St. John's glad to be back on track competing against best of Central Mass.
Welcome back, St. John’s.
The Pioneers, who reside in the Catholic Conference League, made their boys' track return to a Central Mass. venue for the first time since 2019 and finished a solid third in the District E Division 1 Championships at Shepherd Hill.
Nashoba Regional edged Shrewsbury, 103-95½, for the team title, while St. John’s held off Wachusett, 70-62.
“We are still a Central Mass. team geographically, regardless of league orientation, just as many of the other teams competing are in different leagues,” Pioneers coach Tim Hilliard said. “As many of the kids at St. John’s come from surrounding schools, they were excited to see friends and compete against their old school."
Hilliard was heartened that the Pioneers were welcomed with open arms.
"There was a lot of enthusiasm that day and it was reflected in their performances. I believe we will compete at the District E meet again next year,” Hilliard said.
St. John’s captured a Class A title in 2017, and Hilliard remembers it well.
“The guys were quite happy with our finishing position, especially given we were missing all our seniors due to graduation and several others who had siblings graduating that day,” Hilliard said. “I’m sure other teams competing that day had similar absences, so it’s all fair and square typically when it’s this time of year.”
The Pioneers have collected 16 All-Class and Central/Western Division 1 championships combined.
Last Saturday, the Pioneers won three events, including victories by junior Emmanuel Mahoney in the 100 meters (11.11 seconds), junior Lucas Carvalho in the 800 (2:00.61), and the sprint relay unit of the sophomores Mihai Gavala, Ron Burton and Antonio Wiafe, and Mahoney (45.66).
Burton also placed second in the triple jump (41-7½) while junior Francis Devaney (400, 52.19), Wiafe (high jump, 5-10) and the 1,600 relay team (3:39.41) posted thirds.
“I really have enjoyed coaching a much deeper group of sprinters, jumpers, and throwers than we’ve had at St. John’s in my tenure,” Hilliard said. “That’s atypical of our program, which for more than two decades has been a distance running school that occasionally had other great athletes in non-distance events.”
St. John’s went 0-5 in its Catholic Conference dual meets, including losses to Xaverian and Catholic Memorial by less than 10 points.
“We had a lot of absences due to senior obligations that conflicted with a couple of meets,” Hilliard said. “We’re more competitive than the record would suggest.”
The Pioneers, who will also be going to Shrewsbury for the state divisional, are led by their senior captains Adrian Bird, Brody Massad and Ryan Hunter, and junior captain Langston Pearson.
—Contact Steve Farley at sports@telegram.com.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: St. John's glad to be back on track competing against best of Central Mass.
