BOSTON — The Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center welcomed the best of the best for Saturday’s Meet of Champions. Hours later, you could say the event lived up to its name.
Peabody High had itself a day, snagging three school records, a meet record, and three automatic qualifiers for next weekend’s New England High School Indoor Track and Field Championship. The Tanner boys finished fifth with 36 points.
Evan Bedard set a meet and school record in the long jump with a winning leap of 23-01.75. Double-winner Alex Jackson won the shot put (60-07.75) and weight throw (85-01), while Declan Smith finished fifth in the 1,000-meter run with a school-record time of 2:32.50. All three are qualifiers for next week. The 4×200 relay team of Henry Sawyer, Bedard, Michael Murphy, and Tyler Rapport finished ninth with a school-record time of 1:32.50, while, on the girls’ side, Makayla Koonezis finished seventh in the high jump (5-02).
Marblehead’s Nate Assa can call himself a champion and meet record-holder, too, as he ran the 2-mile race in an eye-catching time of 9:05.30. Teammate Jacob Szalewicz secured a second-place finish in the 1,000m (2:31.12). On the girls’ side for Marblehead, Elise Burchfield put on a show with a ninth-place finish in the long jump (17-06.75) and 15th-place finish in the high jump (5-02.00), an event that saw teammate Paige Tredwell also turn in a 5-02.00 leap. Tredwell placed 15th in the 55m hurdles (8.95), while Ava Machado finished 26th in the 55m (7.62).
Andrew Bertucci turned in St. John’s Prep’s top performance with a second-place effort in the high jump (6-06), while Anthony Ragosa finished seventh in the shot put (50-11.75).
St. Mary’s was present and accounted for in boys’ and girls’ action. Kelsey Kwiatek captured 18th in the 1,000m (3:11.47) and 17th in the mile (5:22.83), while Devin Duval finished 10th in the 55m (6.64).
Swampscott’s Collette Heil placed 20th in the 2-mile with a time of 11:46.24.
