After two years of settling for second place in the Intercounty League the Mohawk Trail Regional High School boys track & field team opened the season by conquering the team that finished ahead of it in each of those years.
Cullen Brown and London Summers each won three events and the Warriors made an opening-week statement by edging two-time defending IL champion Mahar Regional School, 77-67, Thursday in Buckland.
“Coming in against Mahar, you always know it’s going to be a big challenge,” first-year Mohawk coach Tim Shearer said. “Coming out ahead was a big moment for sure.”
Summers captured three individual events and was also part of Mohawk’s winning 4 x 100 meter relay team along with Aidan Duncan, Mason Biagini and Oscar Cassin. Summers had a personal record in the javelin, which he won with a throw of 148 feet, 8 inches. He also captured the shot put at 32-11¾, and the 200 meter dash in 25.1 seconds. Brown, meanwhile, took first in the 100 meter in 11.8 seconds, won the triple jump in 38-5¼, and captured the 400 in 56.2 seconds.
Guy Rice-Lesure had a nice day in the hurdles for Mohawk, sweeping the two events. The senior won the 110 highs in 18.3 seconds, and captured the 400 intermediates in 64.8 seconds. Dennis Simmons followed suit in the distance events as he won the mile (5:22) and 2-mile (11:59). Bennett Boucias also earned a victory in the 800 in 2:18.2.
Mahar, which lost a large number of top athletes to graduation last spring, had four individual winners on the day. Justin DeDiego won the pole at 8-6, while Luke Melanson won the high jump at 5-6. Riley Drew captured the long jump at 17-11, and Josh Doane won the discus at 95-10.
“I was impressed with many things today,” first-year Mahar coach Sarah Woodward said. “I think it’s a good start and we can only move forward. Those kids who graduated last year were 90 percent of our points.”
Frontier 79, Southwick 66 — Jenna Martin’s wins in the 400 hurdles and the high jump helped the Frontier girls track team claim victory in its first meet of the season, defeating Southwick 79-66 in a Suburban League girls track meet.
Frontier would win nine events on the day to earn the victory, including two of the three throwing events as senior Ivy Shattuck won discus and sophomore Sierra Warren won javelin.
Freshman Lilah Evans would win the 100-meter dash (13.7), senior Marisela Ackerman took first in the 400 and sophomore Alyson Barnes won the 800 with a time of 2:45. Eighth grader Eva Howard’s time of 14:32 put her in first for the two mile. Maddie Leone won the pole vault with a 7-foot jump.
Frontier 15, Pioneer 0 (5) — Jacob Bryant put on an offensive clinic on Thursday afternoon and Frontier opened its season with a 15-0 victory over Pioneer in a five-inning baseball game in Northfield.
The Red Hawks opened the game with a nine-run top of the first inning to kick off the year in fashion. The offense was led by Bryant, the power-hitter in the middle of the Hawks’ lineup who tore the cover off the ball on the day with three hits, including a double, driving in three runs and stealing three bases.
“He’s somebody we have really high hopes for this season,” Frontier coach Chris Williams said. “He’s been doing well in scrimmages so far. He seems more mature this year. For him to come out Day 1 and rip the baseball all day, be a threat on the base paths and score four runs, he was just an offensive powerhouse for us today.”
Frontier finished with 11 hits. Garrett DeForest finished with two hits and two RBIs in the win, and Kalen Evans added two hits and one RBI. Bryan Baumann, Kiernan Freeman and Zach Renaud each added one hit and one RBI.
“It was nice to see us squaring up the baseball and swinging at good pitches,” Williams said. “They did those simple things that once it gets warmer out, those balls can turn into extra base hits and big things can happen.”
The Frontier pitching staff also had a nice season-opener. Matt Hildreth worked the first two innings, striking out two and walking one, with two hit batsmen. Gabe Gochinski had a great relief outing, needing just 15 pitches to get through two innings, with three strikeouts, and Dillon Polan worked a scoreless fifth.
Jack Loud had two of Pioneer’s three hits in the loss, and Jason Quinn added one hit.
Central 3, Athol 0 — The Athol volleyball team lost to Springfield Central, 3-0, Thursday in Athol.
Set scores were 25-22, 25-12 and 25-22.
Colby Soltysik led the Red Raiders (1-1) with five kills and five assists.
Matt Willhite recorded seven digs and added two aces. The Red Raiders travel to Belchertown on Tuesday.
Mohawk 77, Mahar 67
100 — Brown (Mo) 11.8.
200 —Summers (Mo) 25.1.
400 —Brown (Mo) 56.2.
800 —Boucias (Mo) 2:18.2.
Mile —Simmons (Mo) 5:22.
2 Mile —Simmons (Mo) 11:59.
110 HH — Rice-Lesure (Mo) 18.3.
400 IH —Rice-Lesure (Mo) 64.8.
4×100 relay —Mohawk 48.7.
4×400 relay — Mahar 4:12.4.
Long jump — Drew (Ma) 17-11.
Triple jump — Brown (Mo) 35-5¼.
High jump — Melanson (Ma) 5-6.
Discus — Doane (Ma) 98-10.
Javelin — Summers (Mo) 148-8.
Shot put — Summers (Mo) 32-11¾.
Pole vault — DeDiego (Ma) 8-6.
GIRLS TRACK
Frontier 79, Southwick 66
100 — Evans (F) 13.7.
200 — Hiltz (S) 28.4.
400 — Ackerman (F) 66.0.
800 — Barnes (F) 2:45.
Mile —Drolen (S) 6:33.
2 Mile —Howard (F) 14:32.
100 LH — Hiltz (S) 17.8.
400 LH —Martin (F) 78.0.
4×100 relay —Southwick 56.
4×400 relay — Southwick 4:52.
Long jump — Pudlo (S) 15-7.
Triple jump — Hiltz (S) 34-3.
High jump — Martin (F) 4-6.
Discus — Shattuck (F) 83-2.
Javelin — Warren (F) 76-4.
Shot put — Pompi (S) 26-9.
Pole vault — Leone (F) 7.
BASEBALL
Frontier 15, Pioneer 0
Frontier …………… 820 14 — 15 11 1
Pioneer ………….. 000 00 — 0 3 7
Hits: (F) Bryant 3, DeForest 2, Evans 2, Baumann, Freeman, Apanell, Renaud. (P) Loud 2, Jas. Quinn.
2B: (F) Bryant.
RBI: (F) Bryant 3, DeForest 2, Baumann, Freeman, Evans, Renaud.
SB: (F) Bryant 3, Baumann, Freeman, DeForest, Evans, Renaud.
WP: Hildreth (2ip, 2k, 1bb), Gochinski (2ip, 3k, 0bb), Polan (1ip, 0k, 1bb).
LP: Jac. Quinn (2ip, 1k, 3bb).