Walpole Boys Track and Field has won the Spring Herget Title for five seasons in a row. They have won the Winter Herget Title three years in a row, from 2010-2012. This winter though, due to the injury of PJ Hayes and the inexperience in shot put and distance, the team lost to Norwood, Milton, Wellesley, and Framingham. A very much improved team this winter, the Norwood Boys Indoor Team won the Indoor Herget championship. This spring, the Rebels want to continue their streak of spring Herget Championships..
Although Walpole Boys Track ended the indoor season 2-4, they ended the season with lots of momentum because of the sprinting and hurdling pair of seniors PJ Hayes and Connor McCarthy. Hayes won the 55m dash in the All State Meet(which is Track’s postseason) to become a State Champion. McCarthy finished with the bronze medal. Their winter success puts Walpole at a strong place entering the outdoor season.
Head Coach Kevin Butera looks into the spring season as an opportunity to regain the teams’ strength that they lost during indoor. Coach Butera leads the success in the Boys Outdoor Track along with distance Coaches Tim Giblin, Eric Flamin, throwing Coach Barry Greener, and javelin Coach Conor Cashman. Along with Coach Butera, senior Captains Connor McCarthy, Kemble Lindh, Sean Herlihy, Kevin Delaney and Jared Porack will lead the team this season.
The boys closed their season out last year at a 5-2 record with two losses against Weymouth and Newton North. After concluding the winter season with four losses, all of the coaches are looking for a break through this spring. Coach Butera said, “Weymouth and Newton North are both power house teams. Tough enough to even challenge. We also have to worry about the Herget teams which can be tough teams as we learned this winter.”
Despite the loss of distance prodigys’s Zach Ganshirt, Justin Connolly, and Feast Conley, the team is slowly gaining strength to fill in the missing gaps. “Our goal this spring is to develop the younger athletes. The freshmen and sophomores did well this winter, but now we need them to take bigger steps to grow the program,” said Coach Butera.
The team finds the majority of its success in the sprinting events with Hayes, hurdles with McCarthy, the mile and 2 mile with Herlihy, and javelin with Jon Rockwood. “The weaker events are in the mid distance, which includes the 400, 400 hurdles and 800. Also, we need to work on shot put and discus,” said Coach Butera. Throughout the winter, junior Robbie Lederman was the only point scorer in the shot put for the boys. This spring Lederman will not compete, so the absence of him will only dig Walpole into a deeper hole and force the other athletes to step up.
Boys Spring Track has some training ahead of them, and every athlete must perform to their highest ability to reach their individual goals, and to live up to the expectations of all the coaches. In addition to success in the postseason, the coaches, captains, and athletes all share one common goals this spring: maintaining their Herget Title streak.
