Meisberger, Lighten, Meehan Have Big Days at Central/Western Mass Championships

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Wahconah sophomore Matthew Lighten set a meet record in the 100-meter dash and helped his team finish fourth at the Central/Western Massachusetts Division 2 Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Fitchburg State University.

 

Wahconah’s Sean Harvey helped the team’s cause with a win in the 400 meters, and Drury’s Connor Meehan won the 800 in a meet record time.

 

On the girls side, Lenox’s Shannon Meisberger was a double winner. The Millionaires junior won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.37 and the 400 hurdles in 1:04.80.

 

Her Lenox teammate, freshman Maggie Sorrentino, placed third in the mile (5:15.38). The top four finishers all were freshmen: two runners from Littleton in first and second and Wahconah’s Victoria Gamberoni (5:15.38) in fourth.

 

The Lenox girls placed fifth in the team standings with 43 points. Bromfield won the 43-team competition with 60.5 points.

 

Monument Mountain’s 4-by-400 relay team finished second with a time of 4:05.81. That would have set a meet record if not for the 4:03.52 posted by Littleton, which won the title and beat its team’s 4:06.70 from 2015.

 

Littleton also won the 4-by-800 relay in a meet record time of 9:53.22. The old mark, 10:04.22, set in 2013, was eclipsed on Saturday night by second-place Lenox (9:55.67) and third-place Mount Greylock (9:59.89).

 

In the boys meet, Lighten broke the meet record twice in the 100. In the prelims, he posted a time of 11.10 seconds to beat a mark of 11.22 set in 2013. In the finals, Lighten lowered the meet standard again, crossing the line in 11.09.

 

Harvey, a junior, won the 400 hurdles in 58.43 and placed third in the 110 hurdles in 15.86.

 

Wahconah’s boys scored in all three hurdles, placing fifth in the 4-by-100, fourth in the 4-by-400 and seventh in the 4-by-800.

 

The Wahconah boys finished with 40 points to place fourth in a 50-team field. Auburn won the boys title with 66.5 points.

 

Meehan earned 10 points for the Blue Devils with his meet record time of 1:56.58. The previous record, 1:59.23, was set in 2014.

 

Hoosac Valley’s boys finished in the top half of the team standings thanks largely to a big day by senior Peter Barrow in the throws. Barrow placed fourth in the shot put (45 feet, 9 inches) and fourth in the discus (128-7).

 

His Hurricanes teammate, Jared Haley, finished eighth in the 2-mile run (10:38.21), an event that saw Mount Greylock’s Tommy Kirby (10:00.11) finish fourth.

 

Monument Mountain junior Matt Weston placed sixth in the 200 with a time of 23.53. The Spartans also posted a third-place finish in the 4-by-100 relay (45.67).