WHS Girls Track Team Claims NEC South Title

The Winthrop High girls track team clinched the championship of the South Division of the Northeastern Conference with a 74-62 win over Revere last Thursday, marking the second straight NEC South crown for Coach Warren MacPhail’s Lady Vikings.

Lexi Vaccaro and Ashley Jurovich once again led Winthrop with a handful of victories. Lexi took firsts in the 100 dash in 13.4, the 200 dash in 27.7, and the triple jump with a landing of 31-5.5. Ashley claimed top spot in the shotput (in which she is undefeated this season) with a throw of 30-2 and the discus with a twirl of 73-0.

Amy Sena continued her consistent point scoring with a first in the 400 dash in 64.2, a second in the 400 low hurdles, and a third in the high jump with a leap of 4-8.

Michaela McCarthy enjoyed a  huge day, with a second in the mile in 6:26, a second in the triple jump in 31-1.25, and a third in the discus with a spin of 62-0.

Alyssa Mackey contributed nine points to the Winthrop cause with a trifecta of second place efforts in the 100 dash in 13.6, the 200 dash in 29.2, and the long jump with a leap of 14-6.

Other first place finishers for Winthrop were Mayomi Meggison, who won the long jump with a leap of 14-11, and Julia Wallace, who captured the high jump by clearing the bar at 4-8.

Other point scorers for the Lady Vikings were Carly O’Keefe with a second in the 400 low hurdles in 71.7 (Carly took a nasty spill in the 100 high hurdles but got up and finished in a very gritty performance); Christa Vaccaro with a second in the two mile in 14:30 and a third in the 400 in 72.0; Jordan Griffiths with a third in the 800 in  2:48; and Isabella Kennedy with a second  in the 800 in  2:47 and a third in the 100 high hurdles in 19:65.

“This was a great accomplishment for the girls to win the South Division title,”said MacPhail. “Looking down the road, with the growth of lacrosse and the team being bumped up to a more competitive conference next year, it’s going be very difficult to win a conference title again.”

The Lady Vikings started their final dual meet of the season with Saugus Monday, but it was halted because of the rain and will be resumed next week.

Ferri, Lady Vikings take down Marblehead

Although the conventional wisdom in the sports world holds that (to paraphrase the famous poet), “A win is a win is a win,”afficionados of athletic competition know that not all victories are created equal.

A case in point for the latter proposition was the Winthrop High softball team’s 2-0 triumph over Marblehead last Friday. The Lady Magicians came into the contest sporting a 9-1 record and stood in first place in the South Division of the Northeastern Conference. Winthrop on the other hand, has had an up and down year and was 5-7 when the teams took to the field.

However, Winthrop is the .500 team that nobody wants to face, a fact Marblehead learned after seven innings of frustration in which the Lady Magicians managed just three hits while striking out 10 times. All of those numbers belonged to a young lady by the name of Alex Ferri, the Lady Viking ace pitcher who recently attained the 500 career strikeout plateau and ranks second in the state in the K department this season with 145 of them, an average of about 12 per seven innings.

“Alex was in control for the entire game,” lauded WHS head coach Dave Guffey. “She established herself as the top pitcher in the NEC with this win and certainly is in the running for all-scholastic consideration.”

Winthrop scored its first run when Brittany Lento singled and was moved along by Liana Ferullo with a sacrifice bunt. A base hit by Ferri moved Lento to third from where Brittany came home on a ground out by Jen Adamson.

The Lady Vikings’ second tally resulted from a Marblehead error on a grounder hit by Ferri and an RBI base hit by Michelle LaSala.

“This win is a confidence builder for our team and hopefully will put us on track to close out the second half of the season over .500,” said Guffey, whose Lady Vikings already have qualified for the state tourney because of the Sullivan Rule which permits a school to qualify if it has a .500 or better record against teams in its own division. (Winthrop is a Division 3 school, but plays most of its games against teams from the NEC, all of which are either D-1 or D-2.)

The Lady Vikings were on their way to achieving that goal Monday at Gloucester when they moved out to a 2-0 lead before the game was halted because of rain.

Winthrop pushed across its two markers once again with some small ball. Lento led off the first inning with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice by Ferullo, took third on a passed ball, and scored on a ground out by Ferri.

