Prior family scrap book
Jared has completed dual meets against the three Newton middle schools (Brown, Oak Hill, and Day) and is undefeated in his events (100m, long jump, and 4x200m relay) and had led his team to an undefeated season thus far. He jumped 17’2″ in the uphill Day pit and ran 11.3 for 100 yards over grass.
Here is a photo gallery of their Oak Hill meet.
Here is a photo gallery of their meet against Brown.
He will compete in the All-city track meet on May 31st.
Newton North won their third consecutive outdoor Division 1 State Relay meet today, defeating Andover 57-50 (results, Boston Globe article. Boston Herald article, Newton Tab article, Newton Sports Photography).
Kayla joined up with National Champion Carla Forbes and Ali Hurwitz to break the MSTCA Division 1 State Relays Triple Jump relay record (set by North in 2010) by almost 2 feet (photos, PA Announcement of Record). With temperatures in the low 40’s and swirling winds, Kayla cranked out a near PR 33’5.5″ triple jump to break her 4th state relay meet record and 5th school relay record of the season. While it helps to have the National champion on your relay for record breaking, 3x Kayla’s mark would have been good enough to win the competition alone.
From the Boston Herald article:
The Newton North girls captured their third consecutive team title and established the lone meet record of the day. The Tigers’ triple jump squad of indoor national champion Carla Forbes, Allison Hurwitz and Kayla Prior combined for a 32.98-meter victory, bettering North’s record of 32.47 in 2010. Forbes had the longest jump of the day at 39-9 and Hurwitz broke her personal best with a 35-5.
Forbes anchored Newton North’s 4:06.26 win in the 4 x 400 with a 60.0 split. The Tigers finished with 57 points to defeat runner-up Andover (50 points) and third place Brockton (41.5).
“In the triple, the wind was sort of swirling,†said Newton North coach Joe Tranchita. “It was tough to get a good read on it. You’re not sure if you should make adjustments to your approach or not.
“All things considered, they did a really nice job. We got to the last round we were trying to stretch it to get the state record, but with the wind it was just asking a lot.
Girls Triple Jump
=================================================================================
All-Class: # 33.60m 2004 Hopkinton HS, (110′ 3″)
Div. I: * 32.47m 5/15/2010 Newton North HS, (106′ 2.25″)
Name Year School Finals Points
=================================================================================
1 Newton North, Girls Newton No. 32.98m* 108-02.50 10
2 Brockton, Girls Brockton 30.57m 100-03.50 8
3 Weymouth, Girls Weymouth 30.29m 99-04.50 6
4 Chelmsford, Girls Chelmsford 29.99m 98-04.75 4
5 New Bedford, Girls New Bedford 29.02m 95-02.50 2
6 Andover, Girls Andover HS 28.84m 94-07.50 1
No other North athlete (or Massachusetts athlete) has broken so many state relay meet records this season. Its not easy to research without names for each team, but its likely that she and Carla share the lead for most records held (Kayla 4x50m, 4x50m hurdles, 3xLJ, 3xTJ, Carla 4x50m, 3xLJ, 3xTJ, 4x400m from 2011).
Due to a slight muscle strain behind her knee and some trouble with steps last week, her coach opted to put her in the “B” long jump relay. She led the “B” team with 16’1″ jump for a total of 46’2″ which would up being good enough for 3rd and 6 points toward the team title (jump photos). The “A” team had a foul in a later flight so her effort was clutch to keeping North in the hunt. She likely placed 3rd or 4th individually (no results posted). 3x her jump would have come up just 4″ short of the winning total.
Girls Long Jump
=================================================================================
All-Class: # 16.43m 5/15/2010 Pembroke HS, (53′ 11″)
Div. I: * 16.11m 5/17/2008 Newton North HS, (52′ 1.25″)
Name Year School Finals Points
=================================================================================
1 New Bedford, Girls New Bedford 14.83m 48-08.00 10
2 Attleboro, Girls Attleboro 14.11m 46-03.50 8
3 Newton North, Girls B Newton No. 14.07m 46-02.00 6
4 Acton-Boxboro, Girls Acton-Boxboro 14.04m 46-00.75 4
5 Weymouth, Girls Weymouth 13.81m 45-03.75 1.50
5 Brockton, Girls Brockton 13.81m 45-03.75 1.50
Kayla also anchored a 4x100m relay squad to win their heat: http://youtu.be/zY9R7tKwFiU:
Over the course of her 4 year career, Kayla contributed to 103 points at her eight state relay meets and accumulated nine gold medals along with 2 thirds and a sixth.
