WHS track teams compete vs. Somerville
The Winthrop High boys and girls indoor track & field teams trekked to Somerville last week to compete against the host Highlander squads.
On the girls’ side, though the Lady Vikings came out on the short end of a 57-29 decision, a number of Lady Vikings turned in fine performances.
Daniela Zanelli handily outraced the field in the 55 hurdles, clocking a time of 8.1 seconds. Her nearest opponent was a full second back at 9.1.
Gabrielle Hincjhion also claimed first place in her specialty, the mile, with a time of 6:57.5.
Ace Winthrop distance runner Camilla Miranda-Llovera outran all of her rivals in the two-mile run with a time of 13:15.
Mary Kate Pote grabbed second place in the shot put with a throw of 26′-3″. Gabriella Ford also earned a second place finish with a performance of 3:38.5 in the 1000.
Eight Lady Vikings added single points to the Winthrop side of the scoreshtee with third-place efforts: Kim McDuffee in the high jump with a leap of 4′-4″; Clare Nargi in the hurdles in 9.2; Isabella Mahoney in the dash in 6.8; Steph Strangie in the in the 300 in 47.0; Sophie LaFratta in the 600 in 2:03.5; Mary Teixeira in the 1000 in 4:05.7; Isabel Skomro in the mile in 7:16.1; and Anyra Silva in the two-mile in 15:16.
For the Viking boys, Cormac MacPhail captured the 1000 with a clocking of 2:40.2, which was seven seconds faster than his closest opponent.
Julian Osiro leapt to a second place finish in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5′-0″. Bobby Hubert took second in the 300 dash in 37.6. Michelangelo Marcoccio finished second in the two-mile in 12:54.
Third place point were scored by A.J. Massa in the shot put with a toss of 33′-3″ and Renols Cahani in the 1000 in 3:12.
The freshmen and sophomores for both squads will compete in this weekend’s Northeastern Conference Frosh/Soph Meet. The next dual meet is set for next Thursday (January 4) against Malden.
WHS boys basketball plays well against NEC iron
Although the Winthrop High boys basketball team fell short last week in its contests against a pair of the Big Dogs of the Northeastern Conference, Lynn Classical and Lynn English, both of whom are ranked in the top 10 in the state, first-year Viking head coach Dave Sacco saw many positive aspects in his team’s performances.
In the encounter at Classical, Winthrop battled to the final buzzer. The Vikings trailed by three points with under two minutes to go, but a pair of chances to tie the score fell short.
“I am very proud of the way we battled,” said Sacco. “Anytime you come into a hostile environment like Lynn Classical and play a top five team in their building and play as well as we did, I’ll take it. This game is certainly a building block for the future.”
Senior guard Devin Pulsifer led Winthrop with 22 points. Chrono Washington added 12 and Elliott Franks hit for 10.
Two days later, English came to town and engaged in a shootout with the Vikings, with the visiting Rams eventually prevailing, 82-72.
Winthrop trailed by a slim 43-38 margin at the half, but could not quite muster sufficient firepower to overtake English, despite an amazing performance by Pulsifer, who poured in a game-high 31 points, including six three-pointers.
Winthrop remained within striking range at 78-72 with 35 seconds to go, but the Vikings were unable to get closer.
Franks turned in another solid performance with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds to go with three blocked shots. Tayjuan McKenzie (14 points) and Alex Dernier (13 points) also reached double figures for Winthrop.
Sacco and his crew were set to play in the Pope John XXIII Christmas tourney starting yesterday (Wednesday) against Bishop Fenwick. The Vikings then will meet either Pope John or Greater Lawrence today.
Winthrop will trek to Malden Catholic Tuesday and host Maimonides Wednesday.
WHS girls hockey tops Central Catholic
The Winthrop High girls hockey team improved to 2-0-1 on the season with an impressive 5-2 triumph over Central Catholic Saturday at Larsen Rink.
The Lady Vikings took control of the contest from the outset, controlling the play at both ends of the ice and taking a 2-0 lead at the first horn on goals by McKayla Norris and Emma Carleton, with each assisting on the other’s tally.
Winthrop continued to hold the edge in play in the second period, but Central Catholic scored twice to knot matters at 2-2 before the Lady Vikings reasserted control on lamplighters by Gemma DiMento (assisted by Norris and Carleton) and Bella Perrotti (assisted by Katie O’Shea) to take a 4-2 lead into the final period.
The Lady Vikings never were seriously challenged in the final 15 minutes. Winthrop ended up the game with a shots on goal advantage of 65-16. Grace Carleton potted her first career goal, assisted by Sophia Kennedy, for the 5-2 finale.
“I felt that we truly dominated and played well,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci. “There was some shakiness in the second period for a three-minute span, but other than that it was a dominating performance. Their goalie had to stand on her head, and she did.
“Our power play has really blossomed this year,” continued Martucci. “The goals by DiMento, Perrotti, and Grace Carleton were all on the power play.
“I especially want to mention Grace Carleton,” Martucci added. “Both she and Ashley Miles have been such hard workers and instrumental to the building of our program. Players like those two are easy to build a team around because they do their jobs and never say a word. They are champions in every sense of the word.”
Martucci and his crew were set to host Cambridge yesterday (Wednesday) and will play Marblehead at the Salem State arena next Wednesday.
WHS hockey teams play next Wednesday
The Winthrop High boys and girls hockey teams will swing back into action this coming Wednesday after a bit of a break during the holiday vacation week.
The Lady Vikings, who stand at 2-0-1 after a 5-2 victory over Central Catholic this past Saturday, were set to host Cambridge last night (Wednesday) and will trek to Salem State University to take on Marblehead next Wednesday.
The WHS boys team stands at 2-2 after dropping two-of-three contests this week. An 8-1 blowout of Northeastern Conference rival Peabody this past Saturday was sandwiched by losses of 3-2 to Saugus last Wednesday at Larsen and 6-1 to North Reading Tuesday in the opening round of the Kasabuski Holiday Tourney sandwiched
Coach Dale Dunbar and his crew were set to meet Triton in the Kasabuski Tourney consolation game yesterday (Wednesday) and then will host Medford this coming Wednesday at Larsen at 6:10.