High schools

MSTCA RELAYS

North Andover boys, North Attleborough girls rule at MSTCA Division 2 Relays

WALPOLE, 4/27/2019 -Julia Feid of North Attleboro competes in javelin at MSTCA Division 2 relay track meet at Walpole High. Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe (Sports, Desk )
Josh Reynolds for the Globe
Julia Feid of North Attleborough competes in javelin at the MSTCA Division 2 relays.

The North Andover boys and North Attleborough girls took home the MSTCA Division 2 State Relay titles on Saturday at Walpole High School.

North Andover (80 points) topped Reading (64 points) and Central Catholic (57 points) to take home the boys’ crown.

The Scarlet Knights, who won the indoor relays crown, have had this meet circled on the calendar.

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“We brought three busloads of kids today,” North Andover coach Steve Nugent said. “For us, it’s the most important meet of the year, believe it or not.”

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North Andover was propelled by two first-place finishes on the track — the 4x200 and the 4x400 — and two victories in the field — the pole vault and discus.

“We had a little bit of everything,” Nugent said.

Senior Trevor Nassar was instrumental in the victory, anchoring the 4x400 and the 4x200.

“I think the key was really good teamwork today,” Nassar said.

Luke Smith of Gloucester (left) and Sebastian Losada of Hopkinton place finish first and second for their teams in their heat of the 100 at the MSTCA Division 2 relays at Walpole High.
Josh Reynolds for The Globe
Luke Smith of Gloucester (left) and Sebastian Losada of Hopkinton place finish first and second for their teams in their heat of the 100 at the MSTCA Division 2 relays at Walpole High.

Hopkinton's Caroline Estella (left) and coach Jean Cahn congratulate Schuyler Gooley (center) who ran the last leg of the distance medley at the MSTCA Division 2 relays.
Josh Reynolds for The Globe
Hopkinton's Caroline Estella (left) and coach Jean Cahn congratulate Schuyler Gooley (center) who ran the last leg of the distance medley at the MSTCA Division 2 relays.

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On the girls’ side, North Attleborough defended its indoor relays title won in Division 3.

The Rocketeers (71 points) used strong showings in the field events to get past North Andover (61) — the division 2 indoor relays champ — and Hingham (57).

Senior Julia Feid, who competed in the winning javelin and shot put relays, emphasized the team’s mind-set in spite of the poor field conditions.

“This season we’ve talked a lot about positivity and trying to stay focused on always being positive no matter all the conditions, through all the rain and the mud that we threw in today — the positivity kept us going and made our distances show,” Feid said.

The Rocketeers also won the triple jump and placed in nine out of 15 events.

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The race of the day was in the boys’ distance medley. Arlington (10minutes 31.65 seconds) held off Concord-Carlisle (10:32.25) as senior Ryan Oosting held off C-C’s Matt Kleiman that Oosting himself didn’t expect.

Kleiman passed Oosting, but the Arlington senior prevailed, as he returned the favor during the last lap.

“Sit behind him and wait till the last lap and just kick it in,” Oosting said of his strategy.

Division 3

The North Reading girls’ track team collected 84 points on the day and found itself victorious yet again at the MSTCA Division 3 Relays at Pembroke High.

It was North Reading’s fourth consecutive outdoor relays title.

North Reading finished far ahead of Tewksbury (48 points) and Holliston (28). The Hornets took first place in seven categories, including the 4x100 (51.22 seconds), 4x100 shuttle hurdles (1:06.43), distance medley (13:09.06), and 4x800 (10:01.44) on the track. In the field, they were victorious in pole vault (24 feet 6 inches), triple jump (31.03 meters), and long jump (15.46 meters).

On the boys side, it was Tewksbury (66 points) that came out on top, edging Stoughton (44) and Burlington (41).

Tewksbury was able to capture two close victories, which ultimately gave them the crown. The Redmen snuck past Stoughton by one second in the 4x100 shuttle hurdles (1:02.52), and clinched the triple jump by less than 0.1 meter over Norton at 37.15.

Globe correspondent Joe Rice contributed to this report. Alex Bensley can be reached at [email protected].