The phrase “lap the field” has never been more appropriate.
Because, in all honesty, it was a battle for second place on Saturday down in West Newbury.
It’s already been a memorable spring season for the Newburyport boys track team, and that only continued at the Cape Anne League Open Championship this weekend on the Pentucket Regional campus. The Clippers dominated their way to the CAL Open title with 178 points, far surpassing North Reading in second (110.5), Amesbury in third (86), the host Panthers in fourth (79) and Triton in fifth (70). And now with a perfect regular season, a Division 4 State Relay title and a CAL Open crown under their belts, the Clipper boys will turn their attention to the Division 4 State Championship Meet this upcoming weekend over at Bridgewater State University (5/28-5/30).
Meanwhile for the girls this weekend, powerhouse North Reading took home the CAL Open crown with 131 points. Triton was our top local team in third place with 89 points, and was followed by Newburyport in fourth (83), Amesbury in eighth (54) and Pentucket in ninth (41.33).
But folks … Michael Mohoric did it again.
The Newburyport senior raced to a CAL Open title in the 800 (1:55.31), but his crowning jewel of the day was his absolutely dominant victory in the 2-Mile in 9:01.75. That time shattered the former Newburyport record held by Sam Acquaviva since 2019 (9:17.82), won the event by more than 55 seconds, and is currently the fastest time posted by any Massachusetts athlete this spring. So that means Mohoric now has the fastest time in the entire state (and Newburyport records) in both the Mile (4:05.75) and the 2-Mile (9:01.75), while also breaking the school record in the 800 as well (1:54.88).
Quite simply the stuff of legends.
But, of course, it took an entire team effort to win by as much as they did.
Braydon Fowler actually broke a 20-year Newburyport record in the 100 (11.13) to place third in the event — besting the mark of Patrick Sheehan that had stood since 2006 (11.18) — and came back to also take fifth in the 200 (23.22). The Clippers then had two other wins on the day, coming from superstar Kyle Lisauskas in the hurdles. The senior already has the school record in both events, and easily claimed CAL Open gold this weekend in the 110 hurdles (14.69) and the 400 hurdles (55.74) — before also leaping to second in the high jump (6-2).
Then elsewhere, Tyler Lisauskas was both second in the triple jump (41-10.25) and third in the 400 hurdles (58.01), while Anthony Marks was fourth in both the shot put (44-10.50) and the javelin (134-0). In the Mile it was Nordeen Fadil (4:31.53) and John DeJordy (4:35.85) placing second and third, while David Walker was second in the 400 hurdles (57.14) and Will Downs earned silver in the pole vault (10-6). The Clippers then received a trio of thirds coming from Tommy Rich in the 110 hurdles (15.82), Greg Guckenburg in the high jump (6-0) and Baylor Yim in the pole vault (10-6). Finally, the 4×400 relay team of Downs, John Murray, Walker and Rich raced to second (3:34.44).
Moving on, the Newburyport girls also had a strong day.
Particularly sophomore McKensie Byrnes, who sprinted to second in both the 100 (12.98) and the 200 (27.12). Margaux Dupuis was both second in the triple jump (34-10) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (16.40), and the 4×400 team of Quinnlen Fenn, Cameron Todd, Penelope Fuentes and McKenna Felts earned a silver medal (4:14.47).
PENTUCKET: Hosts bring home plenty of hardware
Our next school tied with the most event victories was Pentucket.
The Panthers certainly did an admirable job of defending their home track, combining to win four CAL Open titles between the boys and girls.
And it was the boys behind three of them, as individually Holden Choma took home the high jump once again (6-4), while Grayden Wright won the 400 (51.64). The Panther boys then saw their 4×400 relay team of Wright, Rowan Weinberg, Zack Hannula and Gabe Macleod earn gold in 3:31.60.
That was the start of a terrific CAL Open for the perennial Daily News All-Star senior Macleod, who would also race to second in both the 100 (11.05) and the 200 (22.65). Hannula would add a third in the 800 (1:58.99), and the 4×800 relay team of Owen MacDonald, Jameson Murray, Jack Spaulding and Quentin Gilfillian would earn bronze as well (8:57.80).
Meanwhile for the girls, Susan Wisniewski got the job done again.
After already breaking the school’s 800 record earlier this spring, the junior would add a CAL Open title in the event to her growing list of accolades after crossing first in 2:21.06. The Panthers then saw their day rounded out by Naya Carvalho taking both second in the 400 (1:01.10) and fourth in the triple jump (34-4.50).
AMESBURY: Redhawks also earn four gold medals
You just know that a third-place overall team finish didn’t come without some high-end performances from the Amesbury boys.
That just doesn’t happen at a meet of this calibur by accident.
Individually, the Redhawks saw Dane Hall be crowned CAL Open champion in the pole vault (11-0), while Marcus Colon both won the shot put (52-11) and took second in the discus (148-1). The other event win for the boys came in the 4×100 relay, where the team of Anthony Aguilar-Lopez, Joe Puleo, Kawusu Jalloh and Anthony Peixoto crossed first in 44.85. Puleo would add both a third in the 400 (52.96) and a fifth in the 100 (11.33), while Jalloh sprinted to second in the 400 (52.67).
Meanwhile for the Amesbury girls, Katie Bigos just contines to star.
The sophomore once again cleared 5-0 to win the high jump, then came back to reach the podium once more with a seventh in the triple jump (32-10). Haley Dube would add a third in the 100 (13.02) while Violet Davis was fourth in the 2-Mile (11:37.72), and the final medal-winning unit for the Redhawks was the second-place 4×100 relay team of Dube, Kaia Bartosik, Ellison Talbot and Lauren Talbot (51.80).
TRITON: Balanced day leads girls to third
There’s a reason why even though the Triton girls didn’t win an event at the CAL Open, they were still our top local team in third overall. And it’s the same reason why they’ll be a contender at next weekend’s Division 5 State Meet.
The Vikings are simply good at everything.
Ella Treitel-Poore is a threat in both the sprints and the field, taking second in the long jump (16-6) and fourth in the 100 (13.14). You then have distance standout Mia Jaworski finishing second in the 2-Mile (11:31.14), before joining Riley Dinsmore, Carolina Burl and Jersey Giordano on the third-place 4×800 relay team (10:53.14). Colleen Johnson added both a third in the 100 hurdles (16.40) and a fourth in the high jump (4-8), while Maeve Johnson was right in front of her in third in the high jump (4-10).
And the team’s third-place 4×400 relay of Aaliyah Jackson, Bella Burrell, Sienna Dinsmore and Elsie Shimer are all versatile athletes (4:17.47). Jackson was second in the 400 hurdles (1:11.49) while Shimer was right behind her in third in the event (1:13.01), and Burrell added a third in the javelin as well (88-3).
Moving over, the Triton boys got to celebrate a CAL Open event victory.
And it came from the winning 4×800 relay crew of Cassidy McBee, Colin Porter, Josh Ferris and Caleb Rogers (8:41.94). All three relays treated the Vikings well, as both the 4×100 unit of Hugo Huang, Nate Ducott, Robert Merrill and Mario Neto (45.62), and the 4×400 team of Michael Coco, Harry Pike, Tyrell Emmond and Isaiah Shimer (3:35.87) were third. McBee would add a second in the 2-Mile (9:56.96) while Coco was fourth in the 200 (23.17), and Liam Prendergast would finish up the day by taking home the silver medal in the javelin (143-7).