Mimi Narbonne (Courtesy photo)

Competing against state champions from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, Bromfield junior Mimi Narbonne—2010 Massachusetts State Indoor Track 600-meter champion—finished third in the 600-meter race at the 23rd annual New England Interscholastic Indoor Track & Field Championships held March 5 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.

In what was undoubtedly the most exciting race of the evening, Narbonne ran head-to-head with Paris Taft, a sophomore from Career High School in Connecticut. The race involved several exchanges of the lead, with both runners neck-and-neck on the last straight-away—up to a final dive across the finish line, with both runners sprawled over the track while officials examined the photo-finish results.

“I gave it everything I had” said Narbonne, holding ice on her skinned hip on the victory stand. “It was a great race.”

Officials ruled Paris the winner of the heat by 1/100 of a second, placing Paris (1:34.76) ahead of Narbonne at 1:34.77, but put both runners behind Cecilia Barowski, a junior from Bishop Guertin in New Hampshire, who ran the race one second faster in another heat, finishing in 1:33.71.

Coach Ray Dunn said that Narbonne’s time in the race broke the Bromfield school record she’d set the previous week in the 600-meter at the Mass. state championships by more than a second.
“A third-place finish at this New England meet is an outstanding accomplishment,” he said.

This race completes the indoor track season for Bromfield runners, who will rest for a week before starting the 2010 outdoor season.