Article and Photography By Rachel Stanton and GiGi Anello
The Walpole Track teams lost their final league meet for the season against Natick on Wednesday, May 9. Walpole Boys Track lost 74-58, and the Walpole Girls Track lost 76-60. Despite the losses, the Rebels had strong performances from junior Erin Regan, junior Jack O'Meara and sophomore Stephen Colleran. Heading into the meet, both teams knew it would be tough.
"Natick has always been some of our best competition," Regan said.
O'Meara placed first in the 100m dash, placed second in the triple jump, and scored eight points for the Rebels. Despite the losses, O'Meara and the Rebels continued to hold their heads high.
"The meet went well; we didn’t win but more importantly we had many athletes [set personal records]," O'Meara said.
On the girls side, senior captain, Brianna Michel along with Regan scored 21 of the 60 points for the Rebels. Michel scored six points, with a second place finish in the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash as well. Junior Erin Regan still had a dominant day in her event and scored 15 points on her own, more than any other Walpole athlete that day. She placed first in long jump, first in triple jump, and first in the 200 meter dash with a huge personal record of 26.8. Regan gives credit to Michel for her PR and for supporting her throughout the season.
"I hadn’t run the regular 200 since last year so I was wicked nervous," Regan said, "but I was running alongside Brianna who's probably the best captain out there and always pushes me to do better so she’s the reason I did so well."
Along with Regan and Michel, freshman Mia Costa scored five points with a first place finish in the 800, junior Caroline McGrath scored another five in the two mile, and Mikayla Francois earned five for her first place finish in the 100 meter hurdles.
Besides O'Meara, senior captain Alex Hughes earned three points, and junior James Berton earned one as they placed second and third in the 100m dash.
Sophomore, Stephen Colleran, also put up eight points for the boys team with a first place finish in the 400m and a second place in the 200m.
After winning the two mile against Natick, sophomore Shane Grant reflected on his race and hopes it will help him throughout the post season.
"I wanted to use the race to boost my endurance for the post season," Grant said, "and I want to do whatever I can to help my team score points in the upcoming races."
Similar to Grant, O'Meara wants to advance as far as he can through the post-season.
O'Meara said, "Now I just have to prepare for the division championships, and hopefully place high enough to advance to All States.”
On Sunday, Walpole Track and Field will compete at the Division 2 Championship Meet at Greater New Bedford Vocational-Regional High School.