Sports
Stoughton High Indoor Track Athletes Participate in Developmental Meets Over Winter Vacation
Several runners performed well at the meets, held on Dec. 24 and Dec. 31.
Contributed to Stoughton Patch:
While not officially on the meet calendar several members of the boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams took the opportunity over vacation week to participate in a couple of developmental meets at Boston University.
The meets were held Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 and featured strong fields made up of local college students, high school students, club athletes, unattached runners, masters athletes and even middle schoolers and younger athletes.
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On Dec. 24, Rachel Berkowsky ran the mile. Coach Harvey Blonder also laced up his spikes for the first time in several years. Both were in the same heat.
Berkowsky took the early lead while Blonder slowly moved up. About 3/4 of the way through the race the coach took the lead - no doubt thinking about Berkowsky's blazing kick. Blonder built a 20-meter advantage, but could not hold off Berkowsky who passed him about 5 feet from the finish.
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Berkowsky's time of 5:58 was her second fastest mile, while Blonder was happy to crack the 6-minute barrier as well.
On Dec. 31 the BU track was again packed with athletes.
Deirdre Simms ran the 3,000 meters - running her strongest race of the season at a state qualifying pace.
Jade Paul and Jason Marshall followed in separate heats of the 400 meters. Both ran under 60 seconds.
More than 150 athletes running the mile separated in 14 heats, including four from the Stoughton team. All of the Stoughton runners turned in personal bests: Nick Green ran a sub-4:40 for the first time, Wayne Barnaby ran a sub-5:00 for the first time. David Lockhart ran his first-ever mile in 5:17 and Kerry O'Neil ran under 5:50 for the first time.
Rachel Berkowsky ran again on the 31st - this time tackling the 800 and running 2:47 for her first try at the event.
Take a look at video highlights from the two meets in the media gallery above (video courtesy of Kevin Berkowsky).
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