Published in the February 22, 2017 edition
NICK KINNON (center) stands on the podium to receive his Div. 5 state championship medal in the 300M race earned in a meet record-setting pace of 36.18 seconds (Courtesy Photo)
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
BOSTON — Lynnfield Pioneer Nick Kinnon set two meet records at the MIAA Division 5 boys’ indoor track and field championships on Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston.
The junior sprinter earned the 300-meter championship title with record-setting first-place finish in 36.18 seconds, breaking the 2014 record of 36.51 set by Charlie Maistrellis of Bishop Fenwick. He topped 29 competitors in at the divisional championship meet and picked up 10 team points for Lynnfield. His nearest competitor was second-place runner up Jean-Paul Carbonneau (36.59) of the Advanced Math charter school.
Kinnon also set a meet record in the 55-meter dash. After running a 6.67-second qualifying time in the preliminary round to finish fourth out of 29, Kinnon turned on the guns in the final heat against the top seven qualifiers.
His time of 6.57 seconds earned him second place overall to junior John Caouette of Oakmont, who won the race in 6.55 seconds. Both times were fast enough to top last year’s meet record of 6.58 seconds set by Garrett Morris of Bishop Stang. Caouette had finished first in the preliminaries with a 6.59. Kinnon picked up another eight team points for Lynnfield as well.
Teammate Davide Pittilini (6.794) had finished in eighth overall in the preliminary heat and had just missed qualifying for the final heat by the narrowest of margins to Donte Harmon of Newburyport (6.793).
Pittilini put forth another outstanding effort in the 55-meter hurdles, topping the field of 29 hurdlers in the preliminary heat with a qualifying time of 7.68 seconds. Pittilini subsequently finished second overall in the final heat with a time of 7.72 seconds and another eight points for the Pioneers. The race was won by Danny Renwick of Old Rochester (7.71).
The 26 points earned by these two athletes gave Lynnfield a fifth-place finish out of 42 teams that had scored points. Their performances also qualified them for the MIAA All-State Meet this coming Sunday, Feb. 26.
“Lynnfield boys had a fantastic night and finished 5th overall in the D5 championship. I am so impressed with and proud of this group of young men,” commented head coach Christine Smith, who added that Kinnon’s record in the 300 was an “outstanding performance.”
”Other performances included Matt Ricciardi in the 1000 with a time of 2:52.53. Ryan Iapicca ran a time of 4:49.08 in the mile – a personal record. Our 4×800 team ran a 10th-place time of 9:02.30 and our 4×200 team unfortunately had a lane violation on handoff and was disqualified,” Smith said.
”We could not have come this far without the knowledge and help of our assistant coaches, Nani Benson and Adam Dell’Aria.
”Nick is also competing in the pentathlon on Feb. 28,” Smith said.
