The Amherst and Northampton boys and girls outdoor track and field teams both participated in the MIAA Division 4 Outdoor Track and Field Championship this past weekend at Bridgewater State University, with events spread out between Thursday, May 28, and Sunday, May 31.

Coming down to the wire on Sunday, the Hurricanes girls were just one point outside of first place overall. Duxbury held the slim lead, with both teams knowing whoever won the final event, the 4x400m relay, would finish the weekend on top.

Both of the two teams were close with one another for most of the race in first and second place, with Amherst slowly falling behind. The Dragons put together the fastest time in the state across this season, finishing in 3:54.73, while the Hurricanes came up just short in second place, posting a 4:00.19.

“I was thrilled to be so late in the meet and still feel like we had a shot,” Amherst head coach Chris Gould said. “I wasn’t sure if that was [going to] be the case, because you never quite know how the other points are gonna spread out other events… It was a thrilling relay… Duxbury really put it together right at the end.”

After winning the state championship in 2025, the Hurricanes girls came up just short, ending the weekend with 49 points, just three behind the Dragons at 52. Ololara Baptiste and Ella Austin each played big roles in the relay being close at the end of the day, also putting up big points in their individual events.

In the 400m, the pair took home the top two spots overall, with Baptiste in first with a 57.14, and Austin close behind in second with a 58.02 of her own. Austin also earned some points for her squad in the 800m, nabbing sixth place by running a 2:19.80.

As much as the second-place finish stung from knowing how close it was to finishing atop the state again, Amherst can be happy knowing that its young group put together another great season that rivaled the best at the Division 4 level once again.

“I like to win as much as anybody, but I also understand and appreciate the efforts of these other teams like Northampton last week and Duxbury this week,” Gould said. “I really think that we have a team that’s learning to digest what just happened, sit with it for a little while, and then move on and see what you can tweak the next week to make it go a little bit better.”

After a first-place finish in the Western Mass. Large School Championship the weekend prior, the Blue Devils girls also came to make their mark in Bridgewater. A small group made the trip out to Bridgewater for the meet, but the ones that did made sure to leave a lasting impression.

Northampton finished tied for fifth place overall on the girls side with 34 points. The team was led by Ella Hoogendyk and Mairead O’Neil, who each came away with multiple top-five finishes over the weekend.

Hoogendyk kicked things off with an impressive showing in the triple jump, finishing as the runner-up after posting a 11.17m (36-07.75). The senior continued to pull through in a big way for her squad, nabbing the fourth spot in the 400m hurdles at 1:07.50.

Along with her success in her individual events, Hoogendyk competed in the 4x800m relay alongside Maddalena Figueroa-Starr, Katherine Munson and Keria Cole. The group crossed the finish line less than a second behind first place, with their 9:27.56 good for second.

“[Hoogendyk] set the standard,” Blue Devils head coach Ellen O’Neill said. “… Once the younger athletes understand what’s expected of them, they’re just following suit now, but in order for that to happen, it really does take really good leadership at the junior and senior level.”

O’Neil continued to set the tone for Northampton, narrowly missing a first-place finish in the two mile but settling for second after finishing in 11:14.72. The junior had similar success in the one mile as well, earning fourth place with a time of 5:09.08.

On the boys side, Amherst finished in sixth place overall with 38 points, led by a first-place finish in the 4x400m from Kyrief Johnson, Nicolas Lisle, Alhassan Abdel-Maksoud and Owen Platt, who clocked in at 3:27.24.

Johnson, Lisle and Platt took home second in the 4x800m as well with a time of 8:06.58, joined by Calvin Miller. Lisle also came in second in the 800m at 1:53.75, while Miller earned third in the two mile at 9:31.68, and Platt’s 50.84 in the 400m was good for a fourth place finish.

-The Blue Devils boys finished in 28th place overall with five points, coming from Henry Daggett grabbing seventh in the two mile by clocking a 9:50.33, Gus Frey finishing right behind him in eighth at 9:51.77, and a seventh-place finish in the 4x800m relay.

“[It was] a nice segue into the fall season,” O’Neill said. “We’re pretty excited to see how they can do at both the Western Mass. level, but also the divisional level, and the state level… Even though we didn’t really strategize as much as we had before, they still seemed to really respond well to the challenge, and I can’t ask for much more than that.”