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Sports

Lancers' Boys' Take 2nd in TVL Track Meet

Westwood won the boys' meet while Hopkinton took first place in the girls' meet.

While the boys’ meet went down to the wire, things remained status quo in the girls’ meet. Despite only getting four individual wins, the Westwood Wolverines walked away with the boys’ league title beating Norton by only 3.67 points while the Hopkinton Hillers once again won the girls meet.

“This meet is not necessarily about how many first places you get. It’s about depth and we’re very lucky to have a lot of great finishes across the board,” Westwood boys’ head coach Joe Mascia said. “These guys have worked tirelessly since the beginning of the season so they deserve it.”

Bobby McLaughlin came up big for the Wolverines, completing one of the more tougher doubling efforts in the mile and the two mile.

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“He ran two really great races and it ended up being a big factor for us like we expected but he’s a great competitor and he worked really hard so he deserves all the success that he gets,” Mascia said of McLaughlin’s performance.

In the mile, McLaughlin held off Medfield’s Ian Robertson by the tiniest of margins as the Westwood distance runner crossed the line with a first place time of 4:33.113 to Robertson’s time of 4:33.116. After going out with the pack for the first lap, McLaughlin tried to force a faster race for the remaining three laps of the event.

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“I wanted to make it an honest race and wanted to make everyone work for it. Just took it after that,” McLaughlin said.

Later in the two-mile run, McLaughlin picked up eight important points with a second place finish of 10:08.78. Patrick Levenson of Hopkinton finished first with a time of 9:56.60.

Team points leader Zach Blum came up big for the Wolverines with a win in the 400 hurdles (57.77) and a second place finish in the high jump (5-10).

The regular season champion Norton Lancers tried to keep it close but lacked the strength in the distance events to take the meet.

Strong in the triple jump, Danny Rafuse won the event with a jump of 42-01.25 feet. Ben Donovan finished third leaping 40-03.75 feet. Donovan also finished second in the 110 hurdles (16.62) and seventh in the long jump (18-06.50).

Not far behind Donovan in the 110 hurdles was Ramzi Bechara who finished in third place (16.17)

In the javelin, Jon Plummer took first place (161-03) for the Lancers. Also victorious was the 4x400 relay team (3:35.21).

As expected, the Hopkinton Hillers took their 11th girls’ title in a row with a comfortable 48 point win ahead of second place Holliston.

“It was expected but it never gets old. The girls are all excited and we got a whole mess of freshmen who’ve never experienced it,” Hopkinton girls’ head coach Brian Hall said.

Depth was the key as there was plenty of orange and green on the podium all meet long. Jessica Scott finished first in the 100 (12.97) and second in the 200 (27.11) Julie Younis finished in third, running the event in 28.05.

The youth in the distance events was strong as freshmen Shelby Aarden broke the meet record in the two mile with a winning time of 11:13.35. In the mile run sophomore Melissa Lodge finished in first place, crossing the finish line at 5:25.61.

“I thought she had a shot at it but to do it all alone like that is just amazing,” Hall said about Aarden’s race. “She went out in 5:35 and went even faster on the second mile so we’re pretty excited about her.”

In the 110 hurdles Kaelynn Maloney and Mirelle Raza both earned second (17.27) and third place (17.29) finishes for the Hillers.

Hannah Krueger edged out Mekenzie Smith of Medfield by a half of inch to take the triple jump win a winning mark of 31-03.50 feet.

In the shot put Lindsay Manning placed first with a throw of 33 feet.

The Holliston Panthers finished in third in the boys’ meet in addition to their second place finish in the girls’ meet.

Kylie Lorenzen was a triple winner for the Panthers taking first in the 200 (26.69), high jump (5-2), and long jump (17-00).    

Stephanie Paolillo enjoyed a comfortable win in the 400 hurdles with a time of 68.70.

In the boys’ meet Dan Barone’s 100 time (11.64) was just good enough to beat out Brian Gannon (11.69) and Plummer (11.69) of Norton. Barone also won the 200 (23.36).

Devin Sanford continued the Panthers’ dominance of the sprint events with a win in the 400 (51.74).

Andrew Krauss won the 110 hurdles with a winning time of 15.39.

The Warriors of Medfield had a strong showing with a fourth place finish in the boys’ meet and a third place finish in the girls’ meet.

In the boys’ 800 Greg Lyons took first place (2:03.96) for Medfield while his teammate Connor Heaney took second place (2:04.55). Evan Berry took second in the 400 hurdles (59.51)

In the girls’ meet Kristina Gustafson came in second in the 100 with a time of 13.19. Taylor Worthy was the victor in the 800 run (2:19.96) while the 4x400 meter relay team finished in first place (4:12.71).

Finishing seventh in both meets, the Dover-Sherborn Raiders saw their 4x100 team finish second (46.66) but the best performances came in the throwing events. Dan Carrol finished second in the discus (129-09) and Chris Chislom finished second in the javelin (158-02).

On the girls’ side, Chandler Wood’s time of 60.72 in the 400 was good enough for second place in the event. Olivia Cannon and Julia Pearson took second (11:21.63) and third (12:00.32) in the two-mile run.

While small in size, the Norton girls' team did hit some quality times. Paige Almeida finished third in the 400 (63.70) while Rebekah Sargent was third in the high jump (4-10).

In the throwing events Amy Pereira (32-10) finished in second place in the shot put and Shannon O'Rourke finished third in the discus (89-07).

The teams of the TVL will return to action at the MIAA Divisional Meets on May 26th and May 27th

For complete results of the meet click here.

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