Special Coverage by Jimmy O’Donnell (BC High ’14)
After a riveting tie just weeks before in a dual meet, both BC High and St. John’s Prep looked to continue their undefeated seasons at the Catholic Conference Championship Meet, although Xaverian, Catholic Memorial, and Malden Catholic all looked to knock them off the throne after finishing the season strongly. The morning began with some impressive performances in the field events, with Sean Malone of BC High winning the discus, followed by BC High’s Evan Burton and St. John’s Evan Dombrowski. After dominating most of the Conference during the year in the Shot Put and the Javelin, St. John’s proved Saturday was no different, although BC High looked to end those streaks. MA #1 Evan Dombrowski was seemingly throwing the shot out of the pit, winning the event by more than 7 feet. (57-01.00). He was followed by Evan Burton of BC High with a season PR of 49-11.25 and Vinnie Larovere of SJP as well, throwing 48-07.5. St. Johns went 1-2 in the Javelin, although Matt Dejene of BC High snagged third. However, St. John’s Prep’s dominance in the throws was matched by BC High’s supremacy in the jumps. Returning all-state champion Jordan Samuels easily won the triple jump in 44-09.75, and Michael Mecha and Atiba Frazer-Nichols closed out the top three for BC High with jumps of 41-01.25 and 40-09.75 respectively. Samuels also won the long jump by more than 2 feet, with a season PR of 21-11.75. He was followed by Terenze Coleman of Xaverian (19-10.5) and Matt Hailey of BC High (19-10.25). Tyler Gomes of BC High won the high jump with a PR of 6-4.00, although not without being challenged by Michael Hudner of Xaverian, who jumped 6-2.00 very early on to get second. Rashad Williams of BC High also jumped 6-2.00 to get third.
After trials earlier in the morning for the 100, 200, and 110H, the running events began in the early afternoon. Terenze Coleman, who already finished second in the long jump for Xaverian, was able to win the 100m dash with a time of 11.28. Mike Mejias of SJP finished second, and was followed by Hanif Conrad of Catholic Memorial (11.33, 11.48). In the 200m, St. John’s was aided by Josh Hubbell, who pulled away to win the race in 23.14 seconds. BC High’s Ismail Asongwed finished second (23.42) and was followed by Chase McCreary of CM (23.8). The indoor New England 55m hurdle champion Jordan Samuels was not to be challenged in the 110s, easily winning with a time of 14.66. John Sullivan of St. John’s posted an impressive 16.36 to get second, and sophomore CJ Williams of Xaverian was right on his tail in third with 16.37. BC High also had a winner in the 400m hurdles, with Jimmy O’Donnell pulling away to win in a time of 57.66 seconds. Sullivan of SJP also finished second in the intermediate hurdles (60.3), and Malden Catholic’s Zack Zahner was third (60.35).
The open 400m was shaped up to be a good one, with some of the fastest runners in the state competing, and it did not disappoint. Joe Luongo of St. John’s Prep, who was top 10 in the nation and the New England 600m champ, proved he can run the 400 as well, breaking 50 seconds with a time of 49.7 seconds. He was chased by the Malden Catholic tandem of Andrew Kelley and Matt Curran, running a fast 50.46 and 51.96 respectively. Luongo’s runner up at the Massachsetts All State meet in the 600m, Justin Marcantonio, showed his 800m talents, taking the field out in a very quick 56 second 400m split, and then hanging on to win by 3 seconds, with a very impressive time of 1:56.36. John Raposa of St. John’s Prep also finished under 2 minutes, running 1:59.77 to take second, and was followed by Alexander Henry of Xaverian in 2:01.32, and all of the top 5 runners in the race (Lara, Catinella) will be retunring next year. The returning Catholic Conference mile champion, junior Lucas Taxer of Xaverian, was not to be tested this year, and easily won the race, running 4:30. He was followed by Liam Dow of SJP (4:41) and BC High’s Ryan D’Alelio (4:43). The 2 mile proved to be another great race, with Tim Loehner of SJP taking the lead out of the gate and never looking back to win with a 9:43. Noel Feeney of BC High finished close behind in an impressive 9:51, and Scott Atwood of St. John’s ran a PR of 10:13 to get third.
The 4 by 100m relay was one of the best races of the day, when BC High’s anchor leg Francisco Tavares chased down SJP’s runner to win at the line with a time of 44.65 compared to the 44.75 of St John’s. Marco King, Matt Hailey, and Ismail Asongwed were the other three runners in BC High’s winning relay. BC High also won the 4 by 400m relay (J. O’Donnell, W. Biggs, A. Mastrocola, J. Marcantonio) with an impressive time of 3:29.5, followed by Malden Catholic and St. John’s Prep (3:33, 3:36). In the end, BC High prevailed to win the Catholic Conference Championship Meet, with St. John’s Prep and Xaverian finishing second and third. BC High also won the Freshman/Sophomore meet, one of the first times that they have won both.