Stoughton's Greg Boursiquot Turns in Record Setting Day at Division 2 Indoor Track Championships

It’s not a surprise that Senior Greg Boursiquot won Saturday’s Division 2 MIAA Indoor Track & Field Title in the 55-meter hurdles—Boursiquot is the defending Hockomock League, Division 2, All-State and New England champion in the event.

But in defending his title from last season, Boursiquot rewrote the record book, completing the event in 7.37 seconds. 

He not only shattered the Division 2 championship meet record for the 55-meter hurdles (7.49 set in 1998); he broke the Massachusetts state record (7.38, held by Methuen’s Jeff Baker since 1985).

Stoughton High boys’ track coach Harvey Blonder said Boursiquot’s time of 7.37 equals the top time posted in the country this season. 

“Greg is an enormously talented athlete and a competitor with nerves of steel,” Blonder wrote in an email to Stoughton Patch. “He thrives on challenge and doesn't take defeat in any event lightly.”

Blonder said he and Boursiquot had their eye on reaching 7.37 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles before season’s end. Boursiquot’s season-best in 2010-2011 was heading into Saturday’s meet. 

“I've stopped guessing what he can do,” Blonder wrote in an email. “I was fairly certain he could reach [7.37 seconds] by the end of the season. Apparently Greg was ready to do that yesterday.”

In the semi-finals Boursiquot finished in 7.43 seconds, already a career best, and an all-time record for the Division 2 meet. But, Boursiquot wasn’t finished.  

“After posting a 7.43 in the semifinal yesterday with only a so-so start, he exploded out of the blocks in the final. He got a great start and ran incredibly strong through the middle of the race to record another best of 7.37,” Blonder wrote in an email.

Boursiquot now advances to the All-State meet, held next weekend at the Reggie Lewis Center. He’s the defending champ there, and is looking to make a return trip to the New England Championship on March 4, where he is also the defending champ. 

Last season Boursiquot posted the fourth-fastest time in the preliminary round at nationals, but was eliminated in the semifinals, a “crushing blow,” Blonder said. The goal is for redemption at Nationals, held this year in New York, the weekend of March 11-12.

“I was very excited,” Boursiquot wrote in a text message Sunday.  “My goal going forward is to compete at that caliber at Nationals to bring home the gold.” 

But, the All-State and New England meet come first, and Blonder thinks Boursiquot can actually improve upon his record-setting performance at the Division 2 meet.

 “I believe his best is yet to come,” Blonder wrote in an email. “He hit two hurdles and grazed a third in the final yesterday.”

While Blonder said Boursiquot deserved much of the focus, he also wanted to give credit to junior Brandon Alves, who finished in sixth place in the shot put with a distance of 44 feet, 4.25 inches. 

“Brandon has improved his best this year by more than six feet,” Blonder wrote in an email. “He has had a great season and followed last week's third place at the Hock Champs with his throw yesterday which earned him a medal. Brandon has been hampered lately by a sore elbow and may have been able to advance further if he had been healthy.” 

Also competing for the boys’ team at the Division 2 meet was Patrick Claude in the long jump (19 feet, 2 inches); Marlon Crome in the high jump (5 feet, 9 inches); and Crome, Eric McPherson, Paul Solem and Pat Jackman in the 4 x 400 meter relay.

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On the girls’ side, Jade Paul came in third in the 600-meter run, while Julia Quattrucci finished 21st.  

The girls’ 4 x 200 meter relay team, comprised of juniors Kelly Collins, Alicia Macomber, Ifeoma Okeke and Paul, finished 10th out of 28 teams. 

The girls’ finished tied for 23rd out of 41 teams with Monument High School, while the boys’ finished tied for 11th out of 38 teams with Gloucester High School.

Check out the complete results in the media gallery above.