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Hiller Boys & Girls Indoor Track Teams Each Capture TVL Titles - Finish Impressive Season, Undefeated!

By:  Lou Ottaviani

February 2, 2012 — If anyone has had the chance to catch a Hopkinton indoor track meet this season, one would get to witness a classy group of high school coaches and athletes.  Yesterday’s dual meet against Westwood pitted both boys and girls schools against eachother, with the victors looking to walk away with their respective TVL titles. 

Both the Hillers and Wolverines teams entered their meets undefeated, with each team realizing that a loss would eliminate them from obtaining the top slot in the league.  The Hopkinton athletic center was filled with fans from both schools.  The pumped up crowd exemplified what a great high school meet should be all about!  The Hopkinton boy’s and girl’s teams had no intentions of letting down their supporters.

Last year Hopkinton was faced in somewhat of a similar situation, in that, both Hopkinton teams went into their last season match undefeated needing to win their last meet to capture the title, as did their opponent, Medfield.  End results, the girls were victorious while the boys suffered a very difficult loss at the hands of a very powerful and excellent Warrior boys team by two points which came down to the last event.  Hopkinton boys Coach Mike Donahue had nothing but praise for both teams and congratulated Medfield for an incredible meet.  From that situation, one could say that the Hillers may have learned something from that experience.  “Last year we lost to Medfield for the title and perfect season,” said Donahue.  “Losing by two points was a tough loss, but we lost to a great team.  It was an excellent meet and hats go off to both teams.”

This year, the Hopkinton boys and girls teams faced a similar situation, only this time it was the boys and girls from Westwood.  This year’s outcome was more rewarding as both Hiller teams got to enjoy and savor the taste of common victory.  Results: Hopkinton boys (62-23) and girls (51-26) both winning impressively over Westwood to remain undefeated (8-0) and TVL champions. 

“This year we have been blessed with a lot of depth and the guys had the ability to pick up points,” said Donahue.  “This year we have that special one-two punch which helped us a lot, whereas other teams may not have that luxury.”

It isn’t that easy to have both boys and girls high school teams win titles together in the same season.  But this year the Hopkinton teams had a lot of similarities between their squads.  Both teams have their share of talented and exceptional athletes.  Things such as depth, flexibility and a balance between elite and competitive level athletes play an integral part to their successes.  Another important aspect is the tradition these teams have established over the years.  This can be attributable to the many year of solid coaching and leadership from the respective captains year after year. 

On the girl’s side, Jen Lynds, Tam Mills, Mirelle Raza and Kaelynn Merloni are the captains who lead this year’s squad for the Hillers.  “These girls are great,” says girls Coach Brian Hall.  “They integrate the younger girls well and teach them the right way to do things.  They’re like big sisters to them.”

REST OF STORY...

Leadership roles from the boy’s captains (Ryan Webster, Joe McNulty, Tim Bolick and Jeff Corkum) took on similar look as the girls’ team.  “All of these captains are tops in the league (TVL) in their respective events,” said Donahue.  “These are all talented multi-event athletes.  They give the team a lot of flexibility.  It takes a lot of hard work to be good in more than one event.  It’s a testament to the hard work that they’ve put in.  Both team captains (boys and girls) have excellent leaders who set a good example for the younger athletes on the team.  They also teach them how to work with the coaches. 

Yesterday’s victories were an important statement for the Hillers.  Not only did it mark the sixth consecutive TVL title for the girls team, but brought their dual meet (TVL) win streak to 99 without a loss.  For the boys’ team, it was their fourth TVL title in the last five years.  The boys also have had a pretty impressive record during that period, only losing one indoor dual meet (TVL) which bring them to 38-1.  Hall is entering his seventh year as head coach while Donahue is in his fourth season.

Looking back on the season, Hall credits their earlier (1/22) Division III state relay victory as a very important meet for them, having won 9 out of 10 events.  “That was a total team effort,” said Hall.  “I would say that was the most fun day of the year for them.  This year’s team is very deep in talent.  In the past, we’ve had teams with elite individual efforts but this team has depth and is strong in field, hurdles and distance running.  This is the most balanced team that I’ve had.”

Things that stand out for Donahue this season also relate to similarities that Hall mentioned about his team.  “What impressed me about this team (boys) was the way we’re balanced,” he said.  “The theme for us this year is our one-two punch we have which has been consistent all season.  We have guys who were successful in multiple events.  I think that this is as strong a boy’s track team that the TVL has seen in recent memory, which says a lot about them. Overall, I couldn’t be any happier for the guys.  They worked hard and earned it.” 

Capping off the highlights for the boys included impressive first place finishes by winning 9 out of 10 events, 5 second place finishes and 3 third places.  Ryan Webster (1^st – hurdles, 3^rd – high jump); Ryan Slack (1^st – dash, 1^st – 300M); Tim Bolick (1^st – mile); Sean Dempsey (1^st – 600M, relay); Jeff Corkum (1^st – high jump, tied 2^nd – hurdles); Corey Branch (1^st – 1000M); Sean Webster (1^st – 2mile); Josh Hacunda (1^st – relay, 2^nd – 300M); Andrew Johnson (1^st – relay, 2^nd – 600M); Andy Welzel (1^st – relay); Jack Ryan (2^nd – high jump); Josh Batte (2^nd – 1000M); Joe McNulty (3^rd – dash) and Ryan Bohlin (3^rd – shot put).

The girls were just as consistent, capturing 7 of 10 events for each first and second place finishes and two wins at third place.  Jess Scott (1^st – dash); Tam Mills (1^st – mile, 2^nd -1000M); Emily Jarvis (1^st – 300M); Jen Lynds (1^st – high jump); Melissa Lodge (1^st – 2mile); Lindsay Manning (1^st – shot put); Kaylin Albanese (2^nd – hurdles); Julie Younis (2^nd – dash, 3^rd – 300M); Leah Holmes (600M); Hannah Krueger (2^nd – high jump); Shelby Aarden (2^nd – 2mile); Jackie Chirco (2^nd – shot put); Mary-Kate Cavanaugh (3^rd – mile) and Relay Team (1^st place). 

Worth noting: shot putter, Lindsay Manning’s toss of 33’ 3.5” was good for a TVL league mark and Tam Mills won a squeaker against top performer Nora Smith in the mile with a time of 5:44.6.   Tim Bolick’s first place finish (4:39.6) in the mile gave the Hillers an 18-9 lead, which from a psychological standpoint, gave the Hillers a boost which catapulted to shut the door on Westwood’s efforts to score points going forward in the meet.  That, along with, the Hillers sweeping first, second and third place slots in the high jump event, literally slammed the door on the Wolverines. 

Coming up this Sunday (on 2/5) will be league bragging rights, along with, individuals trying to qualify for the states at the TVL Championship meet.  This will be an afternoon event, so both teams should be home in plenty of time to watch the Patriots beat the G-men, to give the Pats their fourth Super Bowl title. 

On February 17^th, the Division III State Championships will take place, followed by the All-States (on 2/26), New England Championships (on 3/2) and the Nationals to be held in New York City (on 3/10).  All of these events will take place at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, MA (with the exception of the Nationals). 

Both the boys and girls teams should make some noise at the Division level and also at the All-States.  If things go right, look to see the girls finish in the top 5% with the boys finishing in the top 10% (typically there are at least 50 schools participating in the All-States). 

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