Wilmington meet scheduled for today, weather permitting
JUNIOR Matt Roberto finished third overall during Wakefield’s opening meet of the season with a blistering 15:47.
Published in the September 25, 2018 edition
WAKEFIELD — Very harsh conditions throughout the summer didn’t stop the majority of the Warriors from putting in the miles in order to match the success of the past two seasons. They were rewarded in their first meet of the season with some very impressive performances from top to bottom. Postponing the meet vs. Belmont from Tuesday to Thursday gave the boys a chance to compete in very comfortable temperatures that helped them come away with a dominating 20-41 victory.
The Warriors allowed Belmont’s top runner, Steven Carvalho, to take it out fast as the pack sat back awaiting their push. Halfway through the race, senior Rohan Singhvi and junior Matt Roberto caught up to Carvalho and sat on him until the last half mile. That’s when Singhvi decided to take control and push the last pass over the hills. Roberto remained patient until the downhill with 400 meters to go when he moved into second to open up a gap over Carvalho. Singhvi was able to maintain separation finishing in first with a scorching early season time of 15:43 while Roberto was passed by the Belmont star in the last 60 meters, but held onto 3rd place with a very fast time of 15:47.
The performances by Singhvi and Roberto rank as 3rd and 4th fastest times by a Wakefield athlete in the past 10 years on the 3.0 mile course, behind only Stephen Robertson (15:30) and Aaron Lucci (15:33). Both Robertson and Lucci went on to be varsity starters on their Division 1 college teams. To say Singhvi and Roberto are in good company is an understatement.
Finishing in 4th place with a strong performance of his own was senior Casey Brackett who improved by over a minute with a time of 16:14. That time puts Brackett at 7th on the rankings list.
Junior Tanner Jellison also had his own career best with a time of 16:43, good for 5th place overall.
Senior Billy Stevens placed 7th in a personal best time of 17:08.
Junior Trevor Zupan placed 8th in a personal best time of 17:24.
Senior Derryn Langlois placed 9th and finished off the scoring for the Warriors.
Sophomores Jonathan D’Ambrosio and Zack Jellison both made major leaps from a year ago as they both improved by two minutes placing 10th and 11th and finishing ahead of Belmont’s third runner. Both sophomores are poised to be major contributors in the next few years.
Junior Andrew Russell also was able to put his summer training to the test in the varsity race as he took close to three minutes off his top time from 2017 finishing in 18th with a time of 19:11.
JV
race
The junior varsity race was more of the same as the Warriors had a very strong showing against Belmont. The Warriors won the race with a score of 17-44.
Junior Jack Callahan won the race after hanging back for the first two miles. Callahan ran a personal best time of 18:27.
Sophomore Aaron Canestaro also took 1:30 off his best, finishing 3rd in a time of 19:14.
Other finishers were Jr. Ian Schermerhorn (19:26) 5th, Jr. Steven Robinson (19:30) 6th, Fr. Thomas Dowd (19:44) 8th, Fr. Mike Roberto (19:49) 9th, Fr. Ajay Haridasse (19:59) 11th, So. Andrew Roos (20:20), Fr. Sean Russell (20:22), So. Colin Rudy (20:24), So. Dylan Fahey (20:30), So. Cory Sample (20:32), Fr. James Christie (20:35), Sr. Thomas Harrington (20:39), So. David Schurter (20:45), Jr. Lucas Smith (21:18), So. Jack Tomsyck (21:22), So. Alex Petrov (21:23), Jr.Noah Brennan (22:42), So. Dan King (22:43), Sr. Andrew Rosenberg (23:14).
“It was just as exciting to see the JV kids run well and put up one to three minute personal bests as it was to see the varsity runners have impressive 2018 debuts,” said Wakefield head coach Perry Pappas. “Starting off with personal bests in the first meet is a very good sign of what is to come. We definitely have to make improvements if we want to be competitive at invitationals and in the postseason. The strong base they created this summer will allow them to progress as the season continues. I’m excited to see how good this group can become.”
Next up, the Warriors face off against Wilmington at home today at 3:45 p.m. weather permitting.
