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Hockomock Invitational ‘06

Boys

Division 1

Whitman-Hanson loves the South Shore/Hockomock Invitational Meet. Talking to coach Kevin Black before the meet, it never even entered his mind to sit this one out. His boys live to compete and he gives them every opportunity. Black's black-clad team made the most of it, winning with an impressive 27 points.

They were led by two seniors. Winner Bill Taft finished with an 18-second margin of victory (17:00 to 17:18) over teammate Mike McDermott.   Entering the back section they were in a pack of four runners that included Franklin's Frank May and Silver Lake's Justin Warner. Taft made his move on the hill and completely broke contact with the rest of the runners. Entering the woods with a small lead, he emerged alone at the two-mile mark, never to be challenged in the last mile.

Not so for McDermott. He was still embroiled in a race with May, Warner and a surging Greg Payne of North Attleboro. McDermott held on for a three-second victory over May, who in turn held off a hard-charging Warner at the end (17:21 to 17:22). The next two spots went to Red Rocketeers, Greg Payne (17:28) and strong finishing Alex Aliberti (17:38). For those who might think the W-H graduation of Taft and McDermott will open the door for other teams, runners 7 thru 10 were Whitman-Hanson underclassmen. W-H would have had a pack of 6 runners had not Franklin's John Dacey (11 th -18:13) and Brad Willox (12 th -18:29) split them up.

Franklin placed second in the team scoring with 60 points, North Attleboro in third just two points back. Mansfield was 4th with 123. The Hornets opted to sit out most of their top runners thus postponing the inevitable showdown with W-H.

Other top Hockomock runners in the race were:

Mansfield            21. Jake Doyle      19:03

Sharon                29. Arey Feinstein 19:41

King Philip           30. James Curtin   19:44 

Stoughton            33. Mike Morris (freshman-19:47)

I'm already looking forward to next year when the top returning runners will be May, Payne and W-H's fab-four of Travis Wright, twins Kevin and Peter Gilmore and sophomore Pat Egan. The top large school freshman of the day was Silver Lake's AJ Channel (18 th -18:58).

Division 2

Late in the race it looked like Derek Ricci would be settling for second place to Steve Burke (Norwell). But Ricci decided not to settle and found greater foot speed over the last half mile, bounding strongly up the last incline for a four-second victory. Mashpee freshman Max Darrah sent a message posting a solid third, less than a second behind Burke.

1   Ricci, Derek          SR Foxboro HS               17:26.97      

2 Burke, Steve          SR Norwell HS               17:30.62       

3 Darrah, Max           FR Mashpee HS               17:30.84

Teams shared the wealth as the top six runners all wore different uniforms.   

4   Ryan Rezerdes           SR Carver HS              17:47.47        

5   Matt Wood                JR Southeastern Reg HS 17:56.40        

6 Gerald McDonald          SO Randolph HS        18:19.31

The first team to post a second runner was Foxboro as Shawn Geary crossed the line 7 th in 18:31.  

In the team scoring, Sacred Heart edged East Bridgewater by a mere 4 points, led by the duo of:

9 Todd Thorp                 SR Sacred Heart HS          18:40.80  

The top Hockomock team was Canton with 121 points. The first Bulldog across the line was Andy Ha (16 th - 19:01). Foxboro finished 7th in the team standings.