A deep and talented South Hadley High School roster was just enough to hand host Frontier Regional School its first loss of the season on Thursday.
Sophie Gatzounas won the javelin and the triple jump, as the visiting Tigers threw a monkey wrench into the Red Hawks’ league title hopes with an 85-60 girls’ track and field victory in Suburban League action in South Deerfield.
“The thing about it is, everywhere we were strong, they were strong,” explained Frontier coach Bob Smith of South Hadley. “Usually we can match teams in certain places, but they matched us in all of our strong places.”
The loss dropped Frontier to 4-1 overall and 4-1 in the Suburban League, while South Hadley improved to 2-1 overall and 2-1 in the league. The Red Hawks will look to stay in the league title race when they travel to Southwick High School Monday in a huge meet against the Rams (5-0-1, 3-0-1).
Fiona Ferry (100, 18.2 seconds) and Jenna Martin (400, 74.5) swept the hurdles for Frontier, while Kimani Topolski-Burgess captured the long jump (14 feet, 8¾ inches). Ivy Shattuck took the win in the discus (84-6), while Jaime Byrne rounded out the individual winners for the Hawks in the pole vault (8-0). Frontier also won the 4×100 relay with a time of 53.1 seconds.
Mohawk 131, Athol 12 — Eighth-grader Ashley LaCross swept the horizontal jumps, finishing first in both the long and triple jumps to power Mohawk Trail Regional High School past Athol High School, 131-12, on Thursday in Buckland.
LaCross, a newcomer to the team, won the long jump in 13-9½ before adding a win in the triple jump (27-10½).
Seventh-grader Erica Szewczyk took first in the 2-mile (13:43), while Lilly Wells won the mile in 5:30 and the 200 meters in 29.8 seconds for Mohawk (5-0, 4-0 IL).
Winning running events for the Warriors were Lily Shearer (100 and 400 hurdles), Alexis Parent (400, 65.3), Meghan Davis (800, 2:34), and Hailey Buchanan (100 hurdles, 20.6).
Mohawk now sets its sights to the highly-anticipated showdown for the Intercounty League regular-season title with Mahar Regional School (5-0, 4-0) Monday in Orange.
“I think we’re ready and I think (Mahar) probably thinks they’re ready, too,” offered Mohawk coach Joe Chadwick. “It’s going to be a good one. There’s going to be a lot of good times and performances, so I think it’s going to be close.”
Pioneer 95, FC Tech 49 — A balanced effort up and down the lineup enabled Pioneer Valley Regional School to a 95-49 victory over Franklin County Technical School in an Intercounty League meet Thursday in Turners Falls.
AJ Wilson helped the Panthers (2-3, 2-3 IL) in the field events with a victory in the shot put (38-7¾), while teammates Andrew Pratt (discus, 111-11), Jake Kelton (pole vault, 11-0) and Jake Wallace (high jump, 5-1) also took individual wins.
Scott McDonough won the 200 meters (24.6) and was the runner-up in the triple jump and long jump in a pair of very competitive events. Tech’s Owen Ortiz claimed victory in both horizontal jumps, where he was first in the long jump (20-2¾) and first in the triple jump (39-11). Ortiz won the long jump over McDonough by just one inch and took the triple by 10 inches. Ortiz also picked up a third win, crossing first in the 100 meters with a time of 11.4 seconds.
Calin Giurgiu won two events for Tech (1-4, 1-4), taking the top spot in the 800 (2:38) and javelin (127-3).
Mohawk 117, Athol 28 — Ben White, Zach Coburn and Hunter Gibson won two events apiece to power Mohawk Trail Regional High School to a convincing 117-28 win over Athol High School in the Warriors’ Intercounty League finale Thursday afternoon in Buckland.
White swept the sprints, crossing first in the 100 (11.9 seconds) and 200 meters (24.0), while Coburn won the long jump (17 feet, 11 inches) and triple jump (36-5) and Gibson took first in the discus (103-7) and javelin (126-9).
Evan Shippee took the high jump for Mohawk (5-1, 5-1 IL), clearing 5-4, while Riley Dupree took the 400 win (56.0) and Bennett Boucias claimed the 800 (2:07.9).
Athol (0-7, 0-5) was paced by Mason Barrieau’s pair of hurdle victories. He was first in the 110 hurdles (16.9) and 400 hurdles (59.9), while teammate Dennis St. Jean claimed a win in the mile (5:16.2).
Next up for Mohawk and several area schools is the Last Chance Meet, scheduled for today at Mahar Regional School.
Girls’ tennis
Mohawk 4, Turners 1 — For the second day in a row, Mohawk Trail Regional High School managed to come out on top Thursday in a match against Tri-County League North foe Turners Falls High School. In the second of a home-and-home, the host Warriors captured a 4-1 win in Buckland.
Mohawk (4-5, 3-4 TCL) swept the singles matches, with Lilly Seaver topping the ladder with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Alysha Wozniak of Turners Falls.
“There were a lot of long, extended points in that match,” lauded Mohawk coach Chris Seaver of the first singles contest. “It was a great match.”
Mary Monohan and Emelia Seaver earned wins for Mohawk at second and third singles, as they claimed identical 7-5, 6-2 results.
Turners (3-9, 1-5) won its lone match of the afternoon at first doubles, where Amber Taylor and Carlie Kretchmar were 6-3, 7-5 winners over Corrine Freeman and Eva Markham.
Mohawk took the win at second doubles, where Sienna Lewis and Avery DuPree won a 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) decision.