My first year of coaching spring track (1979) I was blessed with a fast group of runners. Jennifer Copley was just finding out how good she could be (dropping to 11.6 in the 100 yd. and from 27.4 to 26.3 in the 220 yd). Lynn Billingkoff and Lisa Herman were two other speedy sophomores and a precocious freshmen (Jacquie Reece) joined them.

So armed with two bits of information from my college coaching course which were "fastest runner last" and "next to fastest runner first", I went about constructing the team. The baton was passed underhand with the receiver forming a v with the left hand. The left hand was held next to the hip. The incoming runner had to hit this v with an upward motion of the right hand. I remember one meet during those first years when the 4X100 decided the outcome. The leadoff runner completely missed the hand and the outgoing runner – Shelly Medeiros – caught it with her left armpit, reached across with her right hand, grabbed the baton and we went on to win. Pretty it wasn’t.

Another early-year technique was that every runner received with the left hand and then switched the baton to the right hand during the first few steps. Every pass was right to left. There were a few reasons for this. First, that's how I did it in high school. At that time the only relay in a dual meet was the 4X200 and since every runner went around a corner the baton went in the outside hand. Then when I returned to coach, North Attleboro’s first track had the start/finish line half way down the straightaway. The first and third passing zones in the 4X110yd. relay were in the exact middle of the corner. So again, everyone ran part of a corner and needed the baton in the right hand.

That first year we didn't break the record of 52.5 but in 1980 the team of Sue Lake, Reece, Billingkoff and Copley lowered the 4 X 110yd. mark to 51.7. They won their first Muscato Relay title and were also league champions at 52.0 (that also would have won this year!) The same team lowered the school record to 51.0 in 1981 and they competed in the state finals for the first time. Of course we thought it weird that the track had a finish line at the end of the home straight so for one of the first times we had some running straight and some running corners. I thought the idea would never catch on.

With the graduation of Copley we weren't able to touch the record in 1982, especially after Jacquie Reece was injured in the last dual meet of the season. But it still was memorable. In the last dual meet of the year we ran 51.7 to win the relay in a scintillating come from behind effort. That win capped a 4-year undefeated streak for the seniors. What was notable was the effort of Pam Scarletelli who ran the varsity relay exactly once - and came through big for our best time of the year.

"83" was a rebuilding year and although an all freshman team ran 53.5 the varsity wasn't much faster. But in 1984 and using the new-fangled overhand passing technique the team ran 50.9 (4X110yd) and 49.8 (4X100M). Sophomores Kelly Magnan, Karen Pearce and Melody Johnson teamed with Junior Debbie Schromm to again bring the Hockomock 4X100 title to NA. That team went all the way to the state finals.

1985 was a "maybe but not quite" year. We defeated a strong Stoughton team for the Hock title even without the services of Melody Johnson. At the State Class Meet NA held a commanding lead until a hamstring injury by the anchor runner stopped NA flat in its tracks. So up to this point there was great success within the league, some good state class efforts and even some fair representation at state finals. But there was still work to be done.

Next stop - 1986 - refining the relay and rewriting the strategy.

Somewhere within the previous two seasons I had made an important decision without giving it much thought. It involved placing runners, not on the basis of speed, but instead predicated on their specific “skills”. It was easy the first time. Karen Pearce was my #2 runner behind Melody Johnson. Karen had run 12.3 in one of the few open 100Ms she raced. She was usually in the 110yd. hurdles where she ended up state champion. My 3rd and 4th runners by 1986 were running 13.0. If it had been my first year coaching I might have had Karen lead off because it would get us a better position. But she was so much better running on a straightaway rather than a corner that I had to keep her there. Any minor deficit we might get out of leadoff we would make up easily when we unleashed Karen on the backside.

Almost every year since then our #2 runner has run the second leg. But speed is only one factor and later on I’ll go over the other factors at which we look. We also instituted the alternating handoff for the first time. The reasons will be discussed in the technique section.

So back to 1986. Kelly Magnan continued to be leadoff to Karen Pearce. With the graduation of Debbie Schromm (who ran 12.3 and won the Class C 100M in 1985) we were fortunate to get Laura Barrett, a speedy freshman who adapted to third leg immediately. Then giving the baton to Melody at the end was money in the bank. The team went on a tear.

They won the State Coaches Invitational with a meet record. They won the Hockomock League Meet with a meet record that still stands. Then on to the State Class C meet that they again won easily. But there was a blip on the radar screen. Laura Barrett would be unable to run the State Finals due to a wedding. During the season two other runners had expressed interest in the relay. At the time I had dismissed them but senior Melissa Golembewski had gone so far as to run a JV heat of the 100M to prove her speed and had clocked 13.0. So we went with Melissa. With a new runner at third leg they won the state championship with a state finals record of 49.56 FAT. It was also the new school record.

But perfection was not in the cards. After a week of haphazard practice during senior activities week we were defeated at the New England Championships by a team we had twice handled easily. But in one of my oft-told stories the team went on to capture the Eastern States Championship in an eight lane final at Hofstra University against the best teams from New York and New Jersey.

It was then that I took a two-year break from spring track coaching.

To be continued -