Warriors crown three individual champs, one relay in meet

ADAM ROBERTO, a senior captain, crossed the finish line at 1:58.87 to capture first place in the 800 meter run with the personal best time at the Div. 3 Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday at Burlington High School.

ADAM ROBERTO, a senior captain, crossed the finish line at 1:58.87 to capture first place in the 800 meter run with the personal best time at the Div. 3 Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday at Burlington High School.

Published in the May 30, 2017 edition.

BURLINGTON — The home track advantage, and the points scored in the pentathlon and the pole vault, proved to the difference in the Div. 3 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in what turned out to be a two-team battle between Middlesex League Freedom division rivals.

The Wakefield Memorial High boys’ outdoor track team had its best showing in years at the showcase and finished second to league rival Burlington in the team scoring. The Warriors scored 81 points while the Red Devils scored 90 points.

“​To say it was the most exciting meet of our season is an understatement. The boys’ track and field team did it again, performed their best and left it all on the track and field,” said head coach Ruben Reinoso. “Burlington was up 25 points before the meet even started on Sunday from their pentathletes. Then they followed that up by scoring another 11 points from their pole vaulters. One would think that after a team is up by 36 points the meet would not be even close. Although we were down 36 our boys came to compete and they were not bothered by the score one bit.”

Wakefield crowned three individual champions and one relay team captured first place overall.

The individual champions were senior captain Adam Roberto, senior captain Cole Mottl, and junior Matt Greatorex. The 4×800 relay team also scored 10 points with a victory.

Roberto won the 800 meter run run in a time of 1:58.87, while Greatorex was the mile champ in a time of 4:22.63. Mottl won the shot put with a throw of 48’11”.

The 4×800 relay team clocked in at 8:12.96 and the four runners were Greatorex, senior captain Ryan Sullivan, senior Nick McGee, and Roberto.

The two mile set the tone early as junior Tommy Lucey had a big day placing third with an 18 second personal best of 9:59.25. He was seeded 16th going into the meet and had a huge breakthrough performance. Thanks to a strong kick in the last 400 meters, Lucey will move on to all-states this weekend.

Sophomore Carter Margolis also had a great race placing sixth in the two mile to score crucial team points. His time of 10:03.94 was an 11 second personal best.

Sophomore Casey Brackett ran in his first state meet and placed 22nd with a time of 10:44.18 in the two mile.

“After the two mile we still had a lot to make up but a third and a sixth place was huge for us at the moment and it cut the lead to 36-9,” said Reinoso. “We then went to the field events.”

In the discus, Patrick Redmond, a junior, threw 115’6”, placed fourth, and will be moving on to All- States. Junior Charlie Senior placed seventh with a throw of 114’0”. At this point the score was 42-16 because Burlington had an athlete place third in the discus.

In the shot put, Mottl won the event with his throw of 48’11”. This is the first time Wakefield’s had a D3 champ in the shot put outdoors. Redmond was fourth with a throw of 45’6”. They are both moving on to All-States. The two throwers have dominated the event all season long and they did again by giving Wakefield much needed points. That made the score, 42-31.

The meet then headed into the mile where Greatorex had a dominating performance in the mile winning his first individual track title with a personal best time of 4:22.63. Greatorex beat the next competitor by four seconds. McGee placed 19th in 4:47.12 and junior Riley Brackett was 22nd in 4:55.59. After the event, the Warriors had cut the lead to 42-41.

Roberto won his first individual title as he placed first in the 800 leading for the majority of the race. His time was a personal best of 1:58.87. Sullivan also had a great day scoring points by placing fifth in the 800 with a personal best of 2:00.32 missing out on All-States by less than half a second.

Freshman Tanner Jellison ran the second fastest freshman time in Massachusetts in the 800 as he finished 11th in 2:01.70. At that point in the meet, Wakefield took lead, 55-42.

Burlington went three-four in the hurdles and the Warriors still had the lead, 55-53.

In the 100 meter dash, Dan Sallade, a senior captain, was sixth with a time of 11.73 seconds. He ran a 11.57 seconds in the preliminaries running the second fastest time Wakefield’s had in the program in a long time. This was also the first time the Warriors had someone place in the event in a long time.

Ryan Obear, a freshman, also ran the preliminaries in the 100 and finished in 20th place in a time of 11.87 seconds.

Sophomore Brian Smith followed up Sallade’s great performance with a darn good effort himself. He was second overall in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.98 seconds. He ran a time of 22.85 seconds in the preliminaries. This is the fastest time any sophomore has run for Wakefield.

“Our sprinters gave us some much needed points to make the score 66-53,” said Reinsoso. “They won the high jump and came in second in the 400 meters making the score 71-66 Burlington.

Also competing in the long jump was senior captain Carmen Sorrentino who placed 18th with a leap of 19’11 1/4”.

The meet then headed to the relays.

The 4×800 relay team of Greatorex, Sullivan, McGee, and Roberto repeated as champions with a thrilling come-from-behind win and season best time of 8:12.96. Pembroke had a big lead with 400 meters to go but Roberto closed the gap and was able to take over first with about 50 meters to go and hold on for the win. Burlington was sixth and that made the score, 76-74. Wakefield with just the 4×400 relay to go.

The 4×400 relay team, which consisted of senior Dan Summers as well as Greatorex, Sullivan, and Roberto with a difficult triple event, fought hard and placed fourth with a time of 3:31.25 which qualified the relay for All-States.

“These guys are tough as nails to run an individual event as well as they did, then follow it up with two relays that they were able to perform at their best says it all,” said assistant coach Perry Pappas. “Their hard work over the past few years is really carrying them though.”

“Burlington was third making the (final) score 90-81. Nobody expected us to make the score that close specially after being down by 36 points. But when you have the kind of athletes we have here in Wakefield no lead is safe and we are in every meet,” said Reinoso. “This is the best we have done ever since we started coaching here and it has always been our goal to compete for a division and state title.”

The second place finish is the best performance by Wakefield since Reinoso became the head coach in 2009. The scores over the years are as follows: eight points for 24 place in ‘09, 11 points for 19th in ‘10, nine points for 26th in ‘11, 11 points for 20th in ‘12, 10 points for 19th in ‘13, 31 points for ninth place in ‘14, 38 points for sixth place in ‘15, and 39 points for seventh place in ‘16.

“I am really happy with our senior class. They have been outstanding and they have led the way as being role models for our younger athletes,” said Reinoso. “My coaching staff is top notch and they have been outstanding for our program. I cannot wait to see what happens next year as we have a lot of pieces from this outstanding team coming back.”

The Warriors will now get ready for the All-State Meet which will be held on Saturday, June 3 at 3 p.m. at Bridgewater State University.