EASTHAM — The Nauset Regional High School girls indoor track team ran right through its regular season this winter, going 4-0 in league meets and then taking home the Cape & Islands League Championship. Then, on Feb. 15, seven Nauset runners triumphed over 31 other teams to win the MIAA Division 4 Championship for the first time in school history.
Junior Monique Malcolm won the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.23 seconds, breaking her own school record. It is currently the best high school girl’s time in the state. She also won the 300-meter dash with a time of 40.75 seconds. She won both events last year as well.
“I didn’t expect my time would be that good,” Malcolm said. “I was really surprised, I’m impressed with it.”
Junior Isabelle Nobili was second in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:00.95, breaking her own school record.
Freshman Krystyna Constantine placed fourth in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.54 seconds and fifth in the 55-meter dash in 7.83 seconds. Senior Abby Farrell placed fourth in the two-mile run with a time of 11:30.05.
Rebekah Pranga, Sophie Christopher, Nobili, and Malcolm came in second in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 4:08.32, breaking their school record. And Keimashay Blake, Christopher, Pranga, and Constantine placed fifth in the 4×200-meter relay with a time of 1:49.95.
Last year the team finished second at the Division 4 meet with just six runners after going 2-2 during the regular season.
“Last year we weren’t expected to do well,” said Coach Moira Nobili. The second-place finish gave the team confidence going into this season, she said. This year’s win is “a great gift for these girls, because they all do work really hard.”
While other Nauset students traveled or relaxed over February school vacation, the runners were training. The team met at the high school gym at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20 to prepare for the All-State meet on Feb. 22 and 23.
In the state meet, Malcolm finished second in the 55-meter dash and 17th in the 300-meter dash. Constantine finished fourth in the 55-meter hurdles, and Farrell finished 20th in the two-mile run. Overall the team placed 15th out of 60 teams competing.
Some of the runners, including Nobili and Farrell, run cross country in the fall, which won back-to-back league championship titles in 2019 and 2020 as well as a Div. 4 Championship in 2019.
“It’s about having the great athletes and working hard for a common goal,” Farrell said.
“We’re very fortunate to have good athletes at the same time,” Coach Nobili said. “You can have great runners, but if the team’s not all in, then it doesn’t work.”
The coach also credited her three assistant coaches, Tom Brenneman, Ed Wilcox, and Rob Shedlosky, as well as volunteer coaches Laura Freeman and Marc Arce.
“All the ingredients have to be there,” she said. “It’s great to see a Cape team winning this.”
Nauset High doesn’t have an indoor track, so the team practices either inside in the gym when the basketball teams are not using the floor or on the outdoor track when the weather cooperates.
The team used Wheaton College for its home meets this season and traveled to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston for the division and all-state championships. Nobili said that led to some late nights, but it helped the girls become more like a family than just a team.
