Future track stars take on peers in annual NEC Freshman / Sophomore Meet
The Marblehead High indoor track teams kept their underclassmen busy over the holidays competing at the annual Northeastern Conference Freshman / Sophomore Meet in Gloucester on Dec. 29. The Marblehead boys finished fourth after accumulating 47.5 points, while the girls were fifth with 32 points. The electronic timing system didn’t work for many of the races, but overall, it was a competitive, fun day, according to coach Nolan Raimo.
Girls high jump
Freshman Addison Matulewicz (3-10) began her scholastic high jump career with a seventh-place finish against her conference peers.
Boys high jump
Sophomore Clark Roszell (6-0) tied the meet record after beating out Julian Capece of Danvers for first place, because he had fewer misses. Freshman Dexter Wynn cleared 4-10 in his debut as a high jumper to land on the podium after coming in sixth.
Boys shot put
Freshman Noah Duarte (27-1.5) set a new personal best mark to lead his teammates in this event, while finishing 12th overall. His classmate Giorgio Bottari (23-3.5, personal best) was close behind in 16th place.
Girls mile
Sophomore Norah Walsh (5:51.6) set a new personal best to take home the silver medal. Sophomore Ruby Assa (6:00.6, personal best) was close behind in fourth place. Freshman Nadia Siragusa (6:27.3) was fifth. Freshman Ginny Donato (6:54) came in seventh.
Girls 1,000
As the lone Marblehead runner participating in this event, freshman Elisabeth Greely, in only her second time running it, finished 10th.
Boys 1,000
In one of the most competitive races of the day, freshman Isaac Durand took home the bronze in a personal best time of 3:01.30. Freshman Owen Meunier (3:33.73, personal best) was close behind, coming in seventh overall.
Girls 300
Making her debut, freshman Charlotte Hodgkinson (47.52) landed on the podium in fifth place. Her classmate Julia Thomson (50.93) was 13th. Sophomore Emmy Dolce (51.62) was right behind her, finishing 14th, and her classmates Sophie Bacon (54.40, 21st) and Sophia Fargo (1:05.34, 22nd) also completed the course.
Boys 300
Freshman Nic Epstein (33.26, personal best) ended up seventh, while his classmates Jack Brousse (47.26, personal best) and Owen Casale (47.60, personal best) secured 11th and 13th place finishes. Nate Moran (54.33, personal best) was 18th.
Girls 55-meter dash
Sophomore Keira White (9.4, personal best) finished 24th, and freshman Addison Matulewicz (9.9) was 29th.
Boys 55-meter dash
Sophomore Voeuncenzo Vorn (7.2, hand time) came in fourth in the preliminary round, and did the same after running a 7.30 electronic finish. Freshman Dexter Wynn (7.5, personal best) missed the finals by .1 second, while settling for a close seventh.
Girls 55-meter hurdles
Freshmen Nina Badzak (11.2, fifth) and Charlotte Greten (11.2, fifth, personal best) qualified for the finals by matching each other step for step. Sophomore Faith Apostolopoulos (11.3) narrowly missed the finals with a seventh-place finish.
Boys 55-meter hurdles
In a field of all sophomores, Theo Benning (10.9) captured the bronze.
Girls long jump
Charlotte Greten (14-6) leaped to a seventh-place finish. Making her debut in this event, Apostolopoulos (13-3) came in ninth.
Boys long jump
Vorn (17-5, personal best) carried over the momentum from a successful dash to come in third, followed by Epstein (17-3.5, personal best, fourth), Brousse (16-5, seventh) and Casale (15-10.5, eighth).
Girls 4×200 relay
The team of Hodgkinson, Dolce, Bacon and Thomson (2:04.34) captured the silver.
Boys 4×200 relay
Brousse, Epstein, Casale and Wynn (1:55.62) teamed up to come in fourth.
Girls 4×400 relay
Assa, Walsh, Donato and Siragusa (5:03.55) were credited with a fourth-place finish. It was a long day for all four runners after also taking part in either the 1,000 or mile.
