TIMES ARGUS - MONSTER MEET

EAST MONTPELIER – The 2008 Monster Meet lived up to its billing on Wednesday, with Harwood taking top honors in both the boys and girls team competitions and South Royalton rewriting two Division III state records.

Spaulding and U-32 reached team goals, and Montpelier independent Chris Keller once again topped entire teams all by himself.

"It took some really strong performances out there to score points today," U-32 coach Mark Chaplin said. "The times and distances that were winning are going to be the same times that are placing in the top two and three in the state, at least in Division II and III. There was a good representation of some of the very strongest teams in those divisions, and Spaulding has really come on in the last year."

Harwood won the girls meet with 160 points, followed by Spaulding (131.33), South Royalton (66.33), Peoples Academy (60), U-32 (52.33), Lamoille (49), Northfield (28) and Whitcomb (8).

"Our goal was to be first or second," Spaulding coach Shawn Woods said. "Last year we scored 104 points here and we picked up an extra 30 points this year. We did what we could do in the events that we have a lot of gifted athletes."

The Highlander boys won with 143.67 points, followed by U-32 (132), South Royalton (117), Spaulding (113), Lamoille (15.33), Keller with 14 points as an independent, Northfield (9), Whitcomb (6) and Peoples Academy (5).

"We had a good meet the last time we were here, but we knew we were coming into a whole different meet with different teams," Harwood coach Taggert Haslam said. "We were coming in not only against talented programs but smart coaches. We certainly didn't come in here thinking we were definitely going to win this on the boys or girls side. We told our team that everybody's going to have to step up and hit their potential, everybody's going to have to pull together and do this as a team and support each other."

Kelsie Bailey and Catie White finished 1-2 for Spaulding in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, and both were part of the winning 4x100-meter relay along with Lindsey Tassie and Brianna Baker. Tassie, Bailey and Baker were joined on the winning 4x400 relay by Kirstin Nyquist, who took firsts in the long and triple jumps.

"Kelsie won both the 100 and the 200, and the bottom line is we have two of the best sprinters in existence in this area," Woods said. "Kirstin Nyquist was very impressive winning both the long jump and the triple jump. It's really nice to see a senior go out winning her two best events."

Alicia Pudvah captured the Tide's other first-place finish with a tie for first with Northfield's Laura Ostrout in the javelin (97 feet, 9 inches).

"I was really impressed with Alicia Pudvah, she's been improving by leaps and bounds," Woods said. "I don't believe we've had a girl win the javelin throw in the Monster Meet in at least 15 years."

Harwood's Sophie Lisaius (800-meter run), Jillian Mendes (1,500- and 3,000-meter runs), Kayla Dillon (shot put), and Kelley Foster (discus) all took home top finishes along with the 4x800 relay of Lisaius, Caroline Gilbert, Annie Mendes and Katharina Maier.

Spaulding led the 4x800 for most of the last leg, but Harwood pulled ahead over the last few meters for the win.

"The distance events were strong again with Jillian Mendes, Annie Mendes, Caroline Gilbert," Haslam said, "and our sprints with Paige Cleary and Kelsey LaCroix in the hurdles, they were strong for us. The girl throwers stayed at their level, and we count on them for points."

South Royalton's Julia Collins (8 feet, 3 inches) broke the Division III state record in the pole vault, besting second-place Cecilia Scribner of Harwood by over a foot.

"Seven feet we would've been happy with today, and then she kept on going," South Royalton coach Jeff Moreno said. "What was impressive about it was she cleared it, we thought it was 8 feet, 4 inches, we measured it and it was 8 feet, 1 inch, so she had to go back and clear it again to get it official. That takes a lot of mental toughness. She broke a teammate's record (set last June in the state meet)."

U-32's top female performers included Kelcie Bean with a second in the 800-meter run, Ami Curtis with a fourth in the 1,500 and in the 3,000, Chelsea Evans with a fourth in the 400-meter dash, Esther Nemethy with a third in the triple jump. The Raiders recorded thirds in the shot (Katie Fleury) and the discus (MacKenzie Ferguson).

Peoples Academy's Oliva Quad and Lamoille's Angie Moreau were tops in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute, 2.53 seconds.

The Harwood boys were paced by Eamon Welter, who turned in firsts in the 800 and the 1,500.

"Eamon Welter, he steps up," Haslam said. "He does the same events all the time, but people don't understand how difficult that is and how hard he works for us. He's a great workhorse for us and a great leader."

Other firsts for Harwood included Zach Pfister in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

"Pfister again came through for us," Haslam said. "He's been a machine for us. He does an incredible job in the hurdles and the jumps, and we had people like Eric Mackey and Trey Kiendl who come through. Dylan Peterson, he was in a couple events that he wouldn't normally be in. Thomas Fuller and Seth Naikus, he took a fourth in the shot, and it's those kinds of points that are overlooked, but those are the ones that can push you over the top."

U-32's Matt Gale-Pyka finished first in the 100 and 200 along with the long and triple jumps, with teammate Jeff Lusignan winning the 3,000 ahead of Keller and Harwood's Caleb Kernan, who took second in the 1,500 behind Welter.

Keller made an early move to break from the pack on the first lap of the 1,500, but Lusignan and Welter held the freshman off down the stretch.

"The strongest distance runners in Division II were on the track today, and there were some very good times," Chaplin said. "But that was true in every event. In every event I saw, the winning performance was by someone who is very likely to be contending for the win in the state. The level of this meet was very high."

Dillon Delano won both the boys shot put and discus, topping second-place teammate Luke Hadden 160 feet, 7 inches to 139 feet, 4 inches in the discus. Hadden then turned around and won his signature event, the javelin, with a throw of 170 feet, 5 inches – besting third-place Delano (138 feet, 9 inches).

Spaulding swept all three relays, with Chris Rossi, James Durham, Nick Paton and Jordan Robbins winning the 4x100; Rossi, Durham, Robbins and Justin Hepburn taking the 4x400; and Rossi, Hepburn, Alex Cote and Dustin Barnett winning the 4x800.

Spaulding took an early lead in the first leg of the 4x800 and maintained that lead throughout.

"We put a lot of emphasis on our relay teams," Woods said. "We did something we have not done in 10 years in sweeping the relays. That was our goal going into that final relay to bring that time up."

Spaulding's Robbins also won the 400, and Cody Duquette finished first in the high jump.

"Cody Duquette won the high jump in a jump-off, and you don't see too many jump-offs," Woods said.

The South Royalton 4x400 relay team (second, 3:40.91) broke the Division III record set back in 1994.

"These boys are all seniors and have been working for this for a while," Royals coach Rose Kent said. "I think a big part of it was having Spaulding here as someone to really push them. They really got everything out of them."

The Royals' Roselie Phillip won both the girls 100- and 300-meter hurdles in addition to the record-breaking pole vault, and the Royals' Andy Staudinger won the boys pole vault.

"We're small, so it's good to come to these meets and try to hang with the established programs like Spaulding and Harwood and U-32; it's great for the kids," Moreno added. "They really strive to stay up with those programs, and we can go home feeling pretty good about that."

Historically, the Monster Meet featured just Montpelier, Harwood, U-32 and Spaulding, but most agree the new additions regardless of division have boosted competition, as evident by the records broken in Wednesday's meet.

"The Monster Meet, back a few years, was just the four teams when the four teams were really strong," Chaplin said. "It was a really big deal, but now Montpelier doesn't have a team, but the other three are still strong. We've added teams and widened the circle, and by doing that, it's really brought this meet back to seeing performances at that level."