Sports

Rocha Wins Mile, Breaks 32-Year-Old Record at All-States [VIDEO]

The Peabody High senior won her sixth state title this past weekend as she broke a three decades old school record in the mile set by Peabody distance runner Lisa Welch.

Not only did Catarina Rocha win the mile at All-States on Saturday, she beat her own record-setting time from last year by more than a second and broke a 32-year-old record at Peabody High for the indoor mile.

Rocha crossed the line in 4:49.19, snagging her sixth state title in as many seasons and bumping Peabody's Lisa Welch as school record-holder by less than a second. Welch ran the mile in 4:49.70 at the Division I state meet in 1981.

Incidentally, Rocha's time was also the fifth fastest ever run by a high school girl in Massachusetts, reports the Salem News.

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You can watch Rocha's record-setting run in the YouTube video by John Keklak attached to this article. Fast forward to 6 minutes in to see the start of the mile. Rocha led the entire race and starts creating a huge gap between herself and runners-up Olivia Lantz of Manchester-Essex and Bishop Feehan's Abby McNulty.

Rocha, who graduates in May and plans to attend Providence College on a full athletic scholarship in the fall, traded in her soccer cleats as a sophomore and after a couple second place finishes in cross country and indoor track that year, has won six state titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor track in the six seasons since then.

Find out what's happening in Peabodywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Also for the Peabody girls on Saturday, fellow seniors Heather MacLean finished 20th in the 600 meter (1:41.21) and Pam Zabala threw 33 5-3/4 for 10th place, while the 4x800 relay team finished 6th (9:41.72). On the whole, the girls' ended in a four-way tie for 13th with 13 points.

On the boys' side, senior Chris Cennami placed 5th in the 55 meter (6.65), junior Drew Fossa took 7th in the 2 mile (9:37.48) and the 4x200 relay team placed 17th (1:35.47). Overall, the team finished in six-way tie for 25th place with 6 points.

Rocha, Cennami and Fossa all qualify for the New England Regional Championships.


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