Luisi, Holliston roll again
Not every team has a Carmen Luisi to close out races. The brilliant distance runner saw to it that Holliston was at the top of the podium, much the way she is in track and cross country so many times.
She was definitely a huge factor in Holliston taking home the team title at Sunday’s Div. 4 Coaches Relays with 50 points.
Luisi was her usual brilliant self on the Reggie Lewis Center track as she anchored the Panthers to a new school record in the distance medley. Teaming with Tea Stucchi, Maggie Kuchman and Annabelle Lynch, Luisi’s 5:11 split brought the squad home in 12:34.60. That time and the sprint medley team’s 4:16.25 qualified Holliston for the nationals.
“I tried not to go as hard as I did in the sprint medley,” said Luisi, who had a quick 2:18 split in the 800. “I picked it up after the half mile. You’re not nervous in the second race because you already raced and you know what it’s going to be like. I feel ready for the postseason and so is the team.”
Wakefield had a win in the 4×800 (8:18.28) and a first (11:03.20) and third-place finish (11:23.24) in the distance medley to run away with the boys’ title with 53 points. The foursome of William Mezikofsky, Joseph Patt, Oliver Polster and Liam Taggart struck gold with their distance medley win. Polster and Taggart were also part of the winning 4×800 team.
“It’s a huge win,” said Wakefield head coach Ruben Reinoso, whose squad has won two titles in the past three years. “You need everyone to step up and it’s a hard meet to win. It’s kind of what we expected. They all did what they needed to do.”
Pembroke was fast out of the gate on the infield, breaking the 4×50 at the start of the meet. Jayden Leonard, Luke Lamar, Joseph D’Angelo and Gabe Lamar combined for the 21.83 for an easy victory. That was under the year-old record of 22.01 set by Newburyport.
Not to be outdone, the Titan girls broke their own meet record in the same event. The solid lineup of Sarah Claflin, Allyson Johnson, Caroline Minogue and Sadie Nugent bettered its’ 2023 mark of 24.31 with a 24.29.
Marlboro’s Parker Rogers had the best performance in the shot put with a heave of 52-2-3/4 and Julian Ram-Tyerbest of Medfield leaped 20-10 to lead all long jumpers. In the high jump, Mollie Osgood of Wilmington leaped 5-1/4. Pembroke’s terrific Sarah Claflin owned the long jump with leap of 17-11