It’s hard enough to place in one event at the New England Prep School Track Association New England Championships, let alone two. But three … ?

Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s Arielle Chechile ’24 finished in the top six in three events at the Division III championship meet, which was held May 21 at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts.

Arielle took third in the 200-meter dash (26.93 seconds) and high jump (5 feet), and also earned sixth in the triple jump (31-11 3/4).

Also at the championships, Michael Dorunda ’24 placed sixth and broke a school in the 3,000 (9:47), and also cleared 8 feet to earn fourth in the pole vault.

Other top six performances included: Abby Dorunda ’24 (400, third, 1:00.82), Maddie Stoltz ’23 (discus, fourth, 74-9), Val Enghave ’23 (discus, fourth, 110-1) and Rouri Takahashi ’23 (200, fifth, 23.16).

Quotes

Coach Danielle Vartabedian regarding Michael’s performance at New England’s: “As soon as we arrived at the meet Michael had to start warming up. He was relentless in his race, going out pretty fast. Coach (Reese) Laviolette had to shout to him to back off a little and he nodded, but he did not show signs of getting tired or fading in any of his laps. He stayed strong the entire race with a great sprint to the finish, shaving 12 seconds off his PR (personal record).” 

Michael on setting a school record: “Breaking the school record is an important accomplishment to me. During the race it was the last thing in my mind, but as I crossed the finish line I heard Ben (Poudrier ’22) shouting school record, school record, school record. I was in shock, having just run a 25-second PR and beating the record by 12 seconds. Looking back, I see this is just one step in the direction I want to go. While this is a big accomplishment, I still have quite a lot to do.”

Arielle on how she performed at the New England meet: “I believe that I performed very well at the championship meet. In the end, I placed very well in all three of my individual events: high jump, triple jump and the 200 meters. In the triple jump, I did not jump how I had wanted to as I did not PR. My best of four jumps was 31-11, which was far enough to get me sixth place and points for the team. In the high jump, I hit my goal of clearing 5 feet, my PR, and got third place. Lastly, my 200 went very well - I got third overall and ran it in 26.93 seconds. Overall, I was very proud of how the meet went both for me personally and for the team as a whole.”  

Coach Vartabedian on how she performed at the New England meet: “Arielle doesn’t really get nervous; she always has a way of staying positive and pumping herself up before an event. The entire day she kept a cool head, focused on the task at hand without getting overwhelmed by all her events, the competition and the inferno of heat, and pulled if amazing performances. I’m in awe of her mental and physical strength.”