In the first meet of the season, Boys Track faced off against the Wellesley Raiders, one of their main competitors for the Herget Crown. The boys suffered a critical blow, losing 80-56, and their chances to be the Herget Champions for the seventh year running seemed slim to none. Then, when Natick beat Wellesley, the Rebels’ future grew a little brighter: If they beat Natick in their final meet of the year, they could be co-champs with both the Red and Blue and Raiders.
However, the boys were not able to overcome their perpetual Herget rivals on May 14, losing a close meet, 70-66. The early events — the 100mH and the 100m — drew the two teams even, as senior Miles Cofield and sophomore Akin Street’s 1-2 finish negated the Natick duo who finished first and second in the 100mH. Street narrowly beat out Natick’s top sprinter by a tenth of a second.
Walpole continued to gain momentum after the 100m race, as junior Joe Keough sprinted past a Natick runner to pull out third in the mile. Junior Brendan Wohler came in first by a large margin, with a personal record of 4:34.20. Walpole appeared to lose ground when DJ Villa got beat in the final leg of the 4×100; however, Natick was disqualified for a faulty pass, giving the Rebels an early eight point cushion.
Walpole’s real strength were in the throwing events: Natick only achieved 4 out of the 27 points available across the three events. Senior Robbie Lederman and junior Bergomi Francois went 1-3 in Shot; seniors Mike Williams and Mike Greulich went 1-2 in Discus; and senior Jon Rockwood, junior Nick Corcoran, and senior Colin Fair swept the javelin.
“Everyone stepped up for throwing when we needed it. There was a PR in every event,” said Greulich. “We don’t usually know how much of a factor the throwing events are for the final score, but we performed really well in a meet we at least knew could be close.”
There were also some notable performances that kept the meet — which was definitely not expected to be as close as it was — close. Junior Bobby Ross came in second for the triple jump and third in the 400mH, locking up some crucial points for the Rebels. Junior Bryan Kelleher — who has been a sort of an unsung hero this year — set a personal record by a second and gave Natick’s top runner a run for his money in the 400M Hurdles.
The Rebels started to lose ground in the 400 and the 800, where Natick went 1-2 and 1, 3, respectively. Senior Jon Kelland set a personal record in the 800 but ultimately fell just short, while sophomore Nick Ricci took third in the 400.
“I found out that Natick’s best 800 runner was running the 400, so I came in thinking that I could win the race,” said Kelland. “I ran a good race and PR’d, but it just was not enough. The other kid ran a good race.”
After Natick took the top spot in the 2 mile, just ahead of junior Mike Orsi and well ahead of senior Mikey Van der Linden, it came down to the 4×400 to give the Rebels a chance. Ricci and Kelland established a solid lead, but Natick closed the gap on the third leg. Kelleher was neck-and-neck with Natick’s top relay runner at the 200 meter mark, but started to lose ground at the 300 meter mark and fell just short of the win.
“It was disappointing,” said Kelleher. “I know the kid ran a 49 and that would have been a challenge for anyone to top, but we felt that we were so close and could’ve come out in first.”
After the 4×400 finished, the Boys knew that no matter what the javelin results were, they could not win. This meant the end of their Herget streak six years in the making. However, the boys were not too upset about the loss, as there were many personal records and surprising results that made the meet much closer than either team predicted.
“I wish we could have gotten a win in our last home meet,” said Kelland. “But I think that we performed well and exceeded some expectations this year. It was a great four years, and I hope we can continue to make some noise in the post season events.”
