BUCKLAND — Shuffling between two events at the same time, Olivia Vecellio certainly didn’t expect she’d be in contention to win a pair of titles on Friday. But thanks to personal bests in both the discus and the javelin, the Frontier Regional School sophomore did exactly that.
Seeded 17th in the javelin, Vecellio came out of nowhere to best the field with a winning throw of 101 feet, 6 inches, and she held her top seed form in the discus with another PR of 106-4 to pace the local contingent at the Western Mass. Division II Track & Field Championships held at Mohawk Trail Regional High School.
Winning the discus wasn’t a surprise for Vecellio. The defending Central/West Div. II champion in the event, she was the top seed for Friday’s WMass Championship. While Mohawk’s Violet Rawlings, the defending champion, pushed her with a runner-up heave of 102-11, Vecellio threw a six-foot personal best of 106-4 to capture the title.
“Violet threw 102, so I had to step my game up,” said Vecellio of the discus. “I had to put everything I had into it.”
The javelin was a different story. Vecellio wasn’t expected to compete, entering with a season-best throw of 86-6. But the stars aligned on her second throw of the day, and she chucked the spear 101-6. That toss held up through four more rounds, as she edged runner-up Laura Thomas of Drury High School by three feet. Vecellio’s teammate Reilly Isler came through with a strong throw of 98-5 to take third place, and Paige Loughman of Pioneer Valley Regional School (fifth) and Ava Santana of Mahar Regional School (sixth) also scored points in the crowded event.
“I’m not sure what I expected, but I definitely didn’t expect to place (in the javelin),” admitted Vecellio. “The wind was right, I guess. It feels great. There’s a lot of good javelin throwers on our team and in the (field).”
It was a strong day overall for Franklin County throwers. The locals swept the javelin titles, with Franklin County Technical School senior Calin Giurgiu winning the boys’ crown by 11 feet. Giurgiu, the second seed in the field, tossed a personal best 148-7 to hold off runner-up Ian Graham of Wahconah Regional High School (137-7).
“I know some people were struggling with their throws, so I made a point to clear my mind and worry about myself,” Giurgiu explained.
Part of Giurgiu’s ability to focus came from his relaxed mentality throughout the competition. He said his favorite part of the sport comes from the camaraderie shared between competitors.
“I chat with everyone,” he said with a laugh.
Arguably the race of the day came in the boys’ 400 meter dash, where Frontier’s Brandyn Robinson exacted a bit of revenge to clip Mohawk’s Seth Hoynoski in the waning meters. Robinson’s time of 52.82 seconds gave him the title, holding off Hoynoski’s runner-up time of 53.12.
Hoynoski defeated Robinson in the event when the two teams met during the regular season. The Frontier senior said he wanted to turn the tides when the two competitors faced off again Friday. He came from behind over the final 100 meters.
“That was my motivation,” Robinson said of the regular-season loss to Hoynoski. “He’s a very good athlete so it’s exciting to get (the win).”
Behind Robinson’s win, Frontier was the top local finisher on the day as the Red Hawks earned an impressive runner-up finish as a team with 62 points. Mount Greylock Regional High School won the boys’ title with 97 points, while Intercounty League champion Mahar was a solid fourth with 52 points.
It was another big meet for Mohawk junior Meghan Davis. The distance specialist cruised to a WMass title in the 2-mile, besting the field by over 20 seconds with a winning time of 11:11.91. Davis was the heavy favorite in the event, and she added a third-place showing in the mile (5:25.19) where she was the No. 2 seed in the field.
“I put more pressure on myself in the 2-mile,” explained Davis. “It’s a lot of self-pacing, so I’m working on my time and trying to push myself. The mile, it’s a closer event, so it’s more racing.”
Former Mohawk standout Jackie Wells won the mile, as the Mount Greylock freshman topped her former teammate in helping the Mounties to the team title with 95 points. South Hadley High School took second with 81 points, while locals Mahar (fourth, 46 points) and Mohawk (fifth, 45) finished in the top five.
