Wilbraham & Monson Academy has one of the strongest track & field programs in the region, and all of that strength was on full display at the year’s biggest meet.

Competing against 36 other teams, WMA’s Girls team placed runner-up and the Boys took third at the New England Prep School Track Association Division III Championships at Marianapolis Prep in Connecticut on May 16.

“The girls overall performance was stellar,” praised Coach Danielle Vartabedian. “Even though it was a small group that scored the points, all the distance girls had great races, and all the throwers had solid throws that day. The 100-meter hurdlers and 300 hurdlers had great times and were happy. We were very proud of ourselves as a group. It was a very exciting day.”

Most impressively, the Girls 4x100 relay team of Adri Chechile ’26, Saniya Abdul-Ali ’31, Gabby Lovelace ’29 and Jala Witherspoon ’27 set a meet record with a time of 

50.17 seconds, and Adri Chechile established a meet record with an effort of 17 feet, 11.25 inches in the long jump. Adri was also named MVP of the Girls’ competition.

The Boys, meanwhile, were just four points out of second place.

“The boys were amazing,” said Coach Vartabedian. “They went in hopeful, but knew that the competition was going to be stiff for a lot of them. Eoin (Cavanaugh ’27), David (Zhou ’26) and Miles (Hu ’26) had stellar times, Zach (Stogner ’26) had some solid throws and our hurdle crew all did a solid job. We were very happy across the board. The energy was high and the kids were elated as the meet came to a close and they knew they were going to get their trophy.”

 

Below is a list of WMA athletes who scored at the meet (top 6):

 

Girls

Team scoring: 1. St. George’s 76 points, 2. WMA 73

 

100

1. Jala Witherspoon 12.39

 

200

1. Jala Witherspoon 25.53

 

400

1. Adri Chechile 57.14 (school record)

 

300 Hurdles

1. Adri Chechile 46.63 (school record)

 

4x100 Relay

1. Adri Chechile, Saniya Abdul-Ali, Gabby Lovelace, Jala Witherspoon 50.17 (meet and school record)

 

High Jump

3. Saniya Abdul-Ali ’31 5-2 (tied school record)

 

Long Jump

1. Adri Chechile 17-11.25 (meet and school record)

3. Jala Witherspoon 16-11.25

 

Boys

Team scoring: 1. Kingswood Oxford 71, 2. Rivers 44, 3. WMA 40

 

100

2. Freddie Shubrick 11.07

 

200

2. Freddie Shubrick 22.97

 

4x100 Relay

3. Ari Gold, Freddie Shubrick, Brant Stoltz, Andrew Chang 44.89

 

High Jump

3. AJ Vartabedian 5-10

 

Long Jump

2. Freddie Shubrick 21-2

 

Triple Jump

4. AJ Vartabedian 39.8.5