Welcome to the first annual ST AWARDS.
These awards are given to Hockomock League athletes with outstanding qualities.
With a league this tough you can imagine the difficulty. I received nominations
and information from both athletes and coaches - plus inserted my own
bias. I hope you enjoy these awards and take part in next year's voting. |
BEST LEAGUE AMBASSADOR |
Ali Amendola |
Ali and Marcus bringing goodwill. |
Marcus Vaughn |
| Lend me a twenty and I’ll prove to you
that Ali Amendola could make Andrew Jackson smile. She should study government
at Wheaton because she could convince George Bush and Al Gore to go bowling
together – now isn’t that a picture. Seriously, I’d like
to be upset that Franklin beat us for the dual meet title but I can’t
find a reason to be mad because of Ali. |
 |
Meet in and meet out Marcus Vaughn brings both
a high level of ability with a high level of sportsmanship. Whether you're
a freshman girl from Foxboro or a senior boy from Canton he'll be pulling
for you. From the Kelly Relays to the New Englands MV represented the league
with style. Even before his own races he's out there plugging for everyone
else. He just loves track! |
TOUGHEST |
Nicole Zeilinski |
Nicole hits the track hard vs. NA |
Dan Saltzman |
| Being tough is even tougher when things don’t go
according to plan. Nicole Zeilinski’s year hasn’t. Just coming
back from leg surgery is hard enough. I give her credit. But wait –
there’s more. If you saw what I did you would agree. Ten meters from
the finish and battling side by side with Caitlin Hurley in the dual meet
100M Nicole suddenly cramped and went down. It was as fast, hard and painful
a fall as I’ve witnessed. I’m ready to call an ambulance. She
got up and without expression dusted herself off. I’m thinking she’s
done for the day. She came back to PR at 16’ in the long jump and
also ran 27.1 in the 200M. If she could have done all 16 events she would
have. Her league meet performance in the 100M and especially the triple
jump make her an all-star in my book. |
 |
Saltzman is the toughest. If I said anyone else I’d
lose all credibility. |
HOTTEST NEW PERFORMER |
Holly Heinricker |
Holly at Plymouth South |
Shawn Leonard |
| How hot does it take to be “Hockomock Hot”?
How about a freshman placing second in the state finals 200M. As coach Latif
Thomas says, “She’s running Culley-like times!” For those
of you new to Hockomock sprinting Alison Culley set the standard –
there have been none better – yet! Even hotter is her potential in
jumps when horizontal learns to go vertical. |
 |
There were very few sophomores at state finals this year
and only one from the Hockomock League in an individual event. But when
Shawn Leonard jumped 6’2 at Norwell for 9th place he showed his third
place finish at Class B was no fluke. He’s the heir “sounds
like air” apparent. Now he’s got to heat up the track too! P.S.
He can’t rest on his laurels because both Fabian Fablous and Ben Stein
also got game. |
MOST INTENSE |
Ali Amendola |
In the zone! |
Dan Saltzman |
| There are two Ali Amendolas. I love the one
that can flash a smirk and ask me to sing Yale’s fight song. I fear
the one who shows up for races because it can only mean bad news for North
Attleboro and the rest of the league. When its game time the face comes
on – she enters the zone and you should all be afraid. The good news
is she’ll be fleet-footin for Wheaton next year and we can all breath
a little easier. |
 |
How do you spell intense. Foxboro spells it S-A-L-T-Z-M-A-N.
Of sure, others were nominated but “Dan-imal” brings it to work
with him everyday – every practice – every meet. So everybody
else just move over and wait for the most intense athlete in the Hockomock
League to take his testosterone to Princeton. Then I’ll consider someone
else. |
MOST WIRED = INTENSE ++ |
Andrea Schofield |
Don't let the smile fool you!! |
Paul Travato |
| Andrea Schofield runs on high voltage everyday. Whether
a warm-up lap or a race she’s running on pure nitro. As you race
fans know the problem with running too rich a mixture is you can blow
an engine – as Scooey proved when she led Sara Powell at the 300M
mark of the mile at the Hocks then tried to stay with her for two laps.
But hey, she rebuilt her engine in time to run the 4X800.
|
 |
I know he’s mellowed over time but Coach Travato
is still in line for most wired. He sucks up so much juice in a big meet
that brownouts are felt from Cape Cod to Bangor, Maine. My suggestion, if
you run for him use a surge protector and if you coach against him try not
to stand in water. |
Fear Factor #1– Least
Likely to get Psyched Out |
Caitlin Hurley |
Caitlin gets the Dr. Grant award while Andrea Schofield
gets MIAA sportsmanship recognition |
Jing Hu |
| I’ve watched and coached Caitlin Hurley for four
years and I’ve never seen fear. Even if you beat her – which
is seldom – you don’t own her. Because tomorrow she just packs
her brown bag and goes back to work. Ice water goes through those veins
but she can bring it to a boil at an instant. She calmly steps into the
blocks and the next thing you know the competition gets scalded. Speaking
of water – a limited supply of Hurley-water is available in the 6
oz. size. |
 |
Jing Hu will just analyse the competition, compute the
variables, perform a lithmus test on his own biorhythms (whatever that means)
and extrapolate the results. This Hockomock League Scholar-Athlete is too
smart to get rattled. |