To be 100% honest, the Owl was not planning to interrupt her nice Riviera Maya vacation to think or write about anything Weston–but then the girls indoor track team decided to overwhelm me with awesomeness and so here I sit with my computer by the gigantic pool with the first sun rays appearing over the palm trees. Now that you are sufficiently apprised of my sacrifices in the name of the Wildcats (and if anyone ever calls them the “Lady Cats” in my hearing, you will be kiboshed with any readily-available shot put), let’s steal most of the wording from Coach Monz (he knows so no need to report me).

Sixty-four schools competed Friday, February 18 in the Massachusetts Division 5 State Championship. The Wildcats scored a remarkable total of 77.33 points, winning by over 25 points. In Coach Monz’s words:

“They blew past even the coaching staff’s best-case scenario, in what was a truly historic performance. For a D5 school to be able to run 3 relays in the same meet fast enough to be ranked in the top 10 of all schools in any division of the state is amazing, plus all 3 qualify for some level of the Nationals. I’ve never seen an overall better performance by a Weston team.”

When the meet was over, Weston came away with four 1st places, a pair of 2nd places, two 3rds, a 4th, a 5th, and a tie for 8. Out of 13 total events in the meet, Weston scored in 9 of them, and remember, that’s out of 64 schools. Massachusetts Division 5 State Champions!!!!! Yes, I said it again and I am fully committed to the multiple exclamation points.

Although the boys’ team won State Divisional Championships Indoors in 2019 and 2020, the last time the Weston girls won one was in 1998. There are some fun articles in my competition (Herald, Globe, haha) about that win and worth a look-see. Apparently, Weston won it in much the same way (same events). Cue Twilight Zone tunes.

For the details about times and places and COMPLETELY AWESOME athletes, please read on (full and official results are posted here):

Division Champions: Julie Hohenberg in the 1000, personal best 3:02.57, turned in a 69 second last 400; Emilia Tutun in the 600, controlled race of 1:39.93, starting off her amazing triple; the 4 x 800 of Sloan Hinton (2nd part of her incredible triple), Olivia Jackson, Alessandra Gavris, and Julie in 9:55.99, and the 4 x 400 of Tally Zeller, Annie Dong, Sloan, and Julie in 4:10.56. Splits on those relays: 4 x 8 Sloan 37-37-39-36 (2:29.2), Olivia 33-38-40-41 (2:32.1), Alessandra 37-39-38-38 (2:33.0) and Julie (69 first 400, can’t see her 200 on the video, 38-35) for 2:22.5. 4 x 400: Tally 29.5/31.6 = 61.1, Annie 30.7/35.2 = 65.9, Sloan 30.3/32.6 = 62.9, and Emilia 27.7/32.9 = 62.6. For Sloan & Emilia, the 4 x 400 was the 3rd part of their triple.

Other top finishes: Kaitlyn Ewald in the long jump, with a season’s best 16’1″ and the 4 x 200 of Lily Kacyvenski (27.4), Tally (27.2), Kaitlyn (27.2), and Emilia (26.5) finishing in 1:48.29, a mere 0.3 behind the winners. Third places came from Morgan Rome, a personal best 33’6.25″ in the shot put, and Sloan, with a personal best of 1:40.68 in the 600. The 4th place came from Alessandra in the mile, with a personal best of 5:21.51. In 5th, Lily Kacyvenski placed in the long jump, equalling her season’s best of 15’11”. The long jump was quite a competition, with only 2 inches separating Kaitlyn in 2nd from Lily in 5th. Makayla Zavala rounded out the scoring with her tie for 8th in the high jump, clearing 4’10”. All in all, eleven Weston athletes brought home 20 medals, with Emilia and Sloan taking home 3, Julie, Tally, Lily, Kaitlyn, and Alessandra two, and Olivia, Annie, Morgan, and Makayla one.

Olivia Rome (3:42.50 in the 1000) and Erin Huang (13:32.61 in the 2 mile) also put in fine efforts for the squad. What an amazing night!

What’s Next?

On Saturday, February 26, in the MIAA Meet of Champions, top individuals and relay teams from all divisions of the state will compete. A number of Weston athletes will be competing in that, assuming snow is not an issue. Beyond that, all three relays will be competing in the Nike/National Scholastic National Indoor Meet at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island, NY on the weekend of March 11-13. Emilia, Sloan, Alessandra, and Julie have also qualified in various individual events. As a side note here, Staten Island??? How come other sports get places like Colorado and North Carolina for national events? Shouldn’t we send these athletes someplace warm at least? Vegas? LA? Sigh.

Go ‘cats!

Thanks to Coach John Monz for the information–as the Owl noted in a post earlier this year, this is the last season he will be coaching the indoor track teams. Way to go out with a bang, coach!