Walpole Boys Track competed away against Weymouth on Thursday, March 28, and then against Natick on the following Tuesday, April 2. The meet at Weymouth ended with an 85-50 loss, but Natick’s meet was much closer, tying 68-68. The Natick meet had stellar performances from both teams, but none collectively came together to overcome their opponents. These outstanding performances kept Walpole in the running to win the meet, and if not for an unfortunate disqualification, the team would have been victorious.
The long distance crew came out strong from the gate and scored 19 out of 27 possible points, but they would have achieved a lower score if not for outstanding races by some athletes. To start the meet, sophomore Brendan Wohler won the two mile with a time of 10:35, a 37 second personal record. This was not surprising because despite the fact he had not raced the two mile since freshman year, he was a top runner earlier this year in cross country. Sophomore Nick Hayden also had a significant 41 second PR, coming in third by a tenth of a second with a time of 10:43.6. The one-milers—senior captain Sean Herlihy, and juniors Anthony DiVirgilio and Mikey Van der Linden—might not have had their greatest times, as all were a few seconds off their PR’s, but they all had great races because they swept the mile by a hefty amount. The 800m ended in a hard fought foot race in the last 50m between Walpole’s junior Jon Kelland and Natick’s sophomore Mike Maichen, with the latter edging out for the win.
Sprinting and hurdle events were stronger here than they had been during the winter season. Senior Captain Connor McCarthy, per usual, won both the 200m and the 110m hurdles, and junior Mike St. Germain came in strong in the hurdles to secure third. During the last 30m stretch of the 400m, it was thought that Natick would come out on top, but sophomore Tommy Helm came and pulled out everything he had to win by .5 seconds and get much needed points for Walpole. The biggest upset of the meet had to be in the 100m dash with junior Myles Cofield. He was disqualified for a false start, and by the time he and the other two Walpole runners realized this they were at the finish line. Cofield was clearly in the lead as two others from Natick raced to the end, too, but he was still disqualified, and Walpole went from getting first and third to just second. Bryan Kelleher placed third in the 400m hurdles. In the 4x400m relay, Walpole won, but they made up for it by winning the 4x100m relay.
The field events had their challenges as well, and just the same as the running events, a few Walpole athletes had set many point-scoring personal bests. Again per usual, McCarthy also won both jumps, the long and high. The most highlighted event was junior John Rockwood who won the javelin, the last event of the meet. Rockwood, on his last throw, had a 12 foot PR to come in first place to tie the meet and prevent a loss. He also placed second in the discus. In the other throw event, shot put, junior Mike Greulich came in third.
The Thursday before, Walpole faced Weymouth, and despite starting out hopeful, the meet was ultimately a tough loss for Walpole. From the beginning of the meet, the events were close—the teams kept staying within range of one another—but Walpole let the competition slip away as the final score ended being 85-50. It was a hard way to start the season, but many athletes performed well. The Natick was another upsetting one because for the second time in the last four years, Walpole and Natick tied, which is seemingly the beginning of a rivalry between the track teams. Despite winning neither meet, the Rebels performed strong across the board and look forward to a strong season.
