Mansfield Boys Track Rolls To Division Title

One thing you can certainly say about this year’s edition of the Mansfield High boys’ indoor track team is that the Hornets can score some points.

After notching a school-record 103.5 points on the way to the Hockomock League Championship Meet title a week ago, Mansfield established a new team record for scoring at a division meet, totaling 98 on the way to the Division 2 state championship Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

On Feb. 12 at the Reggie Lewis Center, the Hornets set a new team record for scoring at the league meet with 103.5, easily outdistancing North Attleboro (55).

Saturday, Mansfield used its impressive total of 98 points to easily outdistance the Rocketeers once again as North Attleboro finished with 40. Woburn placed third with 35 points and Marshfield was fourth with 33. The Hornets scored in 11 of the 13 events on Saturday and had an impressive total of 15 athletes score points during the competition.

It was the second consecutive division crown for Mansfield. After winning the first indoor state championship in the program’s history a year ago, the Hornets will look to make it two straight when they head back to the Reggie Lewis Center for the MIAA All-State Meet Friday night.

Much like it did at the league meet Mansfield got off to a fast start during the divisional meet Saturday and was really never headed. Junior standout Josh Lampron captured the mile with a time of 4:19.86, scoring 10 points in the process. Sophomore Dan Caughey registered a personal best in the event, finishing 23rd with a time of 4:46.94.

The momentum continued into the 600 meters as junior Griffin Robertson and senior captain Ryan Petrella both placed in the top six. Robertson finished fourth with a time of 1:24.69, while Petrella was sixth in 1:24.84. In the 1,000-meter race, senior Joe Cole eclipsed his old personal best by some four seconds, placing 12th with a time of 2:41.15. Senior Adam Osowski was 22nd in the event in 2:46.15.

After spending the past week nursing a severely sprained ankle, senior captain Steve Gannon stepped up during the 300 Saturday. He placed second with a time of 35.77 seconds, while junior Nick King was third in 35.95. The duo combined for 14 points in the event. King Philip junior standout Charles Ruffin won the 300 in 35.21 seconds.

Senior captain Bill Giannouloudis scored two points during the shot put competition, placing seventh with a distance of 44-3. Senior John Puleo finished 12th in the event with a throw of 42-9 and classmate Ted Gregory was 15th at 42-3.5.

Junior Brian Ferreira then placed third in the high jump with a height of 6-1, while senior Patrick Greaney was fifth at 5-11. North Attleboro senior standout Tristan Richardson won the event with a height of 6-5.

Greaney followed that up with a third-place showing in the long jump with a distance of 21-3.75 to score six points. Ferreira came back to finish fifth in the 55-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 7.97 seconds. Brian’s brother, Ted. also established a personal best in the event, placing 12th in 8.36 seconds.

Senior captain Shayne Collins easily captured the two-mile race with a time of 9:14.51, just missing the meet record in the process. Senior captain Matt Cioe finished fifth with a personal-best time of 9:50.77, while junior Mitch Negus was 13th in a personal-best 10:09.80. Junior Brendan McCarthy was 21st  in the event with a time of 10:17.37.

If all that wasn’t enough, Mansfield scored 30 additional points by capturing all three relay events. Entering the 4x800 relay competition as the fifth seed, the team of junior Nate Somes (2:06.7), Collins (2:01.8), junior Kham Haleudeth (2:04.2) and Lampron (1:57.8) combined to win the event in a season-best time of 8:10.44.

The 4x200 relay squad entered its race just looking to advance to the All-State Meet. The quartet bested that goal as the group of King (22.5), senior Ian Cauldwell (23.4) and juniors Andrew Kuras (23.3) and Greg Donahue (22.9) won the race in 1:32.19.

The 4x400 relay team of Petrella (52.1), Robertson (50.9), senior Jonah Primiano (53.2) and Gannon (51.9) completed the record-setting day for the Hornets, winning the event and scoring 10 points with a time of 3:28.12.