Just over a year ago, as Haverhill’s Natanael “Nata” Vigo Catala began to break out as a star, Hall of Fame Hillies coach Mike Maguire said the then-junior had what it took to become one of the best track athletes this region has seen.
Boy was he right.
After another record-setting winter, Vigo Catala is our Eagle-Tribune boys indoor track Athlete of the Year for the second straight season.
The Georgetown University recruit is the seventh repeat winner since the award was introduced in 1990. The most recent was Alex Fleury from Phillips Academy and North Andover. Last winter, he became the first Haverhill boy to earn the honor since Pat Fullerton in 2006-07.
Vigo Catala dominated the 300 this winter. He repeated as Meet of Champions champ (34.32), and won the Division 1 title with a PR 34.25 — the best in the area and the 14th best time in the entire country this season.
He also won the MVC title (34.36) and MSTCA Winter Festival crown (34.95), and added a third-place finish in the 400 at Nike Indoor Nationals (PR 47.94).
Vigo Catala was also the anchor of the 4×400 relay that won titles at Meet of Champions (3:32.42), MVCs (3:27.42), the MSTCA Coaches Invitational (3:28.41) and the MSTCA Northeast Invitational (3:28.29).
Now he turns his focus to the spring, where he was an Eagle-Tribune All-Star in the 400 last year.
“Nata has worked hard to make himself one of the top high school track athletes in New England and beyond,” said Maguire. “He’s been very goal oriented and put the effort in to reach them. Being a two-time state champ is a great accomplishment and what I really respect were his great anchor legs in the 4×400 all season. That motivated the other boys in the relay to work hard and improve knowing when handing off to Nata, we had a great chance at winning.”