The weather was perfectly magnificent, but the team scores weren’t all that hot for the Londonderry High School spring track and field squads when they opened their 2017 campaigns on their own Larry Martin Track – with Martin himself doing much of the public address announcing – last Friday, April 14 against the visiting Concord High Crimson Tide.
The Concord girls claimed a 78-58 victory over the Lady Lancers and the Crimson Tide males had an even more productive afternoon, beating the the host males by a 105-30 count.
GIRLS
The Lady Lancers won a total of six events, with standout Maddie Croteau proving unbeatable in both the pole vault (an effort of 9 feet) and the 200-meter dash (27.9 seconds).
Others wins were claimed by Kaylie Longua in the long jump (15’7″), Jess Brien in the high jump (4’8″), Gretchen McGrath in the 800-meter run (2 minutes, 24.3 seconds), and the 4×100 relay team (52.0).
BOYS
The Lancer guys’ first places were delivered by Patrick Hagearty in the shot put (41’9 1/2″), Pat Zepf in the javelin (117’2″), and Nate Seeley in the 3,200-meter run (10:28.5).
Coach Matt Smith’s youthful Lancer contingent – which placed fourth at the Division I championships last spring – includes key returning seniors Chris Zaino (distances) and Declan Hotter (distances), juniors Cam Taranto (middle-distances) and Ben Johnson (sprints), and sophomore Khalique Bagley (sprints).
Other returnees include seniors Nate Cohen (throws), Noah Bourgoin (mids), and Connor Keeley (distances), juniors Seeley (distances), Jake Donnelly (distances), Brian Metro (distances), and Avery Bonanno (sprints), and sophomores Hagearty (throws) and Nick Shapleigh (sprints).
Newcomers include senior Jake Stevens (jumps and throws), juniors Zepf (jumps and throws) and Shane McEachern (sprints), and freshmen Kerry Daley (distances), Dylan Hotter (distances), and Lorenzo Inglese (mids).
“We’re only bringing back two guys from last year’s team at the Division One’s, so we have a lot of new faces in new places,” said coach Smith. “There is definitely going to be a learning curve with so many new guys, but they’re excited about the opportunity. They’re getting better every week at practice. If we can just keep plugging along and keep growing and developing, we’ll have a pretty good team come D-I time.”
The coach feels that Nashua North, Pinkerton, Concord, and Merrimack will be among the toughest teams in the division this spring.