Tess Rancourt continues to exceed expectations for the Greenfield girls track team.
In a meet against Pioneer on Friday, Rancourt broke her own school record in the shot put, taking first in the event with a toss of 38 feet, one inch, nearly three inches further than her previous record.
Her win helped propel the Green Wave to an 89-51 Intercounty League win.
“She continues to impress us,” Greenfield coach Peter Conway said. “That’d be an impressive number around the state and is a big jump from her previous record. Her follow-through has come along very well and it’s helped her numbers.”
Rancourt wasn’t the only Green Wave athlete to put up big numbers on Friday, as Victoria Marin came out the winner in four events: the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, seven inches, the high jump (five feet, two inches), the 100 hurdles (16.2 seconds) and the 400 hurdles (78.7 seconds).
The event of the day came in the 2-mile, with Greenfield’s Kandice Lu battling with Pioneer’s Lucy Koester. Lu looked to have the edge going into the final lap, but was passed by Koester. The two were even going into the final sprint, where Lu finished with a time of 14:38, just 0.1 seconds faster than Koester, who settled for second with a time of 14:38.1.
“I’ve never seen Kandice sprint like that,” Conway said. “It was an exciting race.”
Closing out the winners for the Green Wave were Emma Savoy in the triple jump (a personal best 30-3½), Sam Santos in the javelin (78-7) and Shane Subeldia in the mile (6:22). Greenfield won the 4×100 (62.1) and 4×400 (5:18.9) relays.
For the Panthers, Caroline Ring won the discus with a toss of 83 feet, six inches. Bryanna May took first in the pole vault (6-0), Nina St. Clair won the 400 (75.7) and Hailey Ring was first in the 200 (29.6).
• On the boys side, Theo Popusoi picked up four victories as Greenfield scored a 121-26 win over Pioneer.
Popusoi came out on top in the long jump (18-6), triple jump (37-3 1/2), pole vault (11-6) and 400 hurdles (1:02.6). Liviu Mihailicenco won the 110 hurdles (16.5) and the 400 (57.2), Max Warner took the shot put (21-10) and discus (44-7) while Mason Meadows won the 100 (11.8), 200 (25.1) and high jump (5-8) for the Green Wave.
Alex Bacigalupo took the javelin with a toss of 63 feet, three inches, Andy Bostrom won the 800 (2:29.6) and Gianni Passiglia won the 2-mile (12:27.6) in the win.
Greenfield won the 4×100 (51.2) and 4×400 (4:17.5) relays.
Noah de Ruiter was the lone winner for the Panthers, as he was the first to cross the finish line in the mile with a time of 5:26.6.
South Hadley 82, Frontier 63 — Amelia Sobieski won all three throwing events for the Redhawks, but it was the Tigers who came out on top with an 82-63 Suburban League victory in South Deerfield on Friday.
Alena Maes-Polan took first in the pole vault (8-6) and the 400 hurdles (79.84) for Frontier, with Caroline Crocker winning the 100 hurdles with a time of 18.46 seconds.
Frontier 11, Athol 1 (5) — A big second inning proved to be the difference Friday in Athol.
The Redhawks tallied seven runs in the second before adding one in the fourth and three in the fifth to earn an 11-1 independent win in five innings.
Liam Skribiski-Banack hit a two-RBI double for Frontier, with Jacob Bryant smashing a double. Ben Martino had a hit and a pair of RBIs, Kevin Baumann had a hit and three RBIs while Tyler Baranowski and Connor Hoffman each hitting safely in the win.
Sam Schreiber picked up the win on the mound for the Redhawks, striking out two over four innings of work.
Connor Mahony, Dilan Fountain, Keegan Lutz, Evan Mayer, Logan Hume, Casey Mason and Quintin Polana all had hits for the Bears, Mahony with the lone RBI on the day.
Athol 3, Chicopee 0 — Following a loss to Putnam on Wednesday, the Bears responded with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-14 sweep of the Pacers on Friday in a PVIAC East match.
The win brings Athol’s record to 4-4 on the season and 4-3 in division play.
Luke Inniss recorded nine kills for the Bears, adding five aces and 11 digs in an all-around effort. Holden Girouard dished out 10 assists, Colin Mason had four aces and two kills and Caleb LeBlanc made nine digs in the win.
Pope Francis 5, Turners 0 — Despite falling 5-0 to the Cardinals on Friday, Thunder coach Victor Gonzalez was proud of his team’s effort.
“The games were a lot closer than the score,” Gonzalez said. “We made them work for it.”
Haleigh Greene fell 6-4, 6-1 in No. 1 singles to Leana Vale, 6-4, 6-1 while Izzy Farrick lost a close 6-3, 6-2 match in No. 2 singles to Katelyn Horky. In No. 3 singles, Elita Vale beat Turners’ Abbi Holloway 6-0, 6-0.
Both doubles matches were closely contested, with Thunder Maria Labelle and Steph Peterson falling 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in No. 1 doubles and Maddy Lilly and Emily Denison losing 6-4, 2-6, 10-3 in No. 2 doubles.