Published May 23, 2019
BYFIELD — The North Reading boys’ spring track team finished their Cape Ann League schedule in grand fashion at the CAL Championships at Triton High as they took 2nd overall as a team with a score of 84 points, only bested by Triton, who scored 122.
“Extremely proud of the way the team stepped up today,” said head coach Ryan Spinney. “They know that our regular season record didn’t tell the whole story about this group. Today was one full of personal bests and excellent effort all around.”
Lord wins 110 hurdles, qualifies for Nationals and wins Athlete of the CAL Open
Junior Billy Lord took home the lone Hornet individual victory of the day as he won the 110 meter hurdles in a time of 14.61. His preliminary heat time of 14.59 qualifies Lord for the 2019 New Balance Outdoor National meet in North Carolina this June.
“Great accomplishment for Billy to achieve a national qualifier for the second consecutive season,” stated Spinney. “He had a tremendous season and it shows everyone that hard work pays off.”
THE BOYS’ TRACK and field team took second at the CAL Championship. (John Friberg Photo)
Billy was voted CAL Open Athlete of the Meet for his overall performances during the contest. Lord also took 2nd in the long jump (20’ 3.5”) and also anchored the league champion 4×100 meter relay squad which also consists of Jack Donohue, Grayson Budny and David Tingley. Their time of 44.64 bested second place Triton by over half a second.
“Great work by that relay today. They have been consistently improving every single week,” said Spinney.
Top season performances at the right time
The shot put was the Hornets’ event of the day as they took places 2nd-5th in the event. Will Carpenter (2nd, 42’ 8’”), Joey DiSanto (3rd, 41’ 11), Michael Luker (4th, 39’ 6”) and James Garniss (5th, 38’ 5”) scored a whopping 20 points for the Hornets in the meet.
“These guys have been excellent all year long. Coach Falanga and Coach Ledoux have a lot to proud of with the success of this group of fine athletes,” said Spinney.
Grayson Budny sped his way to 4th all-time in NR history with a 100 meter dash time of 11.29, followed by a 11.30 in the finals, which gave him 3rd in the league.
Pole vault was another major event for the Hornets as Joey McCarthy and Jack Murphy took 2nd and 3rd places respectively, with vaults of 10’ 6” each. Alex Carpenter improved his state qualifier mark with a new personal best of 9’ 6”.
Fourth place finishers included Joey DiSanto in the javelin (133’ 7”) and Cam Chinchillo in the triple jump (41’ 6.25”).
Fifth place finishers included Jack Murphy in the 400 meter hurdles (1:00.89, 6th all time in NR history) and in the 800 meters (2:04.30), as well as, Cam Chinchillo in the high jump (5’ 10”).
The last of the Hornets points came from Zach Rinaldi in the 400 meter dash (55.30) who took 6th overall and the 4×400 meter relay of Landon Phillips, Ryan Good, Kyle Rabbitt and John Jennings who took 6th in a time of 3:56.13.
Other major improvements at the meet included John Jennings in the triple jump who improved by over two feet with a jump of 38’ 9.5.” Jennings also broke into the top 10 all time in the 400 meter hurdles with a race of 1:01.96, which places him 8th all time. Cam Chinchillo, Ethan Barnes-Felix and Lucca DaSilva all got personal bests in the 110 meter hurdles (16.98, 18.62 and 19.04) respectively. Brendan Witts and Jack Donohue had improvements in the 100 meter dash with times of 11.76 and 11.89 respectively. Aidan Nadeau ran a personal best 5:05.37 in the one mile and Andrew DeBenedetto bested his previous PR by 10 seconds with a run of 10:39.26 in the two mile.
The Hornets will be back in action on Thursday, May 23 with the Division 3 State championship Pentathlon and Pole Vault at North Andover HS. The rest of the squad will compete on Sunday, May 26 at Merrimack College in the remaining events. Good Luck Hornets!
