Last Week in Review: Home field advantage for North Attleboro

May 09, 2011

The term home field advantage may invoke fond memories of sunny summer days at Fenway Park or frigid Sundays at Gillette Stadium. Many would argue that the concept does not apply to the sport of track and field, but if you have ever run at the Penn Relays or at the University of Oregon you know that home field advantage is a powerful force. Those two historic tracks can bring shivers down your spine just walking through the gates, and utter terror to those novices who toe the starting line for the first time.

But what about home field advantage at the Dwight E. Estey track on the campus of North Attleboro High School? The iconic coach that the track is named after certainly carries some weight in Massachusetts track and field, but the facility itself appears to provide a significant advantage to the athletes of North Attleboro High School……. at least for the throwers. North Attleboro athletes won four out of the six throwing events Saturday at the MSTCA Frosh-Soph meet and set three meet records in the process. Austin Renzi won the javelin with a new meet record of 147’10”; Kate Kummer won the discus with a new meet record of 106’0”; Erick Beckwith won the shot put with a new meet record of 50’8.5”; and Sydney Bennett won the shot put in 34’11”.

Although it would make for a great story to believe that the facility and hometown crowd has the magical power to will athletes to record breaking performances, it’s probably more realistic to attribute the impressive results to good coaching and talented athletes. Regardless of the contributing factors, the future looks very bright for the North Attleboro track program.

It was a very busy weekend, and complete coverage of the MSTCA Frosh-Soph Invitationals, the Weston Twilight Invitational, the Lindy J. Remigino Invitational, and the Greater New Bedford Twilight Invitational can be found in our Weekend Summary article. Here are some other notable performances from the week:

An 8^th grader is making a significant impact on the sprint rankings. Amy Piccolo (pictured left) of Ursuline Academy finished 2^nd in the MSTCA Frosh-Soph Small School Invitational with a time of 59.47 and then she traveled to the Weston Twilight Invitational later that evening where she finished 2^nd in the 200m. Her time of 59.47 in the 400m is now MA#8.

Shaun Nystrom of Oxford won the 100m and broke his own school record with a winning discus throw of 152’2” in their dual meet against Grafton on Monday.

Freshman Nick Scott of Brookline is proving that his 6’4” mark in the high jump last week was no fluke. Scott found himself locked in a battle with Weymouth’s Khary Bailey-Smith during their dual meet on Tuesday. Both would clear 6’6” and had excellent attempts at 6’8” but Bailey-Smith would get the win based on misses at previous heights. Scott then went on to win the high jump competition at the MSTCA Frosh-Soph Large School Invitational on Saturday with a jump of 6’3”.

Jordan Maxwell of Whitman-Hanson won the 400m hurdles in a school record time of 56.6 in their dual meet against Duxbury on Tuesday. He also won the triple jump in that meet.

Notre Dame Academy captured their 23^rd consecutive Girls Catholic Conference title in a 90 to 46 win over Ursuline Academy on Tuesday. That is a tremendous legacy to uphold.

Annika Gompers of Gann Academy has to get fairly creative with her racing schedule considering her school does not have an official track program. Last Saturday she traveled to the Big Red Outdoor Invitational at Cornell University to take-on the collegiate athletes in the 3000m. In very windy conditions, Gompers won the event by over 20 seconds with a time of 10:18.17. She now has the fastest 3000m time in the state.

Josh Lampron’s training appears to be going well. He won the 800m in 1:54.3 in a dual meet against Attleboro on Tuesday, and then returned on Saturday to win the mile at the Weston Twilight meet in 4:15.23. Lampron now leads the state ranking for the 800m and the Mile.

Andrea Keklak had a busy week. She ran the fastest time in the state for the 400m (58.5) and the mile (5:07.3) in a tri-meet against Waltham and Acton-Boxborough on Tuesday, and then she returned to finish 2^nd in the 2 mile (11:09.23) on Saturday at the Weston Twilight Invitational. Her time in the 2 miles is now MA#4.

Becky Stoyle of Pembroke contributed 20 points to her team’s winning effort in a dual meet against Silver Lake on Tuesday. Stoyle won the 100m (12.8), the 400m (60.1), the long jump (16’10”), and the triple jump (37’10”).

Boys Highlights

100 Meter Dash - William Biggs (Boston College High School) 11.44h SB;
200 Meter Dash - Brian Briggs (Boston College High School) 23.34h SB;
800 Meter Run - Drew Calcagno (Boston College High School) 1:58.90 SB; Dylan Newman (Boston College High School) 1:59.80 SB;
Javelin - Zach Robertshaw (Boston College High School) 169-10 SB;