The Lady Vikings added another marker in the second when Rachel DelSolio and Maura Lanza singled and moved to second and third on a passed ball. DelSolio then scored on a ground out by Jen Collignon.

Winthrop has a busy week on tap: Guffey and crew were set to take on Swampscott yesterday (Wednesday), travel to Bedford today, host Danvers Friday, journey to Marblehead Monday,  and then entertain Saugus Wednesday evening under the lights at 6:30 for Senior Night.

Strong efforts from WHS boys track team

Although the Winthrop High boys track & field program is in the midst of a rebuilding process, the season thus far has seen many fine performances by individual Vikings.

In a meet against Salem,  the Winthrop crew gave a great effort, led by Jake Chiudina, who paced the Vikings with 14 points with a first place finish in the 400 intermediate hurdles in a time of 70.29, a first in the 400 dash in 60.3, a second in the javelin with a toss of 115-2; and a third in the long jump with a leap of 16-0.5.

Other point scorers for Winthrop were: Reise Turransky with a third in the 400 hurdles  in 76.08 and a second in the 100 high hurdles in 20.9; Brady Magrath with a third in the two mile in 16:26; Max Floyd with a second in the mile in 6:08; Joseph Bosco with a second in the 800 in 2:32.5; and Anthony Gallo with a  second in the 300 dash in 25.2, a third in the shotput with a throw of 29-8.5, and a third in the triple jump with a landing of 30-11.5.

In the meet with Gloucester, point scorers were: Reise Turransky with a second in the 400 hurdles in 70.4, his best time (PR) this season, and a second place in the 100 hurdles in 20.2; Joseph Bosco with a third in the two mile run in 12:54.6; Anthony Gallo with PRs of 12.6 in the 100 dash and 24.7 in the 200, both good for second place finishes, and tosses of 33-5 in the shotput and 63-0 in the discus, also both good for second place; Max Floyd with a second in the 800 in 2:43.3 and a third in the triple jump with a distance of 31-10; Brady Magrath with a  third in the 800 in 3:28.2 and a third in the discus with a twirl of 55-5; and Jake Chiudina with a third in the long jump with a leap of 15-9 and a second in the javelin with a toss of 111-4.

In their meet against Lynn Classical, the Winthrop boys again gave a good showing, though they came out on the short end a of 96-34 decision. In the 400 meter hurdles Jake Chiudina placed second with a time of 69.1; in the 100 dash Jeorge Roman placed first with a time of 12.0; in the mile Maxwell Floyd placed first with a time of 6:07 and Tyler Smith place third with a time of 6:29; in the 100 meter hurdles Reise Turransky placed second with a time of 19.2,  his PR for the year; in the 400 meter run Anthony Gallo ran a fast time of 57.9 and placed first overall; Jake Chiudina place third in the 400 with a time of 60.0; Joseph Bosco placed first with a PR of 2:30.6 in the 800; in the long jump Jake Chiudina placed first with a jump of 16-5; and Jake also placed third in the javelin with a throw of 115-3.

In the meet against Lynn English: In the 400 hurdles Jake Chiudina ran a PR of 68.5 and placed first, while Reise Turransky placed second with a time of 70.65; in the two mile Joseph Bosco place second with a time of 13:07; in the mile Maxwell Floyd place third with a time of 5:45.7; in the 100 meter hurdles Reise Turransky placed first with a time of 19.6; in the 800 meters Chiudina ran a great race, placing third and almost making States in a time of 2:14.8; in the 200 Anthony Gallo ran a PR to place first in a time of 24.5; in the long jump Jake Chiudina placed second with a PR leap of 16-10 and Reise Turransky placed third with his PR of 15-6; in the triple jump Max Floyd jumped 31-6.5  for second place; in the shot put Anthony Gallo placed third with a throw of 32-8.5; and in the javelin Jake Chiudina placed second with a throw of 114-10 and Reise Turransky placed third with a throw of 90-0.5.

In the NEC Freshman/Sophomore Meet, Anthony Gallo qualified for State with a time of 24.2 and tied for fifth place in the 200; Jake Chiudina placed sixth overall in the 800 with a time of 2:10.2, missing States by just one second;  Reise Turransky placed sixth overall in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 19.3;   Joey Bosco ran the mile with a PR of 5:36; and Brady Magrath threw the discus 68.9.

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