Mohawk showed well on its home track, as Davis was joined in the winner’s circle by teammate Erin Laffond, who helped Franklin County sweep the pole vault titles. Laffond, a junior, won in jumps with three other competitors, to snag the title with a top clearance of 8-6. Hampshire Regional High School’s Jillian Scott wound up second, followed by Mahar’s Anna Wetherbee in third and teammate Sienna Moore in fourth. All four cleared 8-6, but Laffond did so in the fewest attempts.
“I was really happy with my jumps,” said Laffond. “I wanted to come clean with my jumps up to 8-6 and then I wasn’t sure what was going to happen after that. I was really expecting to win but I was hoping I’d be in a position to give myself a chance.”
The Franklin County factory of pole vaulters made it a clean sweep thanks to Pioneer’s Jake Kelton, who captured the boys’ title with a top clearance of 11-6. The Panthers had a strong team finish with Kelton setting the bar, as they tied for seventh with Hampshire (32 points).
The top seed entering Friday’s meet, Kelton won by six inches over runner-up Jack Vecellio of Frontier (11-0). The local flare continued, with Pioneer’s Gavin Curtis nabbing third (11-0) and Greenfield High School’s Theodor Popusoi taking fourth (10-6).
Rounding out the individual winners was Athol High School’s Mason Barrieau, who edged familiar face Hugo Frost of Mahar to win the 400 hurdles on Friday. Barrieau’s time of 57.73 seconds gave him the victory, edging Frost (58.05) who was the runner-up. Barrieau added a fifth-place finish in the 110 hurdles.
Mahar turned in a huge performance in the 4×400 relay to close out what was a strong meet for the Senators. The squad demolished the field, posting a winning time of 3:31.77 that was nearly two seconds faster than the previous meet record set in 2011. It was over six seconds faster than runner-up Mount Greylock (3:39.18). Mohawk was third (3:39.18).
In addition to the winners, the locals fared quite well across the board on Friday. Frontier’s Alex Sharp (mile, 4:39.31) and Carsten Carey (2-mile, 10:10) nabbed runner-up finishes in their respective distance events. Teammate Phaelon Koski was fourth in the 400 hurdles.
Greenfield’s Crescens Iavorschi was the runner-up in the 100 meters with a time of 11.58 seconds and helped the Green Wave finish second in the 4×100 relay (47.64).
Mahar’s Aaron Hendry also took second in the 110 hurdles in 16.65 seconds. Fellow Senator Ash Shaw posted two runner-up finishes, as he was second in the 800 (2:03.86) and high jump (5-10), while Pioneer’s Scott McDonough also took second in the long jump (20-1) to go with a fifth-place performance in the triple jump (39-¾).
Franklin Tech’s Kurtis Kuenzel was fourth in the shot put (41-7½), followed by Athol’s Chris Waslaske in fifth (41-0).
On the girls’ side, Mohawk’s Emma Poplawski was the WMass runner-up in the shot put (31-4), with South Hadley’s Savannah Sudyka capturing the event in 37-11. Frontier’s Lexa Boyden took third (30-11½), with Mahar’s Maeve Powell (30-9½) and Chloe Taddeo (30-0) rounding out the top five. Taddeo was also fourth in the discus (90-3).
Greenfield’s Amy O’Sullivan continued her stellar final season with a fourth-place finish in the mile (5.28.57), while Jamie Day was sixth in the 2-mile. Victoria Marin wound up fifth in the high jump (4-8), and the Wave’s 4×800 relay team took fifth.
Defending WMass champion Kianna Reilly of Mahar finished fourth in the triple jump, posting a leap of 32-3. She was also fifth in the high jump (4-8), while Wetherbee was fifth in the long jump (15-8) and Kamryn Reilly was sixth (15-½).
Frontier’s Marisela Ackerman claimed fifth in the 400 meters.