2010 indoor 3xLJ
2010 outdoor 4x100m hurdles
2011 indoor 4x50m hurdles
2011 outdoor 4x100m hurdles, 3xTJ
2012 indoor 4x50m hurdles, 4x50m, 3xLJ
2012 outdoor 3xTJ
The North girls continued to establish themselves as leaders in the sprint relays with a season best 50.7 in the 4x100m against Framingham today. The time currently leads the state rankings (athletic.net, ma.milesplit.com). Running into a head wind, Kayla split a 12.47 (equivalent to 13.17 flat start) to bring the team home. The first three legs split 13.50 (Wong), 12.63 (Larkin), and 12.15 (Forbes).
Video of race on youtube:
Kayla ran a 17.0 personal best and state qualifier in the 100m hurdles for 3rd place in Newton win over Needham (photos). She also anchored the 4x100m relay to a season best 51.8 win and took 2nd in the triple jump. She is now state-qualified in 4 events (LJ, TJ, 100m hurdles, and 4x100m relay). Her 17’1.5″ long jump PR continues to rank 3rd in state of the 272 reported performances.
4x100m relay:
Kayla had a great meet Wednesday at the Newton North home opener win over Braintree 97-38 (photos). She leaped a personal best and state qualifying 17′ 1.5″ for 2nd in the long jump and had a 16’10” to back it up. That’s a 1/2 foot improvement over her previous outdoor PR of 16’7″. For 10-15 minutes she was the North’s #1 jumper for the season as she had out-distanced 2-time national champion Carla Forbes’ 16’9″ from last week until Carla jumped 19’3″ in 2nd flight. Kayla now ranks 3rd in league. Her mark, which translates to metric 5.22 meters, would have won the Ithaca Invitational last weekend which featured Ithaca, Cornell, Cortland State, and Herkimer College (results) so she should fit in OK next year. State rankings are unclear due to spotty data entry, but her jump would have ranked 19th state-wide at the END of the 2011 season. Dad was shooting high jump on other end of field so no photos of that event!
In the triple jump she also PR-ed with a state-qualifing 33’5.25″ jump for 3rd (10.19meters), improving on the 33’3.25″ PR she set last week against Natick and ranking her 7th in league (jump sequence photos #1, #2, #3)
She also anchored the 4x100m relay to a state qualifying and league-leading 51.9 win (video).
In 100m hurdles, Braintree’s lead hurdler took a header into Kayla’s lane and knocked her off stride, but she still managed an 18.0 for 3rd place and a total of 10 of North’s 93 points.
Last week in a near freezing meet against Natick with her personal photographer off in San Diego, Kayla took 2nd in triple jump with a state-qualifing PR 33’3.25″ and took 3rd in the 100m in 13.9 and anchored the 4x100m relay to a state-qualifying league-leading 52.2 win (newton tab article).
UPDATED COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Thur – March 29 at Natick at 3:45
Wed – April 4 home vs Braintree at 3:45
Tues – April 10 at Needham at (DeFazio Field, rte 135) at 3:45
Wed – April 18 home vs Walpole at 10:00
Tues – April 24 at Framingham (Bowditch Field) at 3:45
Sat – April 28 – Dvi 1 State Relays at Franklin HS at 9:30
Tues – May 1 at Brookline (Krafts Downes Field) at 3:45
Sat – May 5 – Weston Invitational at Weston HS at 4:30
Tues – May 8 home vs Weymouth at 3:45
Sat – May 12 – State Coaches Invit at Somerville (Dilboy Stadium) at 9:30
Wed – May 16 – Conference Meet at Weymouth at 4:00
Saturday – May 19 – So Shore Meet at Norwell HS at 9:30
Sunday – May 27 – Div 1 State Meet at Durfee at 1:00/1:30/2:00
Saturday – June 2 – State Finals at Fitchburg State College at 1:30/3:00/3:30
Joe’s two favorite websites are starting to converge.
Check out this video starting 5:22 in (you can jump to it by clicking on progress bar once video is playing).
And don’t miss the photo credits for all the State Open photos :-).
Subsequent to this ESPN hired me to shoot the New England High School Championships:
This picture from the coverage was highlighted on their high school track page:
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.
FILE PHOTO:
File Photo:
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.
personal best long jump:
hi mom!
55m dash trial heat:
55m dash finish:
200m race video:
