BOSTON – For the third straight season, the Billerica girls easily claimed the Div. 3 indoor track and field title thanks to a strong group effort.
The Indians took home eight top-four finishes and had five scorers in the two mile to make it a 50-27 advantage over Milton before eventually claiming it 75.5-46. Westwood finished in third with 35.
“It’s such a great group of underclassmen,” said Indians coach Cullen Hagan. “We knew that coming in that they were going to score a lot of points (in the long distance events).”
It was senior Kylie Donahue who started it off with a second-place finish of 5:04.77 as well as a fourth-place finish in the 1,000 meters with a 3:06.15.
She also was part of the 4×800 relay that took the crown with a 10:03.35.
Nyrah Joseph for Billerica also placed first in the 55-meter hurdles with an 8.35 while also taking third in the long jump (17 feet, 2.75 inches) and the high jump (5-2).
“Most of our points do come from distance,” Joseph said. “So having them as a strong group is really helpful.”
Oliver Ames sophomore Lavender Kozaka was a multi-winner as she claimed the top spot in the long jump (18-3.5) and the 55-meter dash (7.23).
On the boys side, Milton’s Zakai Perkins stole the show early with a meet-record 7.40 in the 55-meter hurdles to lead the Wildcats to the victory with 71 points to Billerica’s 54. Walpole came in third with 36.5.
“It feels great,” the Stonehill-commit said about his strong day. “It was a good day. I was hoping to do pretty well today, but I didn’t expect it to go this way.”
He also added a first-place 22-5.5 long jump as well as being a part of the 4×200 relay that took home second-place finish with a 1:31.17.
Joshua Toth also placed first in the one mile for Milton with a 4:24.51, while Luka Juric finished third in the 55-meter dash (6.63).
Milton also won the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:28.12 and placed third in the 4×800 (8:24.41) and second in the 4×200 (1:31.41).
“We’re built more for this kind of meet then we are for the dual meets,” said Wildcats coach George Daly about the team effort of placing in all three relays.
Walpole senior Austin Feener had himself a day as well with two first-place finishes in the 55-meter dash (6.48) and the 300-meter (34.92), as well as a third-place finish as part of the 4×200 relay team (1:33.05).