HYANNIS – For the first time since 2001, the Barnstable High School Red Raider boys were crowned spring track & field Old Colony League Champions Tuesday afternoon at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field and the Cobb Track.
Barnstable High senior Kyle Anderson blows by his competition in the 110m hurdles en route to a first place finish Tuesday.
Kathleen Cugini photo for Capecod.com Sports
Barnstable, now 4-0 on the season, defeated the visiting Dartmouth Indians, 98-37, and received stellar performances in nearly every event. The OCL championship title is a first in spring track for second-year head coach Mike Merrill who captained the 1997 Red Raider team under T. Walter Price.
Merrill, who won the OCL title as head coach of the Barnstable boys’ fall cross country team in 2013, ran for DII Bentley College the last time Barnstable took a title in spring track.
“Barnstable performed well in every event,” Merrill said. “And the young depth of the team – which had many personal bests – helped secure the win.”
One of the top-ranked triple jumpers in the state, senior Malique Dickerson-Pells continued to impress yesterday when he took first place at 41’1″ and then turned in a first place in the long jump with a 21’2.5″ mark. Senior Jedidiah Cadet placed second in the triple jump with his 38’6″ mark. Red Raider senior Willie Brown – who transferred to Barnstable High from down South last fall — was second in the long jump with a 20’3″ mark and he followed up that performance with an impressive win in the 100m dash in 11.1 seconds.
Barnstable team captain Nick Johnson qualified for the MIAA East Division 1 Championship Meet in the discus with a personal best and first place throw of 132’7″. Johnson also won the shot put with a throw of 45’3.75″. Junior Nathan Fitzgerald placed second in the discus with what Coach Merrill deemed “a great throw” of 101’10”.
Senior Kyle Anderson stepped up for the Barnstable squad by taking second place in the 400m hurdles in a time of 66.3 and he added a win in the 110m hurdles with a time of 19.81.
Barnstable High sophomore Cam Faszewski (right) leads the way en route to a first place finish in the two-mile race, while Barnstable senior Derek Silliman trails right behind.
Kathleen Cugini photo for Capecod.com sports
Senior Chris Lovett took home the win in the 800m race with a time of 2:16, followed by his teammates Junior Tim DeCosta and Sophomore Dan Loiselle with times of 2:19 and 2:23, respectively.
Sophomore Cam Faszewski narrowly missed his personal best in the 2-mile but came away with the win with a time of 11:05.
Coach Merrill commended a number of other top Red Raider performances as being instrumental to the victory and taking of the OCL crown.
Barnstable won the 4×100 Relay with a season’s best 45.4 as sophomore Chris Fawcett, Malique Dickerson-Pells, Cadet and Brown staved off all comers.
Barnstable won the 4×400 Relay with a time of 3:55 and it was Lovett, Decosta, Lucas Lanzo (Sophomore), Ryan Chevalier (Junior) who served as the winning quartet.
Sophomore Will Cooke placed second in the high jump with a jump of 5’2″ and was also second in the 200m with a time of 24.6 seconds. Junior long-distance man Ray Todoroff won the mile with a solid time of 4:55. Lanzo also ran a personal best and took home the win in the 400m race with a time of 55.5.
Red Raider personal bests in the mile were turned in by sophomore Richard Horton III (5:33), 8th Grader Brian Judge (5:49), sophomore Harrison Duchesney (5:55) and junior Casey Connor, whose time of 5:00 flat was good enough for a bronze finish.
Coach Merrill said his squad has its eyes set on May 15 for the Old Colony League Championships but for now, the laurels of winning the school’s first boys’ spring track & field crown in a
Barnstable High’s Chris Fawcett (middle) and Makhai Dickerson-Pells (left) blaze the lanes in yesterday’s 98-37 win over Dartmouth.
Kathleen Cugini photo for Capecod.com Sports
decade-and-a-half will likely come as a surprise when school opens today.
“The program is coming together,” Merrill said.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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