Ella Hoogendyk Wins Second Straight MSTCA West Heptathlon Title

SOUTH DEERFIELD, Mass. – For the second year in a row, Ella Hoogendyk claimed the top position in the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association (MSTCA) West Heptathlon, scoring 3,742 points after the final events on Wednesday at Frontier Regional.

Hoogendyk, a junior from Northampton, led a strong showing for Hampshire County with South Hadley’s Maggie Crawford finishing third and Amherst Regional’s Elizabeth Sawicki in fourth.

“To be honest, I was a little worried for a while,” Hoogendyk said. “I obviously came into it wanting to defend my title. There’s a lot of pressure coming into things being seeded first. I feel like that fueled me a little bit.”

Surprisingly, her best event was the 800-meter race, which she rarely competes in during the season. Despite limited experience, Hoogendyk secured a second-place finish in the final event of the two-day meet.

“My 800, I had so much fun with that,” she said. “I haven’t run an 800 since last year. I carry over the training that I’ve done all season and good things happen.”

Hoogendyk noted significant improvement from the previous year, estimating a personal best time of five or six seconds in the 800-meter event.

Her success helped the Northampton girls secure third place overall in the team competition, ranking behind Amherst in second and West Springfield in first. Senior Eleanor Lewis also placed 15th individually.

“I love when my teammates do well,” Hoogendyk added. “It makes me feel good. If we could all do well then I’m happy.”

On the boys’ side, South Hadley’s Matt Gillis earned second place in the decathlon, finishing with 5,234 points and highlighting the 400-meter race as his strongest event.

Westfield’s Stephon Pryor won the decathlon with 5,914 points. Gillis was the first of four South Hadley athletes in the top 20.

In the same event, Greenfield’s Mason Youmell finished fifth overall with 5,054 points, excelling in the 1,500-meter run.

“It feels pretty great for my first decathlon,” Youmell said. “I went into the 1,500 not knowing how it was going to go. I was shocked by my time of 4:42.”

Youmell’s success in his specialty, the 110 hurdles, earned him 738 points. His teammate Jack Laurie also made the top-20 with 4,247 points.

Franklin County’s top performer in the girls’ heptathlon was Louise Flagollet of Pioneer, earning sixth place with 3,331 points.