Charlestown, Mansfield run away from foes

DIVISION 2 TRACK

By Chris Estrada, Globe Correspondent | February 23, 2009

Heading into the 4 x 400, the final event of the MIAA Division 2 state meet, the Charlestown boys were trailing Woburn by two points. As the meet-deciding relay unfolded, Townies anchor Omar Abdi found himself trailing Reading's Peter Finigan in the final lap.

Abdi could have just settled there and clinched the state title the easy way. He chose the hard way instead.

Abdi got past Finigan in Turn 4 for the win and the state crown. Charlestown finished with 40 points, edging Woburn (34) and Mansfield (33).

The team triumph of Abdi, Yaovi Jondoh, Ahmed Ali, and Kamal Riley in 3 minutes 26.43 seconds was amplified by multiple individual wins. Abdi won the mile in 4:15.53, missing the meet record by .04 seconds. Jondoh won the 300 in 36.09 and Ali came through with his own final-lap kick to win the 2-mile in 9:28.13.

To coach Kristyn Hughes, the championship was proof of what can be done with determination.

"I see some kids kick the can and get mad, but not [Abdi, Jondoh, Ali, and Riley]," she said. "They've had bad races, but they come back and say, 'How can we fix this?' instead of giving up."

Abdi can probably attest to that, having finished last in the boys' junior mile at the Boston Indoor Games Feb. 7.

"I've had some pretty bad races in the last couple of weeks, so [winning yesterday] gives me a lot of confidence," he said. "Coming back from [the Boston Indoor Games] and run a 4:15, it's great."

"Great" may be an understatement for what Mansfield accomplished on the girls' side.

The Hornets crushed their competition, racking up 62 points to beat North Attleboro and Notre Dame of Hingham (26 apiece). Mansfield won six events, including two wins by Meghan Ferreira and a win in the 4 x 400 relay (Ferreira, Emily Broyles, Erika Unger, and Michelle Jenssen in 4:04.54).

Ferreira won the long jump (16 feet 10 1/2 inches) by a half-inch over Marshfield's Julie McCauley. But in order to claim victory in the 55-meter hurdles (8.34), she had to come from behind to beat Westford's Cassandra Ryding.

Also scoring individual wins for Mansfield were Broyles in the 300 (40.92), Jenssen in the 600 (1:37.48), and Kelly McCabe in the shot put (41 feet).

In the girls' 4 x 200 relay, the North Attleboro team of Julianne Cappadona, Christy Deininger, Lauren Goldberg, and Carolyn Udall won in 1:44.52, shattering O'Bryant's 2004 record of 1:47.14.

Shrewsbury (1:46.53), Reading (1:46.82), and Westford (1:47.09) also beat the old mark.

Another Red Rocketeer, Nick Wade, won the boys' 600 in 1:21.06, beating the 6-year-old mark of Dartmouth's John Doherty (1:21.66).