Walpole High track team attends Nationals 10 runners represent Walpole in competitions from Boston to New York

By Emily Sullivan Staff Writer

This winter, Walpole’s track team had a successful season with many new personal best and school-record performances. As the season came to an end, there were a few athletes who were practicing in the postseason to perform at top levels of competition. This year, the New Balance Nationals were held at the new track at New Balance in Boston for the first time in history. The meet has certain cri- teria of times that athletes have to meet in order to compete. Nationals, being one of the most competitive indoor meets of the year, has runners from around the country that compete at this meet. Due to the intensity of the athletes that attend the meet, the times are difficult to qualify for.

On March 9, freshman Ila Zollo competed in the mile which had a qualifying time of five-minute and 30 second mile. Zollo ran that qualifying standard a few times in the regular season so she was eager to comfortably perform that at nationals. At nationals, she ran a time of five minutes and 30 seconds and placed 29 out of 36 runners. Zollo was the only freshman who ran individually at Nationals this year and she is hoping to attend this meet in her future years at WHS.

“It was a great experience to compete as a freshman and run against some of the top runners around the country,” Zollo said.

The Nike Nationals was another national track event that took place this same weekend for the final meet of indoor track. WHS had two relay teams and one individual who competed at this meet. Like the New Balance nationals, the times are competitive to be able to qualify. The first relay of the weekend was the 4x200m. Sarah Schmidt, Meri Feener, Maddie Grogan and Jenna Weylman ran a time of 1:49.64. The girls finished off a strong season placing 33rd in this event.

“I am very grateful to have been able to run my last indoor meet at Nationals. It was a race that I will never forget.” Grogan said.

The other relay team was Emma Hanifin, Ila Zollo, Caroline White and Alicen La who ran the 4x800m. On Saturday March 11th, they ran a time of 10:11 and placed 22nd. “When I first got there the nerves hit, but as soon as I got on the track I knew what I had to do and it was such a cool feeling to be running on the same track against some of the most talented 800 runners.” White said.

The last athlete to compete was Sean Kerin who closed his indoor junior season running the 800 meters in 2:01. Kerin hopes to continue setting personal records during his final two years of track at Walpole.

For the past two years, more and more athletes have reached national levels of compeition, whether at the New Balance National or the Nike Nationals. Overall, this years national showcase was a success for Walpole track. Many younger athletes are hoping to attend this same meet next year.

Walpole track athletes are now getting ready to see what they can accomplish during the spring season which starts on March 20th. Some athletes are aiming to attend the outdoor spring nationals if they qualify for the times, which are often more difficult qualifications to reach compared to winter. Runners are excited for the spring season to face a new group of competition and run new records.