PEMBROKE — The collection of hardware seems to be the norm for the boys on the Wakefield track and field team. On Saturday in Pembroke, the Warriors captured their 4th straight Division 4 State Relay title between indoor and outdoor track over the last two years.
It was all possible thanks to a full team effort. The difference with the relay meet compared to all the others is that all four runners on each running relay and all three members of the field event relays have to pull their weight for the relay to be successful and score points. Seven out of eight Warrior running relays scored points, as did six out of seven field events. Four B teams also added points as Wakefield finished with 106. Burlington (70.47), Pembroke (65), Melrose (52) and Holliston (31) rounded out the top five.
“We knew going in that we had a chance but had no idea that our kids would dominate the way they did,” said coach Perry Pappas.
Wakefield started by winning the Pole Vault on Thursday at Burlington High because Pembroke does not have a pole vault pit. Henry Brown (11’), Ryan Hogan (10’6) and Jimmy Fabbri (10’) collectively jumped 31’6 and set a new school record. The Warriors posted 10 points to kick the meet off.
In the shot put, Frankie Sullivan threw 48’6.25, Carter Jefferson threw 40’8.25 and Brandon Meahl had a throw of 35’9.25 for a total of 124’11.75 and 5th overall for 4 valuable points.
Two Wakefield 4xmile teams competed with the A and B team combining for 11 team points. The team of Brandon Nett, George Palmer, Max Viselli and Andrew Nett placed 2nd in 18:47.77 and the B team of Devin DeBeradinis, Ty Galante, Marcello Caruso, and John Mititchev finished 6th in 19:49.79.
In the discus, Sullivan threw a personal best 124’10, Owen Brudnick threw 110’3 and Meahl threw 100’6 for a total of 335’7 — 5th overall and 4 team points.
The javelin was one of the most exciting competitions in the whole meet. Wakefield’s A and B teams had a huge day as their motivation for each other was felt in each throw and they placed 2nd and 3rd for a total of 14 points. For the A team, Jefferson threw 149’6, Brown had a 14 foot personal best throw 144’10 and Sean Callanan had a throw of 131’6 for a combined throw and new school record of 425’10, placing 2nd overall. For the B team, Adam Levy had a personal best throw of 134’9, Hogan had a personal best throw of 124’8 and Fabbri had a 115’4 for a combined throw of 374’9, placing 3rd overall.
In the triple jump, JaMauri Belmer had a jump of 41’10.5, Michael Mititchev had a jump of 37’9.25 and Jefferson had a jump of 37’1 for a combined jump of 116’8.75, placing 3rd overall for 6 points.
In the long jump, Belmer had a jump of 21’4.75, Aidan Jones had a jump of 19’11.75 and Michael Mititchev had a jump of 18’8.5 for a combined jump of 60’1 for 4th place and 5 points.
The 4×100 meter relay of Jackson Conley, Edgard Meneguello, Levy and Jones placed 5th with a time of 45 seconds and earned 4 points.
The Sprint Medley Relay team of Conley, Isaac Melo, Brody Wyatt and Ethan Mezikofsky won by at least 5 seconds with a school record time of 3:35.78 for 10 more points. The time also qualifies them for New Balance Nationals to be held in Philadelphia in mid-June.
The 4×800 meter relay included two Warrior teams combining for a total of 10 points. The team of Aidan Burd, Alec Buonopane-Cohen, Jacob Ciriello and Evan Buonopane-Cohen placed 3rd in a time of 8:23.08. The team of Aidan Martin, George Palmer, Josh Wagner, and Devin DeBeradinis placed 5th in 8:55.28.
The 4×200 meter relay team of Meneguello, Conley, Melo and Wyatt placed 2nd adding 8 points and finishing in a new school record of 1:30.90. The record was last set in 2015 by Joe Hurton, Cam Yasi, Eric Chi and Kevin Russo.
The Distance Medley also included a Wakefield A and B team and added 11 points, pushing each other the whole way while exchanging leads multiple times. The team of Ethan Mezikofsky, Evan Buonopane-Cohen, Aidan Burd, and Brandon Nett placed 3rd in 11:07.37. The team of Andrew Nett, Aidan Martin, Alec Buonopane-Cohen, and Max Viselli placed 4th in 11:08.51.
The 4×400 meter relay ran a blazing fast meet record of 3:26.57 to capture the win and add 10 more points that outdistanced the Warriors from the rest of the competitive field.
This concluded the most dominant performance recalled by Wakefield’s coaches Ruben Reinoso and Pappas as the Warriors put together one of the best relay scores in the history of the division.
The Warriors traveled to Burlington yesterday to compete in the Middlesex League 12 Championship Meet. A full story will appear at a later date. They will head to the Div. 4 State Championship at Merrimack College next weekend on May 30 and June 1.