Hale Second In State, Leads Big Blue At MIAA All-State Meet

Six of Swampscott High School's track and field student-athletes ventured to Westfield State University on Saturday, June 1, to compete in the MIAA All-State Track & Field Championships. The meet features the best of the best from Eastern, Central, and Western Massachusetts in one fantastic meet to end the state competition for the year.

With humid weather pushing ninety degrees, and the temperature even higher on the track itself, senior captain Peter Hale and junior Matt Mahoney took the track for the first event of the day: the two mile. Both student-athletes were competing in the seeded heat. 

Due to the weather, times were expected to be slow due to tactical racing. Hale and Mahoney ran smart races, which saw Peter puling away in a pack during the second half of the raise. Always near the front, Hale found himself duking it out with defending All-State champion Colin Bennie of Wachusett High School. Bennie, who ran 9:07 last year, fought down the last straightaway with Hale, who got nipped right at the line. Hale placed second in 9:25.76, running a huge negative split after a slow first mile. His 9:19 PR from earlier in the year is still the fastest time ran this season in Massachusetts. Mahoney placed 13th in 9:56.39, a solid time in the heat, and one still faster than his best time from last year.

Immediately following the two mile, junior Maleek Newsome took to the track for the 200 meter trials. Newsome placed 21st with a time of 23.55. Senior captain Declan McClung, coming off a personal best the week before and competing in possibly the deepest field of the day, placed 20th in the 400 meter dash with a time of 51.44. 

In the field events, senior captain Rob Seymour placed 12th in the shot put with a throw of 50'03.25". For the Swampscott girls, senior captain Melinda Wilson placed 11th with a throw of 105'11". 

Full results of the meet can be found here.

Hale, Wilson, and Seymour will join junior Aidan Brawley at the New Balance National Outdoor meet on Friday, June 14th in Greensboro, North Carolina.