Boys 4×400 relay
Meunier, Duran, Benning and Vorn (4:20.44) stepped up to take the bronze. “Owen and Isaac had to double back after running the 1,000, which is an immense challenge,” said Raimo, “while Theo and Voeuncenzo volunteered to run the relay, which was also their first 400 of the year, but, despite all of that, Voeuncenzo still ran the fastest leg.”
Wrestlers keep busy with over the holidays
The holiday season was anything, but quiet for the Marblehead/Swampscott Black & Blue wrestling team.
On Saturday, Dec. 20, at Mt. Hope High School’s Sharon Lombardo Memorial Tournament in Bristol, Rhode Island, there were many individual achievements. As a team, the Black & Blue kids finished ninth out of 12 squads.
Individually, it was another big day for senior captain Liam O’Brien, who not only captured another title at 138-pounds, but also netted his 150th all-time win. He was already the program’s all-time leader in wins, but now with every win it gets even tougher to fathom the possibility of anybody catching him. On this day, O’Brien was so dominant that by the end of the invitational he had an aggregate record of 43-3 in his four matches.
Senior captain Colin Hart won his bracket (190-pounds) for the first time in his career after a dominant 4-0 performance. Two pins and a decision propelled him to the finals, where he bottled up his opponent from the host Huskies to secure a 13-3 decision.
Senior Xavier Tejeda had his first-ever podium finish after coming in fifth with a 3-1 record. All three of his wins were by pin.
Junior Colin Homan, a first-year wrestler, came up with his first varsity win, before finishing up with a 1-2 record. Freshman Platon Danshyn duplicated Homan’s efforts.
Junior Jaymes Carey bounced back from a tough semifinal loss to take home third place after going 4-1. All four wins were by pin.
In the girls division, junior Eva Goodman won her round robin event, while junior Maya Alix finished second in hers. Sophomore Anna Cruikshank came out on top in her first-ever match, before taking second in the round robin.
Kristian and Kenny Drolette, Dylan Soule, Ilan Hod, sophomore Phil Duclos, Andrew Delisle, Ollie Dion and freshman Nolan Glass also participated in the invitational, and they all gained considerable experience from it.
One week later, it was onto the annual Pentucket Holiday Tournament. The match took place on Dec. 27. The Black & Blue crew ended up 16th out of 21 teams. “We were shorthanded coming into this invitational, (manning) only nine of 14 weight classes,” said coach Mike Stamison.
Hart had to settle for fifth place, because of a technicality in the bracket format, despite winning four matches by pin, while losing just once.
O’Brien ended up fourth after cruising through the first two rounds with an 18-0 technical fall and a pin. He then, however, ran into a tough opponent from Roxbury Latin, who beat him narrowly, 3-2. In the match for third place, there was controversy that led to an unfortunate 5-3 loss as time expired. “We must learn from these setbacks, and leave no doubt in future matches against these tough opponents,” said Stamison.
At 150-pounds, Glass put together his best tournament yet, going 2-2. At 157, junior Andrew Delisle went 1-2 that included a pin, which accounted for his win. Freshman Ryker Genest got his first varsity win with a pin over his Salem, New Hampshire counterpart.
Seventh graders Elliot Donato and Dion got more experience competing in this annual holiday tournament, along with senior Xavier Tejeda and Duclos.
Basketball Magicians cruise past Fenwick to secure fourth win
The Marblehead High boys basketball team went into the Christmas break with a 4-1 overall record – 2-1 in the Northeastern Conference – after beating non-league host Bishop Fenwick, 57-36 on Dec. 21. Their next game was set to be Jan. 5. Go to MarbleheadCurrent.org for details.
The Magicians pretty much led from beginning to end, including at halftime, 34-13. “We used our defense to create offense, particularly in the first half,” said coach Mike Giardi.
Junior captain Finn Baron poured in 16 of his 22 points in that first half to help lead his teammates to victory. A total of nine Marblehead players scored at least one point in this game.
