First indoor title for Warriors since 1967
BOSTON — The Warrior boys’ track and field team made history this weekend at the MIAA Division 4 State Championship by winning the team title.
Although in recent years, the Warriors have won a few cross country and outdoor titles, it was the first time Wakefield has won an indoor track and field championship since 1967.
The boys showed up to compete and took care of business scoring points in 11 out of 13 events for a total of 64 points, well ahead of 2nd place team Pembroke who scored 41 points. Of the 50 teams competing in Division 4, 32 teams managed to score at least one point throughout the meet. Notably, more than half the Warrior boys scored points and made the podium to show the true depth and quality of their team.
Liam Taggart ran a stunning 1 mile race that was fast from the start and ended up with Taggart breaking the school record in a time of 4:23.14. He placed 3rd in one of fastest mile races of all divisions as the 1st and 2nd place finishers ran the top 3 fastest time in all divisions. The record was formerly held by standout Matt Greatorex from 2017 at 4:24.25. Taggart will advance to the Meet of Champions next weekend at the Reggie Lewis Center.
THE WAKEFIELD High boys’ indoor track and field team are the 2024 Div. 4 State Champions. It’s the first indoor state title for Wakefield since 1967. (Courtesy Photo)
Ethan Gori advanced to the finals in the 55 meter dash and placed 5th with a time of 6.66.
Gori later placed 5th in the 300 meters as well with a time of 36.80. He put a major dent in the scoring with both of his performances.
Junior Ethan Mezikofsky ran a fantastic race in the 600 meters placing 3rd overall with a personal best of 1:24.59. Mezikofsky has a strong chance of qualifying for the Meet of Champions as well.
Joe Patt placed 8th in the 55 meter hurdles, with a time of 8.24 to add a point to the board.
In the 1000 meters, the Warriors added 11 more points to the score, as William Mezikofsky placed 3rd in 2:40.29 and Oliver Polster was 4th in 2:40.52.
The long jump turned out to be a big event for the Warriors as JaMauri Belmer placed 3rd with a monster jump of 21’0.25” which ranks 3rd in Massachusetts for sophomores. Fellow sophomore Aiden Jones placed 8th with his jump of 20’5”, the 6th furthest jump in Massachusetts for his grade.
In the 2 mile, junior brothers, Andrew Nett and Brandon Nett, ran smart and patient races that led not only to 6th and 7th place podium finishes but also personal bests for both runners as Andrew ran 10:08.91 and Brandon was 10:13.78.
The relays also did not disappoint as the 4×200 meter relay team of sophomore Isaac Melo, Gori, sophomore Carter Jefferson and Jones placed 7th in a time of 1:36.15.
The 4×800 meter relay team of Taggart, Polster, Mike Arria and Will Mezikofsky placed 2nd in a time of 8:25.43. The 4×800 will compete at the Meet of Champions with a time from an earlier season performance.
The 4×400 meter relay team of Melo, Ethan Mezikofsky, Joe Patt and Brody Wyatt captured the only 1st place finish for the Warriors to put a punctuation mark on a meet that was already decided mathematically. Melo took it out hot in the first 200 meters and held on tough to the first exchange. Mezikofsky made a strong move on the second-to-last turn to hold off charging competitors which proved to be a decisive move as Patt was able to receive the baton and put some major distance on the competition with his very fast leg before Wyatt was able to run his best 400 yet to hold off the pressure of a fast charging Gloucester team and finish in 3:32.18, qualifying for the Meet of Champions.
Also competing in the mile was Alec Buonopane-Cohen, who ran Wakefield’s second-fastest freshman time ever with his 4:45.07 and improving on his National qualifying mark for the Freshman mile to be held next month. Junior Jacob Ciriello ran a personal best of 4:54.30. Junior Marcello Caruso ran a strong race finishing in 4:59.97. Junior Ty Galante ran a hard-fought race in 5:02.98.
In the 600 meters, Wyatt ran a time of 1:27.34 to place 9th. Aidan Martin ran 1:34.85.
In the 2 mile, Brendan Campea placed 9th in a personal best time of 10:16.04. Sophomore Max Viselli ran a personal best of 10:57.16.
In the high jump, Belmer cleared 5’8”.
“I’m so proud of this team, everyone has worked so hard to make this happen,” said head coach Ruben Reinoso. “Our coaching staff – Perry Pappas, Krista Buck and David Lee – deserve so much credit for all the work they put in to make sure that our kids are ready to compete. Our captains are such great leaders and role models and they made sure everyone was focused and ready to compete. I’m just so proud to be part of this program.”
