Oosting, Arlington take D-2 Coaches Relays

When you have the state’s best distance runner on your roster, good things are going to happen on the oval.

So when Ryan Oosting took the baton from teammate Ryan Buckley on the anchor leg of the 4x800 at yesterday’s Div. 2 Coaches Relays, Arlington had a strong shot at the meet record of 7:57.74 set by Marshfield two years ago.

Oosting blazed through the opening 400 in 55 and change and powered his way to an impressive 1:54.9 leg. Oosting, Buckley, Jeff Candell and Miles Harrison combined for a winning time of 8:00.52, just short of the meet record, but the fastest time in Massachusetts this season. Wellesley ran to a strong second-place finish in 8:06.93 and Concord-Carlisle clinched third in 8:08.04.

The race was just the third of the season for Oosting, who will compete in the scholastic mile at the New Balance Grand Prix Meet on Jan. 26. He took a two-week break after cross country and, with just two track workouts under his belt, is running on distance strength from the fall.

“I felt pretty good,” he said. “The 800 is always hard. Fifty-five (seconds) was a little fast, but I was under 60 for the second quarter so not too bad.”

Wellesley’s boys ran away with the distance medley, clocking a new meet record of 10:30.95. The Raiders’ time put them more than 15 seconds in front of runner-up Lincoln-Sudbury’s 10:46.30.

North Andover brought three busloads of athletes and they all contributed, taking the boys title with a whopping 60 points to easily defeat Central Catholic’s 47 points and give them four wins in the past five years.

Head coach Steve Nugent got a big day out of Peter Couros, who was part of the winning 4x400, 4x200 and sprint medley teams. North Andover also captured the long jump and shot put events.

“Our field events really made the difference,” Nugent said. “Our shot putters had a big day. The team that does well here has a chance to do well at the state meet.”

North Andover made it a clean sweep as Sarah Lavery cleared 5-5 to give the Scarlet Knights a tie for first in the high jump with Wellesley and the team title with 53 points. The Raiders were a point back at 52, and Natick (51) finished third.

Boys basketball

Matt Boen scored 14 points, including five of his team’s eight in overtime, as Mansfield (8-1) topped Hanover, 56-54, in a nonleague matchup.