WHS Sports Roundup

Girls track defeats Swampscott, 47-39

The Winthrop High girls indoor track-and-field team earned an exciting 47-39 victory over Swampscott in a meet that came down to the final event, the 4 x 400 relay. The triumph marked the first victory for the Lady Vikings over their Lady Big Blue opponents in at least 10 years.

Coach Mark D’Amico’s squad turned in a number of personal records (PR) and season-best times en route to taking the victory.

Clare Nargi set a PR mark of 9.63 to take first place in the 55 meter hurdles; Soneida Dahlquist turned in a PR of 1:48.8 to capture the 600-meter dash; Beatriz Holzbach ran a PR of 3:33, highlighted by a tremendous last lap, to win the 1,000 dash; and Lily Skomro won the mile with a PR of 6:43.1.

Nora McCarey was the other first-place finisher for the Lady Vikings with a season’s-best mark of 49.0 in the 300 dash.

Isabella Mahoney made a major contribution to the winning Winthrop effort, contributing six points with a pair of second-place finishes in the high jump with a leap of 4’-6” and the 55 dash with a season-best sprint of 7.96.

Mary Kate Pote took second in the shot-put with a season-best throw of 30’-5.75” and Anyra Silva did likewise in the two-mile with her season-best run of 14:37.2.

Adding single points for the Lady Vikings with third place performances were Fiona MaPhail in the high jump with a leap of 4’-4”, Sophia Munson with a PR of 8.15 in the 55 dash; and Elizabeth Carney in the two mile with a PR of 14:38.

Other notable performances for Winthrop came in the hurdles, in which Sydney Crotty ran a PR of 10.5 and Corinne Powell set a PR with a clocking of 11.8.

That set the stage for the final event, the 4 x 400, to decide the outcome of the meet. MacPhail got Winthrop off to a good start with a split of 66.8. Next came McCarey with a sprint of 70.8, followed by Holzbach with her run of 67.5, and last came Dahlquist, who carried the baton across the line with a split of 69.0 for a total time of 4:34.1, giving Winthrop the final five points of the meet to clinch the victory.

Boys track tops English, 61-15

The Winthrop High boys indoor track-and-field team earned its first win of the season with a 61-15 triumph over Lynn English.

First-place finishers for the Vikings were: Julian Osorio with a high jump leap of 5’-10”; Pat Teixeira in the shot-put with a toss of 35’-.75”; Eric Azbegu in the 55 hurdles in a clocking of 10.94; Pat Haskell with a long sprint of 41.9 in the 300 dash; Ryan Cash in the mile in 6:01; and Andrei Opincaru with a two-mile run of 15:49.5.

Second-place performances for Winthrop came from: Bill Hubert in the shot-put with a throw of 33’-8”; Kemar Raymond in the hurdles in 11.2; Osorio in the 55 dash in 7.02; Mark Goudge in the 300 dash in 46.1; Chris Rodriguez in the 600 in 1:41; Luke Riley in the 1,000 in 3:42.4; and John Rice in the 1,000 in 6:30. 

Adding single points to the Winthrop winning effort with third-place finishes were: Dillon Riley with a shot-put throw of 30’-10”; Anthony Connor with a 300 time of 5.6; Chuma Ifezue in the 55 dash in 7.81; Matt Skoboleff in the 600 in 1:47.4; Matt Bower in the 1,000 in 3:42.6; and John Rice in the mile in 6:20.

Successful week for WHS boys hockey

The Winthrop High boys hockey team enjoyed a successful week, earning a win and a tie in its two contests. The three points keep the Vikings in the running for first place in the North Division of the Northeastern Conference and move them within five points of qualifying for the post-season state tournament.

In a 2-0 victory over NEC South Division foe Swampscott Saturday at Salem State University, Ari Hain broke a scoreless deadlock in the second period with an unassisted goal. Captain Noah Evangelista, assisted by Jack Sicurella and Rob Tarantino, added an insurance marker in the third period.

Ryan Hovermale went all the way for Winthrop in goal, turning aside 18 enemy shots, including an outstanding save in the opening period, to record the shutout.

Last Wednesday the Vikings hosted first-place Marblehead, which sported a perfect 4-0-0 record in the NEC North coming into the contest.

After a scoreless opening period, both teams lit the lamp in the middle frame. Hain once again drew first blood for Winthrop with an unassisted goal and Connor Hurley, assisted by Charlie Lane and Joey Holgersen, gave the Vikings a 2-0 edge.

Marblehead struck back for a tally, but Holgersen pushed the Winthrop lead back to two goals, 3-1, with an unassisted goal of the “highlight reel” variety.

