Striders qualify 10 for Junior Olympic Nationals

By JEFF KURBEC

The Sentinel Striders Track Club earned 14 medals at the recent USATF Region 1 (Northeast) Junior Olympic Championships at Fitchburg State University.

Meagan Malloy, who just completed her junior year at Smithfield High, captured the 17-18 Girls Hammer with a throw of 151 feet, 2 inches.. Malloy, who also won the RIIL State Championship last month, won the event by 16 feet over her nearest competitor.

In the 13-14 Boys division, Sam Toolin mined double gold by capturing both the 1500 and 800 Meter races. Toolin was on cruise control in the 1500, running a time of 4 minutes, 25.6 seconds to win by almost 5 seconds. He came back to win the 800 in 2:03.4, one of the top 3 fastest times in the country at regional qualifiers.

In the 13-14 Boys 3000 Meters, the Striders grabbed two of the top three spots. Max DiMuccio, who will enter 8th grade in the fall, used a strong 73 second last lap to break 10 minutes for the first time, finishing 2nd in 9:54.7. Joe dosReis was 3rd in 10:09.7.

Recent Smithfield High graduate Stephanie Mattson, competing in her first ever Heptathlon, finished 2nd in the 17-18 Girls division with 3,972 points in the 2 day/7 event competition. Entering Day 2 in 4th place, over 300 points out of 2nd, Mattson won two of the final three events to grab the Silver medal.

After winning the Long Jump and throwing 88-5 in her first Javelin competition, she still needed to make up over 110 points in the final event. She came up with a huge effort in the 800 Meters, running away with the race in 2:23.6, finishing over 9 seconds ahead of the next runner, good enough to move up to 2nd place in the overall standings.

The Striders final two Silver medals both came in the 15-16 Girls division. Emily Orticerio jumped a PR of 8’ 6.25” in the Pole Vault to place 2nd. Using a big final lap, Elizabeth Sullivan finished 2nd in 800 Meters in a time of 2:29.1. Sullivan also finished 5th in the 1500, running 5:10.

In addition to dosReis's finish in the 3000, the club earned three more Bronze medals. In the 9-10 Boys Triathlon, Reilly Bennett placed 3rd behind PR performances in both the Shot Put and 400 Meters.

Coming in seeded in 13th place, Alexis Romano finished 3rd in the 13-14 Girls Long Jump with a mark of 15’ 5”. Rowen McGinnis was 3rd in the 9-10 Girls Shot Put with a throw of 18’ 4.25”.

In the 9-10 Boys division, Blake Santos earned 4th place finishes in two different events. He ran the 1500 Meters in 5:31.8, and came back a few hours later in the 400 with a time of 1:11.9.

The top five finishers in each event qualified for the USATF National Junior Olympics to be held next week in Jacksonville, Florida.