Mansfield Girls Track Overcomes Obstacles To Capture League Meet

Facing a lot of adversity this week did not stop the girls’ indoor track team from capturing its third consecutive Hockomock League Meet championship on Saturday, Feb. 13  at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Despite having several team members miss time this week because of illness, injury and related issues, the Hornets performed like champions on Saturday, overcoming those obstacles to garner the league-meet crown by 40 points.

 Hornets won the meet championship with a total of 87 points, and Franklin finished second with 47 points, while Oliver Ames, the Small School Division dual-meet champions, placed third with 43. Mansfield won the Large School Division dual-meet crown this winter with a perfect 4-0 mark.

Senior Lauren Columbare set the tone for  the day with her toughness in the mile. Columbare recently returned to the Mansfield lineup after suffering an injury during the cross country season. Columbare also  battled  illness this week, but stepped up to win the mile race on Saturday with a time of 5:27. Junior Jessica Grainger finished fifth with a personal-best time of 5:46.8 as Mansfield totaled 12 points in the event.

The Hornets then scored 18 points in the 55-meter hurdles, earning three of the top four placements. Senior captain Kristen McDonagh finished second in a time of 8.8 seconds, while junior Paige Grimes (8.93) was third and classmate Dana Foley (9.13) was fourth.

Later in the day, McDonagh also won the high jump competition with a height of 5-4. Freshman Caitlin Finnerty placed eighth in the event with a personal-best effort of 4-8.

Junior Kayla Comer won the 55-meter dash and scored 10 points with a time of 7.41 seconds. Senior Brittany Greene secured a point in the 600 meters by placing sixth with a personal-best time of 1:45.78.

Despite also battling illness thi week,  junior Jennifer Esposito and sophomore Julia Jones  performed well in the 300 meters. Esposito won the event in a time of 41.29 seconds, while Jones placed  third in a personal-best 43.92 seconds. Mansfield scored a total of 17 points in this event as senior captain Jessica Verbic placed sixth (44.24).

Junior Megan Cole ran a personal-best time of 3:18.11 to finish fourth in the 1,000 meters, besting her old personal mark by  four seconds. Though they did not place, freshman Sami Carey and junior Laura Burnham both ran well. Carey was seventh, earning a spot in the Division 2 State meet with a time of 3:21.98. Burnham ran a time of 3:24.73 to secure a position in the division meet.

Senior Katie Dempsey finished third in the two mile with a personal-best 12:25.05. The 4x400 relay team of Greene (63.2), Esposito (60.0), senior captain Amanda Zieselman (64.1) and Jones (60.1) combined to capture the event with a season-best time of 4:08.18.

After winning their third consecutive league-meet crown, the Hornets look to do the same next Saturday when they travel to the Reggie Lewis Center for the Division 2 State meet.

Mansfield will then return to the Reggie Lewis Center for the All-State Meet on Friday, February 25. The Hornets placed second at the All-State Meet a year ago after capturing the first indoor state championship in the program’s history in 2009.