PVIAC championships
(Saturday, November 3rd, @ Southwick High School -- sunny, warm -- 55-60 degrees)


The Lady Gaels continued their late season surge with a superb performance today at the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference Championships (otherwise known as the League Meet). The team finished 8th overall, just two spots away from last year's sixth place finish. In the process, the Lady Gaels defeated league rivals Palmer and Gateway, avenging two of their regular season losses. Leading the way once again was Evelyn Powell, who ran her best race of the season to finish 33rd overall. Laura Jedrzejewski ran her best race as well, hanging on to Evelyn tenaciously throughout the race to finish 34th overall. Marissa Lapointe finished as the Lady Gaels third runner in 50th, while Vickie Cavanaugh finished 66th. Rose Casavant finished as the team's fifth runner despite an injured leg, while Meg Lynch continued her comeback with her best performance of the season to date. Laura MacDonald made the biggest improvement of any Catholic runner, running her best race of the season to finish 95th overall. In the Junior Varsity race, Katie Parsons ran her best race of the season as well, running a solid time on the course to finish 93rd overall. The Lady Gaels finished third among all division two teams at the meet, and look to be in great position heading into next weekend's Western Mass Championship.


(Laura MacDonald, Marissa Lapointe, Meghan Lynch, Evelyn Powell, Katie Parsons, Laura Jedrzejewski, Rose Casavant, Vicki Cavanaugh)

Results:
JV Race
Katie Parsons 25:28 (93rd)

Varsity Race (167 runners total)
  • Evelyn Powell 17:37 (33rd)****
  • Laura Jedrzejewski 17:38 (34th)****
  • Marissa Lapointe 18:11 (50th)
  • Vickie Cavanaugh 18:46 (66th)
  • Rose Casavant 19:09 (82nd)
  • Meghan Lynch 19:13 (86th)
  • Laura MacDonald 19:23 (95th)

    • **** Evelyn's time of 17:37 on the League Meet course places her 4th all-time among HCHS girls (since 1989 or so when the Meet was moved to Southwick). She trails just Jenn Campbell (best of 15:29 in 1998), Sheila Osgood (best of 16:51 in 1998) and Meghan Lynch (best of 17:27 in 2000). Laura J.'s time of 17:38 places her 5th all-time.


    (Evelyn and Laura, with Rose and Vicki behind them, about a half mile into the race)

    Team Results (31 teams total)
  • 1.Amherst (43)
  • 2.Westfield (77)
  • 3.Mohawk (102)
  • 4.Minnechaug (163)
  • 5.Frontier (194)
  • 6.Cathedral (214)
  • 7.Longmeadow (216)
  • 8.HC -- 265 points
  • 9.Gateway (302)
  • 10.Palmer (306)
  • 11.Hampshire (343)
  • 12.Northampton (344)
  • 13.Agawam (378)
  • 14.South Hadley (468)
  • 15.Southwick (508)
  • 16.Chicopee (510)
  • 17.East Longmeadow (515)
  • 18.Monson (516)
  • 19.Granby (527)
  • 20.West Springfield (561)
  • 21.Chicopee Comp (562)
  • 22.Belchertown (563)
  • 23.Ludlow (605)
  • No team score -- Pioneer, Holyoke, Athol, Central, Turners Falls, Ware, Sci-Tech, Sabis