Boys Track News
Boys Win Trio of Track Titles
Friday, 17 May 2013 18:08

alt
Pictured in photo Dan Ugochukwu

By the Sports Staff
Wicked Local Norwood

It was a successful cap to the league season for the Mustang boys on Wednesday as they brought home three titles from the Bay State Conference Track and Field Championships at Weymouth High.

Senior Jason Matovu was involved in two. He won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 15.51 seconds, taking advantage of the absence of rival Connor McCarthy of Walpole in the race, and joined Jake Ryan, Aaron Cockrane and Tresor Wrensford in claiming victory in the 4x100 relay in 44.81.

Matovu nearly made it three titles, coming less than two inches short in the long jump and settling for second behind Newton North's David Oluwadara winning leap of 20 feet, 8.25 inches.

Wrensford and Cockrane were third and fifth in the 200 while Ryan was third in the 100.

Senior Matt Ivory delivered the third Norwood crown by throwing 161 feet, 6 inches in the javelin, a personal best of more than 11 feet. Mustangs coach Russ Booth had recently brought in his former thrower from Westwood and now of Providence College, Pat Bowler, to work with Ivory on his technique.

"It was a huge throw," said Booth, "He has just gotten better and better."

It was great day overall in the throws for Norwood. Dan DiTomasso placed fourth in discus and sixth in the shot put despite undergoing surgery on his non-throwing shoulder two weeks ago, while Lonsdale Garrison was third in the shot put with a season-best effort of 48-5.

The Norwood girls collected two medals as Sinead O’Brien was fifth in the 200 in 28.44 after a qualifying run of 28.01 and Jess Murphy was fifth in the long jump in 15 feet.
 
Walpole 74, Norwood 62: Rivals Retain
Friday, 10 May 2013 17:17

alt
Keith E. Jacobson/Wicked Local Photo

Norwood's Tim Buckley (left) and Walpole's John Kelland jockey for position during the 800 meters on Wednesday.



By Keith Pearson/Staff Writer
Wicked Local Norwood
WALPOLE —

The Norwood-Walpole rivalry was alive and well Wednesday as the two teams squared off for a piece of the Bay State Conference Herget Division outdoor track at Turco Field.

The Rebels proved to be a little deeper allowing them to be a little more flexible in their lineup and earned a share of the division title along with Natick with a 74-62 win over Norwood.

Walpole and Natick both finish at 3-1-1 against Herget competition, just ahead of Norwood at 3-2. Both teams were looking for consecutive crowns as Norwood was coming of an indoor title while Walpole entered as defending outdoor champions, and just about every point was hotly-contested.

Only one-tenth of a second decided the 4x100-meter relay, with the Rebel quartet of Jungwoo Yoon, PJ Hayes, Kemble Lindh and Myles Cofield finishing on top in 44.1 seconds. Even though Walpole had already clinched the meet before the 4x400 relay, it came down to the anchor leg and Walpole’s Nick Culhane managed to have enough to hold off Norwood’s Anthony Negron by a second.

"The pill…it can be tough to swallow," Norwood coach Russ Booth said about coming up short. "You don’t like losing to Walpole in really anything, but the fact that our program is headed in the right direction, that’s what I just said to the kids, ‘We’re headed in the right direction,’ we’ve just got to take that next step and we can’t move back next year losing some of these seniors. We’ve got to take the next step forward."

When going up head-to-head, multi-event stars Connor McCarthy of Walpole and Jason Matovu of Norwood, each got the better of the other once. McCarthy won the 110 high hurdles in 14.5, lowering his personal best by two-tenths of a second while Matovu was the runner-up in 14.9, also recording a personal best.

Neither managed to set personal bests in the long jump, with Matovu winning with a jump of 20-3 to better McCarthy by two inches.

McCarthy did manage to edge Norwood’s Jake Ryan and Aaron Cockrane in the 200 for the win in 22.6 seconds. In the triple jump, McCarthy was the only one over 39 feet, winning in 42-9 1/2 . He racked 18 total points on the day to top both teams..

"For four years he’s done everything for this team, you can rely on him and he’ll come through for you," Rebels coach Kevin Butera said of McCarthy, who will run at Northeastern in the fall.

In addition to having a dominating presence in McCarthy, Walpole is even more dangerous with a healthy Hayes. The state-caliber sprinter, a recent Connecticut commit, won the 100 in 10.5 and also ran the second leg of the 4x100 to get the Rebels into the lead.

Matovu, who is headed to continue his career at Maine, added a first in the high jump, clearing 5-6 to lead an uncontested sweep. He finished with 13 points in his three individual events to pace the Mustangs.

Negron and Tim Buckley earned the only wins on the track for Norwood. Negron ran a blistering 59.8 in the 400. There was a little bumping in the 800, which Buckley survived to outdistance Walpole’s Jon Kelland and Eamon McCarthy in 2:06.7.

The Rebels dominated the distance events with a pair of sweeps. Sean Herlihy led the way in the mile in 4:36 and Andrew Single did the same in the 2-mile in 10:34.

For the Rebels, this has been a team that has slowly getting better over the course of the season.

"Those first couple meets when the weather wasn’t great, I thought it may the same as winter, we wouldn’t be that good," said Butera. "As we went along, events started getting better, people got healthier we just started jelling a lot better.

"People developed a lot over the course of the season, a lot of the distance guys started out not great, now they’re on the edge of qualifying for Division 2. Almost every event group, every week we went along we just improved and got better and everyone started pushing each other."

