By Jack Nicas

Dilboy Stadium housed 90 schools and 942 athletes on Saturday for the 2008 Massachusetts State Coaches’ Invitational. It was the first time Somerville was home to such a meet. Somerville High School girls’ track coach and meet director Charlie O’Rourke said he was excited for Somerville to host the event, but wanted to give credit where it’s due.

‚ÄúThe meet wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the cooperation of Tufts University and Jim Halloran and his staff,‚Äù he said.

The contest was a non-scoring meet, which means it did not affect the competing schools’ records; it simply measured individual performance. Somerville High’s girls team produced some of the day’s strongest performances.

Some particular highlights were Antoinette Toussaint capturing second in the triple jump and third in the 100-meter hurdles; Tanisha Duchatelier placing tenth in both the 200-meter dash and high jump; and Sasha Garczynski taking 15th place in the 800-meter run with a personal best time of 2:26.