Occasionally during the girls’ indoor track and field Division 4 state championship, Wayland High School coaches Allison LaClaire and Shelly Fraser would take screenshots of the standings on the Lancer Timing Services website.
The images showed that after a couple of events, the Warriors were in first place. It was the same after five, 10, and even 11 of the 13 events at the meet. With only five girls qualifying for the meet on Feb. 14 at the Track at New Balance in Boston — and each only allowed to be in three events — the odds were stacked against them.
But LaClaire and Fraser weren’t necessarily taking the photos for posterity. They truly couldn’t believe their eyes.
While Wayland couldn’t hold off rival Weston, its second-place finish was the first time the Warriors finished in the top three since the early 2000s. Weston amassed 49 points and Wayland finished with 36.
“We kept taking pictures because we didn’t think [being in first] was going to last too long,” LaClaire said. “We’ve always been a small team that is never that deep, but we often have a few good athletes. To pull a few [girls] together and to have an outcome like this, I don’t think coach Shelly Fraser and I could have anticipated this.”
It would take a strong effort from all five girls competing: junior captains Sazie Wrentmore and Annabelle Hage, senior captain Mackenzie Morris, junior Somerby Newton, and freshman Brynn Andrus. And no effort was bigger than the pressure-packed 4×400 meter relay, the last event.
After relinquishing the top spot to eventual champion Weston, Wayland needed the foursome of Hage, Andrus, Morris, and Newton to score some points to ensure a top-three finish. They recorded a personal best and finished in fifth place, after being seeded 13th.
“They knew they had to win their heat at least and get a certain time to score [points],” LaClaire said.
“Hats off to those girls. They knew what they had to do. They looked at me and said, ‘Yes, coach, we can do it.’ They were so excited and they executed.”
— Coach Allison LaClaire
It was the only relay Wayland entered. Weston was in all three, finishing in the top eight and scoring points in all of them.
Wrentmore goes to nationals
The individual efforts were instrumental as well. Wrentmore scored 28 of the team’s 36 points on her own, with first-place finishes in the long jump and 600-meter run and a second in the 55-meter hurdles.
The results helped her qualify for the all-division Meet of Champions on Feb. 21 and the New Balance Nationals on March 14-15, both at the Boston track. She took third place in the 55-meter hurdles and 11th in the long jump at the Meet of Champions. At the Nationals, she will compete in the 60-meter hurdles and the 400-meter run.
“It feels fantastic and amazing. I was super happy to win my events,” Wrentmore said. “I was a little disappointed in the hurdles but it pushed me and it was a good piece of motivation. In the past being seeded first and coming in second might have gotten me down but this time it was beneficial.
“This season has been up and down — sometimes I would place and sometimes I didn’t,” Wrentmore continued “I’m so excited to have qualified for the nationals. It was a humongous goal for me. I am excited to give those two distances a try and see how my times in the 55 [hurdles] and 600 translate.”
Morris was the only other one to score points, setting a personal best 1:41.28 in the 600 to grab fifth place.
“All of the girls scored in the meet, and that’s a great accomplishment,” LaClaire said. “Mackenzie scored in two events, so she really stepped up.”
Boys’ results
Ryan McCormack was the lone boys’ track and field member to score in the Division 4 meet. He finished in second place in the long jump. He also participated in the Meet of Champions, where he took 17th place in the long jump, one inch away from leaping to 13th place.
Other notable results in the Division 4 meet were Atticus DeGrenier (10th, 55-meter hurdles) and McCormack, DeGrenier, Ilan Potashinsky, and Nehemiah Saint-Fort combining to place ninth in the 4×200 relay.