Norwood got back into the meet with the throwing events as Matt Ivory won the javelin in 148-5 and the discus 106-9. Lonsdale Garrison took the top spot in the shot put. Dan DiTomasso, who missed the previous meet after undergoing shoulder surgery, recovered quickly enough to be able to finish second in the shot put and discus.

TG Ugochukwu had three second-place finishes and a third to score 10 points.

Both teams will be back on the track next Wednesday in Weymouth for the Bay State Conference Championship.

                                                                             *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The girls team lost 107-19 to Walpole on Wednesday. Freshman Sinead O’Brien qualified for the MIAA Division 2 State Championship by winning the 200 meters in a time of 26.9 seconds. She also picked up a third in the triple jump with a leap of 25 feet, 11 1/2 inches.

Jess Murphy took second in the 100 in 13.0 and third in the long jump at 14-4 1/2 while Idaze Azeko was second in the shot put and third in the discus.

Liz Whitney took second in the discus, Alanna Keady was third in the 800 with a personal best time of 2:33.3 and Nicole Marchant was third in the 100 in 13.4, three-tenths of a second away from qualifying for the state meet.
 
 
Boys Track Positioned for Title Shot
Friday, 03 May 2013 19:31

 

alt


By the Sports Staff
Wicked Local Norwood

Tuesday’s 77-59 win over Wellesley guaranteed the Mustang boys track team a shot at a Bay State Conference Herget Division outdoor crown to go with their indoor title. At 3-3 overall, but 3-1 against division squads, Norwood can win the title outright Wednesday with a victory in Walpole in their dual meet finale.

Jason Matovu had a 20-point day to lead the way, winning four individual events. The senior took the 200 meters in 23.8 seconds, the 110 hurdles in 15.4, the high jump in 5 feet, 10 inches, and the long jump in 17-7 3/4.

Matt Ivory was a double-winner, qualifying for states with a throw of 150-0 in the javelin and taking the discus in 103-0. Lonsdale Garrison made it a sweep in the throws by taking the shot put in 45-7. Norwood went 1-2-3 in the shot with Osato Izeko and Carlos Cardona, despite being without Dan DiTomasso, who recently underwent shoulder surgery.

Norwood got also got a boost from Aaron Cockrane, who won the 100 (11.6) and was second in the 200 in his first dual meet of the season.

TG Ugochuku was a winner in the triple jump in 39-7 3/4 and teamed up with Chris Bell, Daniel Ugochukwu and Tresor Wrensford in the 4x100 that won in 47.5.

It was a successful day in Walpole on Saturday at the Division 2 state relays also as Norwood had four team places, totaling 16.2 points to finish 11th overall.

The shuttle hurdles squad registered the top finish by taking second. Matovu, TG Ugochukwu, Anthony Negron and Izeko ran 1:04.75, topped only by a Central Catholic squad that set a meet record. It was also the third-best shuttle hurdle time in all four divisions.

Jake Ryan, Matovu, Wrensford and Cockrane were fourth in the 4x100 in 44.36, as were TG Ugochukwu, Matovu and Cockrane in the long jump in 58-3. TG Ugochukwu, Daniel Ugochukwu and Wrensford tied for sixth in the high jump in 15-6 1/2.

The Mustang girls remained winless with a 114-22 loss to the Raiders.

Jess Murphy highlighted the day by running 12.9 in the 100 to qualify for states and take second. Murphy was second in the high jump as well. Adaze Izeko also posted a pair of seconds in the discus and shot put.
 

 
 
Ryan wins 200 at Freshman/Sophomore
Friday, 18 May 2012 17:08

alt

 

By the Sports Staff
Wicked Local Norwood
Posted May 10, 2012

A win by Jake Ryan in the 200 meters highlighted the Norwood contingent’s trip to the MSTCA Freshman/Sophomore Large School Meet at Newton South on Monday.

Ryan, a sophomore, had the top time in the preliminary heats in 23.37 seconds, and ran 23.45 in the final for the victory, edging Weymouth’s Tyler O’Brien (23.74).

Norwood also got excellent individual performances from sophomore Osoto Izeko, who was second in the 110 hurdles, and sophomore TG Ugochukwu, who was third in the triple jump. The 4x100 team of Ugochukwu, Tresor Wrensford, Aaron Cockrane and Ryan was third, qualifying for the Division 2 state meet in the process. 

Freshman Amy Duggan had the top Norwood placement on the girls side, taking fourth in the javelin.

Both squads closed out winless dual meets seasons with losses to Wellesley and Walpole.

Ryan and Ugochukwu were both double winners in an 88-48 loss to Wellesley last Thursday, with Ryan grabbing the 100 and 200 and Ugochukwu the high jump and triple jump.

Jason Matovu won the long jump and added second in the high jump and the 110 hurdles, which was won by Izeko.

Dan DiTomasso had a pair of wins in a 109-26 loss to the Bay State Conference Herget Division champion Rebels, taking the shot put and the discus. Matovu was Norwood’s other individual winner in the high jump.

A 1-2-3 in the javelin from Duggan, Liz Whitney and Mackenzie Sheehan highlighted the girls’ 97-39 loss to Wellesley. Whitney (discus) and Jacqueline Sobchuck (shot put) made it a clean sweep in the throws.

Duggan had two victories in a 108-28 loss to the Rebels, winning the javelin and tying for first with teammate Danielle Ringler in the high jump. Ringler and Jessica Murphy went 2-3 in 100 and 200.