The Tabor Track and Field Team has the honor of hosting this year’s NEPSTA Division II New England Championship meet. This is especially exciting for the community because the track was only recently replaced to be a site suited for meets.
Athletes for the division’s 15 teams will be running, throwing, or jumping for both personal and team victories on Saturday, May 17. The athletes of each team must meet a qualifying time in order to participate in the championship meet.
Tabor has a number of qualifying participants although the team is fairly small. Fortunately, Tabor has many talented athletes who have spent the season working towards this meet. Some of these athletes have enjoyed major success throughout this season as well.
Senior Alyssa Ward has been an outstanding high jumper, long jumper, triple jumper, and 200-meter runner throughout her four years at Tabor, and she now has the current school record in all of these events. Ward now holds more school records than any female track and field athlete in Tabor’s history, having broken the triple jump record with a 34’9” leap and having re-set her own high jump record at the end of this year’s season. The girls’ team is a well-rounded group, with competitive pole-vaulters, distance runners, sprinters, and throwers. Almost half of the girls will be competing at the New England Championship.
On the boys’ team, Junior Co-Captain Hayden Kilpatrick has also enjoyed success this season, breaking his own school record in the 110-meter high hurdles. The boys’ team will also have a number of athletes compete this weekend.
Having trained on the Tabor track all season, the athletes look forward to the advantage of a championship meet at home and to the community support they will receive. Students and faculty will attend the meet to cheer on their fellow Seawolves. Jessie Duong, a junior on the track team, feels that “This meet is definitely a way to establish the importance and excitement of the sport in the Tabor community.”
The Tabor Academy Track and Field Team hopes for support on Saturday from both the tri-town community as well as the Tabor community. It is sure to be a fun and exciting event with fierce competition.
By Julia O’Rourke
Photo by Kelli McSweeny