RallyNorth.net

NORTH ANDOVER — While it was the Cape Ann League meet, North Andover’s Amanda Foote had her sights set on someone from the Merrimack Valley League yesterday afternoon. Entering the day already with the area’s second fastest all-time mark in the 400 hurdles, the Scarlet Knight senior was running out of time to eclipse Haverhill’s Rebecca Stabile area record. “I knew Rebecca had the 63.59 mark, so I was looking to get below that,” said Foote, who began running the race in her junior season and had run a 64.06 earlier in the season when she won a tight dual with Stabile. With Ipswich’s Samantha Brown clipping at her heels the whole race, Foote blazed to a 63.51, 0.24 faster than Brown. “This is the second time I’ve beaten her,” said Foote. “(In a dual meet) I beat her by a long shot, but I knew that she was going to come back and really shine this meet. “I could tell she was right next to me the whole time ... I thought I had her going over the last hurdle, but I felt her coming up. I knew I ran the whole race, and I wasn’t going to lose it in the last 20 yards.” The 400-meter hurdles were adopted in the state in 2009. The previous distance was 300 meters. Foote also helped North Andover win the team title with a 58-second final leg that secured second place in the 4X400 relay, giving the Scarlet Knights 98 points, four more than runner-up Ipswich-Georgetown, which got a huge effort from triple-placer Holly Sullivan of Georgetown. North Andover needed a third place or better in the final event for a second consecutive team title. “I thought we’d have a chance to win it,” North Andover coach Rick DelleChiaie said. “It’s a very good group of seniors. We should make some noise in the divisionals.” North Andover also got victories from Krista Perryman, who narrowly missed a double by finishing second in the 100 by .18 seconds, but her 12.61 and 26.05 times were both area bests and both in the top 15 all-time in the region. Other Knight winners were Kristen DiTroia (9-0 in pole vault) and Samantha Barron (105-0). “I needed to have a good block start,” said Perryman. “Losing the 100 made me push myself.” Other area girls champs were Pentucket’s Becca Morse, who ran 11:35.16 to win the 2-mile, and North Reading’s Brittany Angiolillo, who went 35-6 3/4 feet in the triple jump and also finished third in the long jump. “I was thinking I had to try to ignore the (first hot day in weeks),” said a worn out Morse, who is a junior. “Sometimes your best day is on a 90-degree day, and sometimes it’s on a 60-degree day. I was feeling the heat. I was hoping to win and get a personal best (11:16.3), but that didn’t happen, so I’ll get it at the (Eastern Mass.) divisionals.”