenn Suhr 16′ American Record. Sports Illustrated hasn’t called back yet though and Boston sports editors seem distracted by something today. Here is the youtube version. Here are other general photos of the meet.
Jenn Suhr inverted on way to 16′ American Record:
Kayla has worked this meet for 4 years as a volunteer in various limited roles, but this year had the responsibility along with Carla Forbes of stringing and holding the finish line tape for each race, which reportedly got her on ESPN2 today.
Kayla closed out her high school indoor dual meet career with a win over Natick (results, photos).
Kayla jumped 16′ for 4th in the long jump, with only Natick star Laurie Femmel besting her from among the 11 other Bay State league schools competing. In the 55m hurdles, Kayla PR-ed for the 4th straight meet in a row, running 9.47 for a tight 3rd place against Natick and 7th overall in the league (see photo sequence).
The league individual championship meet is next Wednesday, followed by the Division 1 State meet on Sunday February 19th, where Kayla has qualified for the long jump and hurdles. The top 4 in the four divisional meets plus the next 12 best performances advance to the state open on Sunday 2/26. After that, Kayla and her record-setting hurdle relay teammates (with Carla added) will travel to NYC to compete for the Indoor National Championship on March 10th.
On Saturday she ran the 55m hurdles in a personal best 9.54, moving up to 23rd from a 62nd seed (see video below) and qualifying for the state championships.
On Sunday she jumped 15’10.75″ for 18th in the elite field, moving up from a 23rd seed. Kayla was one of only 4 North athletes to qualify individually for the meet, which was limited to the top 24 entrants from the state.
As it turned out, the title worked, but I changed it to “Trifecta” as that was what the Boston Globe called Kayla’s accomplishments.
Why three?
Kayla for the first time competed in 3 events. The 3xLong Jump relay (where each jumper only gets 2 attempts and the total distance is added), the 4x50m shuttle hurdle relay, and the 4x50m dash. The expectations on her and her relays teammates were enormous. The message from J.T was they needed to take 1st or 2nd in all her 3 events to have a chance to win the meet — and they delivered — in style.
How did it turn out:
Not only was “Three” the sports.priorfamily title, its the Boston Globe’s headline! (“trifecta” being the 3xmeet records) :
Each winter, the Newton North girls’ track team circles the MSTCA Relays on the schedule. The focus leading up to the ultimate team event on the schedule has often paid off, as it did yesterday at the Reggie Lewis Track Center, with the Tigers rolling to their third straight Division 1 championship.
“I’m ecstatic, to break three state records is absolutely phenomenal,’’ said Tigers coach Joe Tranchita of his team’s performance. “To come here and get the win and set records speaks volumes for their execution.’’
Newton North finished with 59 points, far ahead of Andover (36) and Weymouth (30).
The Tigers won five of the 10 events, three in record fashion. Junior Carla Forbes was prominently involved in three of those wins and two of the meet records. Forbes, Kayla Prior, and Kayla Wong set one in the long jump, combining to cover 49 feet 4 1/4 inches.
That same trio teamed up with Stephanie Brown to win the 4 x 50-yard shuttle dash in a meet-record 24.52 seconds.
“We knew we would have a good chance to win,’’ said Forbes, who also ran the anchor of the victorious 4 x 400 (4:03.74). “We didn’t come here with the mind-set to break records, we just wanted to try and do our best and hopefully take first.’’
The Tigers’ other record run came in the 4 x 50 shuttle hurdles, which was run in 29.11 by Wong, Brown, Prior, and Sonja Lehman.
“This is a huge meet for us every year because it is the one pure team meet and you really have to have a full range of depth, not just one or two superstars,’’ Tranchita said. “This is really about the team talent.’’
Newton North capped a thoroughly dominant team performance yesterday with its biggest star bringing down the Reggie Lewis Center in the final event of the Division 1 Relays.
Carla Forbes clocked a sterling anchor leg of 58.6 seconds in the 4×400 to give the squad a meet-closing victory. The team of Forbes, Meghan Bellerose, Maddie Nadeau and Isabella Reilly tore up the swift oval in 4:03.74, more than three seconds in front of runner-up Wachusett (4:06.94).
The Tigers captured their third consecutive team title with 59 points. Andover (36 points) was a distant second, followed by Weymouth (30).
Newton North set three meet records in the process. Stephanie Brown, Forbes, Kayla Prior and Kayla Wong combined to clock a 24.52 in the 4×50. Brown, Wong, Prior and Sonja Lehman took the 4×50 hurdles in 29.11. Forbes led the long jump crew with a mark of 18 feet, 3 inches, on the way to a relays-record 15.04 meters.