However, Marblehead drew within a goal with a lamplighter midway through the third period and then notched the equalizer with 2:43 remaining in the contest. Winthrop was hit with five penalties in the period, which meant that the Vikings were a man-down for 10 of the 15 minutes.

Hovermale made 29 saves in net for Winthrop.

Coach Dale Dunbar and his crew, who now are 6-6-3 overall and 3-2-1 in the NEC North, were set to take on Danvers last night (Wednesday) and will host Beverly Saturday at Larsen Rink at 1:30. They will make the long trek to Gloucester’s Dorothy Talbot Rink next Wednesday for a 6 p.m. encounter.

Tough week for WHS girls hockey

The Winthrop High girls hockey team dropped both of its contests this past week, falling to Northeastern Hockey League rival Medford last Wednesday, 3-0, and non-league rival Medfield, 7-1, this past Saturday.

Mia Martucci, assisted by Emma Holmes, was the lone Lady Viking to light the lamp on the week.

“We outshot Medford, 39-17, but their goalie played very well,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci. “Bad calls and mistakes filled the Medfield game. Overall, it was hust a dismal two games. We’re trying to break the funk we are in, but this is a young team, and we need to find our way.”

Martucci and his crew, who stand at 4-4-2 at the halfway point of the season, were scheduled to host Wilmington yesterday (Wednesday) and will trek to Endicott College next Wednesday to take on Beverly.

WHS hoop teams in action this week

The Winthrop High girls and boys basketball teams have a busy week on tap. 

Coach Joe Lowe’s Lady Viking squad, which reeled off its third straight victory on the holiday on Monday with a 61-40 win over Revere and then made it four in a row with a 52-27 romp over Salem on Tuesday, now stands at 8-4 on the season.

The girls are scheduled to host Marblehead tomorrow (Friday) with a 6:30 tip-off at the WHS gym. They will travel to Peabody next Tuesday.

The WHS boys team, which has a 2-9 mark, will trek to Marblehead tomorrow (Friday) and entertain Peabody next Tuesday at 7:00 at the WHS gym. They will make the long ride to Georgetown next Thursday.

WHS girls track shines at Relays

The Winthrop High girls indoor track-and-field team turned in an outstanding performance at the Division 5 State Relay Meet that was held this past Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

The Lady Viking 4 x 400-relay quartet of Bea Holzbach, Nora McCarey, Fiona MacPhail, and Soneida Dahlquist came in sixth place overall out of 29 teams, finishing with a time of 4:27.18. 

MacPail started the relay with a solid time of 66 seconds, putting the WHS team out in front in their heat. McCarey took the baton and kept the team in the race with a time of 69 seconds.

Nora passed the baton to Holzbach, who ran a great 65 second split to maintain Winthrop’s momentum, and she finally passed the baton to Dahlquist, who raced the last two laps in 64 seconds to give Winthrop a second-place finish in the heat and a sixth-place finish overall to earn a medal, which was awarded to the top six teams.

“That was a great accomplishment for the girls, who qualified for the state meet that day with that time,” said WHS head coach Mark D’Amico. “That is the second fastest time for a girls 4 x 400 relay in the last 20 years for Winthrop.  (The last Winthrop team to run a 4 x 400 that fast was 2017 with Heidi Benson,  Emily McGovern, Regina Garufo, and Holly Benson.)”

The  4 x 200 team of MacPhail (29.03 seconds), Clare Nargi (28.03), Sophia Munson (28.96), and Dahlquist (30.45) also did well, running a time of 1:57.36 and earning them an eighth place finish out of 42 teams in the event and less then two seconds out of sixth place.

In the girls’ shot-put relay (where they measure each of the girl’s throws and add them up), the Winthrop trio threw a total of 76’–5.75”, putting them in ninth place overall out of 25 teams.  Mary Kate Pote had a throw of 30’-6.5”, Xhona Kokoneshi had a throw of 25’-5” , and Tatianna Lewis had a toss of 20’-10” .

Also turning in strong performances were the girls 4 x 800 team of Anyra Silva (2:52), Lily Skomro (3:01), Ana Baurle (3:10), and Libby Carney (2:59);  the sprint medley team (200, 200, 400, 800) of Sophia Munson (30.43), Nora McCarey (30.14), Olivia Skomro (72.93), and Libby Carney (3:03.0); the hurdle relay of Clare Nargi, Miya Grien, Corey Powell, and Sydney Crotty; and the distance medley of Anyra Silva, Olivia Skomro, Corey Powell, and  Lily Skomro.

 â€œThe girls put forth a great effort and had some personal bests,” added D’Amico.

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