NORTH EASTHAM — It had been nearly a decade since the Barnstable High School boys’ track & field team captured two wins to start a season, but Tuesday afternoon at Nauset Regional High the Red Raiders achieved just that in a season-opening tri-meet with the host Warriors and Sandwich High Blue Knights.
The Barnstable boys track & field team has not captured its first two dual meet wins since 2006, but did so Tuesday versus Nauset and Sandwich.
Photo courtesy of Dan Henson
Barnstable defeated Nauset, 99-37, and Sandwich, 86-49, to start the season off at 2-0, a mark not seen since the 2006 campaign and one achieved only twice in the past 10 seasons for the Red & White.
With 53 varsity athletes on the squad but only six seniors, head coach Mike Merrill — a former Red Raider track and cross country captain, record-holder and Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic — was understandably pleased with the outcome.
“Barnstable’s throwers set the tone of the meet from the start by scoring 23 of the possible 27 points against both Sandwich and Nauset in the discus, shotput and javelin,” Merrill said. “They all did very well.”
Two Red Raiders qualified for the MIAA East Division Championship Meet in their respective disciplines. Junior shotputter Nick Johnson qualified with a throw of 45’4″ and senior Malique Dickerson-Pells qualified in the triple jump for the second straight year with a jump of 40’10”. Dickerson-Pells, also placed second in the 100m dash with a fantastic time of 11.81. Johnson also won the discus with a throw of 119’10”.
Senior Willie Brown also qualified for the MIAA East Division Championship Meet with his first place finish in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.52, Brown also won in the long jump with a leap of 19’11”.
Junior long-distance man Casey Connor won the 2-Mile with a personal best of 10:37 and returned in the mile to place third with a time of 5:08.
Junior Ray Todoroff won the mile in 5:03 and was part of Barnstable’s winning 4×400 team which consisted of himself, Lucas Lanzo, Tyler Huckemeyer and Dan Loiselle.
Junior Nathan Ryan won the javelin with a throw of 137’9″.
Barnstable swept all opposing big men in the shotput, with Johnson, as noted before, taking first place at 45’4″. Tanner Banks came in second place at 37’9.5″ and Joe Goncalves took third place at 36’5″.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