“I’m ecstatic, absolutely ecstatic,†Newton North coach Joe Tranchita said. “It was the seniors who really got the bulk of those records. This is a huge meet on our schedule every year.â€
It was a record breaking day as the Newton North girls took home the team title and set three meet records in the process. The Tigers surpassed the previous best marks in the 4×50 Yard Relay (24.52), the 4×50 Yard Hurdles Relay (29.11), and the Long Jump (49’4.25) with Kayla Wong and Kayla Prior as part of all three record breaking teams. Steph Brown competed on the 4x50y dash relay and the 4x50y hurdles relay; both of which are new state records. Carla Forbes also competed on the dash relay and led the team in the long jump relay. She ended the day by anchoring the winning 4x400m relay, and the building erupted with cheers as Forbes received the baton and broke open a significant lead with her 58.6 split.
So back to the “Three”
3 Newton North School Records (3xLJ, 3×50 hurdles, 3×50 dash)
3 Gold Medals
30 of Newton’s 59 points
3rd consecutive team indoor title for the seniors (2010, 2011, 2012)
3 Meet Records
2 State Records (3×50 hurdles, 3×50 dash)
Newton won the meet with 59 points, with over half coming from Kayla’s relays. Several state records in this meet date back to the early 1980’s. The hurdle record was 10 years old. Breaking meet records in 3 of the meets 10 events in the span of 2 hours is just off the charts and a great way to close out her last high school indoor relay meet. Even Carla Forbes only has 2 meet records! I don’t think there is enough returning talent at North to threaten these next year, and once Carla is gone, they will stick at North if not the state for quite some time.
Here a youtube video of the races. Use this link to share with others rather than sending to sports.priorfamily:
Long Jump
The relay format only allows for 2 jumps instead of the normal 3 so jumpers need to be on. The girls, jumping in the first of 4 flights, all hit good marks on their first attempts and locked down the gold before most jumper even started and drew within 10cm of the record. The amazing thing is that they bested the field by over 4 feet and accomplished this record all this while jumping over a foot short of their personal bests. Kayla actually jumped the closest of the three to her PR. Kayla and Co were disappointed about the last “2”, as their 49’4″ was just 2″ off the all-division state record. Kayla jumped 15′ 3.25″ for 6th of 45 jumpers and was only beaten by jumpers with 17’5+ PRs. Even though Carla Forbes’ 18′ jump powered the record, 3x Kayla’s jump would have still won the event by over a foot. Kayla Wong and Carla jumping last year with senior captain Amy Ren only totaled 47’5″, which yielded 2nd place. As a sophomore, she jumped with Carla and Amy to 45’9″ for the win, so this is almost a 4 ft improvement for the team from then.
Hurdles
Kayla only got her 3-step down in last two meets and the 4th hurdler only competed in the event for the first time last week. It wasn’t totally clear they would even enter the event seriously until then, with the potential to divert runners to the 4x200m relay.
Kayla took off on the 3rd leg in 2nd place with a safe start and charged forward into 1st and for Kayla Wong to power home on the final leg for the 29.11 record, 1.41 ahead of 2nd team. Kayla’s split of 7.27 was a half second faster than last year when they won in 29.88 and made the difference this year.
Similarly to the long jump, while Kayla Wong powered the record, assuming a 0.7s reaction time on the first leg, 4 “KPs” would run 7.97+3×7.27=29.78, which would beat last year’s winning North time and win this year by over half a second.
Dash
In the 4×50 Kayla took hand-off from Carla Forbes about even and held North in a tie for 1st on her leg and then Kayla Wong powered home again to a 24.52 time. This same team took third when Kayla was a sophomore to set the previous school record of 25.34. They went a full .8 seconds faster this time. Kayla didn’t run last year when the team DQed on a start. Kayla split 6.17 — the “4 Kayla” time here would be 25.38, just outside the previous school record from 2010 and good for a respectable 7th out of 38 teams in this meet.
It’s easy to for Kayla (and the press) to see the records as all about Carla and Kayla W, but these three records would not have happened without Kayla on her game.
With one state relay meet to go, Kayla’s cummulative relay title total rises to 8 (2010 indoor 3xLJ, outdoor 4x100hurdles, 2011 indoor 4×50 hurdles, outdoor 3xLJ, 3xTJ) and total points to 87, with the remaining 7 points coming from a 2009 4×50 hurdle B-team 6th and the 2010 4×50 bronze.
This meet provides the big upside of the Newton North situation. In the last two dual meets Kayla competed in 6 events, shutting out brookline in 3, Weymouth in 1, and only losing to 1 Weymouth athlete in the other 2 events, yet only took home 4 points for a 2nd and a 3rd in LJ due to the great teammates she has.
In what was projected to be a close meet, Newton blew out Weymouth 64-31 on the strength of team energy (results, newton track blog). Kayla ran a PR 9.70 in the 55m hurdles and and an 8.05 in the 55m dash. Only Weymouth star Melissa Darling beat her in these events from Weymouth. She placed third in the long jump (15’5.25″), defeating Darling who fouled out and swinging a potentially pivotal 2 points to Newton if the meet had gone according to form.
