By MICHAEL MAHONEY
BOSTON — The North Reading boys’ indoor track and field team lost their first meet of the season to Triton in a very close fought contest at the New Balance Track. The final score of the meet was 61-39, which is a lot closer than it may seem due to the scoring system of these events where points are not created but instead exist and are taken by the best performances in each event. First place is five points, second takes three points and third place will award the team one point. Winning a relay earns 5 points.
The fastest events on the track, the sprints, were fairly successful for the Hornets. In the 55 Meter Dash, Seth Evans took first place. The 55 Meter Hurdles similarly included Kaio Pancini in first and Nico Johnson in third place. The 300 Meters went well enough for the Hornets with Tanner Dupriest taking third. Finally, the 600 Meters allowed Gavin Brady to shine as he took first place.
Overall the sprinting events netted the Hornets 17 points to Triton’s 19 points.
For more endurance based competition one only has to turn to the distance races, starting with the two mile time where the Hornets were unfortunately not able to score any points. The one mile race went slightly better when Alexander Mitasev took third place. Logan Lamont took second place in the 1000 Meter Run as the Hornets were outscored in the distance events 23-4.
In the field events, the Hornets held their own. The High Jump went well for a relatively young team with promising sophomore Benjamin Cook taking third place on a 5’4” jump. The Long Jump proved to be the strongest showing of the day with a 1-2 finish from Tanner DuPriest and Kieran Miller respectively. In the Shot Put, it was second and third with Otto Indelicato and Michael Delvecchio totaling field event points at 13 compared to Triton’s 14.
Wrapping up the meet were the two relay events. The 4×200 Meter Relay of Kieran Miller, Tanner DuPriest, Seth Evans and Noah Schifano took 1st place and scored 5 points with the 4×400 Meter Relay team falling to Triton.
It was a wonderfully contested match and the Hornets were excited to begin their season. They did not start with a win but they proved to be starting a promising season.