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Season Review: Boys’ indoor track made strides

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The Panthers during a Dec. 13 meet. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Panthers, who finished the season at 2-3, owned wins over Duxbury (55-45) and Silver Lake (54-45) and were clipped by Hingham (57-43) and Pembroke (57-41).

Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ indoor track head coach Mike Driscoll is pleased with the effort put forth by his team this winter.

The Panthers, who finished the season at 2-3, owned wins over Duxbury (55-45) and Silver Lake (54-45) and were clipped by Hingham (57-43) and Pembroke (57-41).

“With the exception of the Plymouth North meet (70-30 loss), who were the [league] champions, we hung with some really good teams,” Driscoll explained. “We beat Duxbury, we beat Silver Lake, and Duxbury is a really good track team. We got within two events of beating Hingham, which we haven’t done in a long time.

“These kids worked really hard. We had a small senior class with only six seniors, but four of them are state-level competitors. I’m happy with the young kids, I’m happy with the older kids, we had a lot of freshmen, we had a lot of new kids this year, so the numbers are good.”

The four Panthers to crack the Division 3 All-State meet, which was held Feb. 18 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, were senior captains Brian Edwards and Andrew Newman (Patriot League All-Star) and classmates Brett Holmes (Patriot League All-Star) and Jack Ryan (Patriot League All-Star).

Edwards finished the contest tying his career-best of a 6-foot high jump, which was good for eighth place and a medal.

“Brian is just a natural high jumper,” Driscoll said. “That’s his event, it’s been his event since he was a freshman and it’s just a natural event for him. He can get up over that bar at six feet like it’s nothing and it’s pretty fun to watch.”

Newman also medaled with a seventh-place finish in the 2-mile run at 10:08.66.

“Andrew is one of the examples of a kid that if you just stick with something, you’re gonna be good at it,” Driscoll said. “Andrew came in as a freshman and he was maybe a little below average. And now with all the hard work he’s put into this program, and into himself and running, he’s an above-average runner now and he’s earned everything.”

Holmes and Ryan missed out on medals in the long jump and 1,000-meter run, respectively.

The Panthers were also bolstered this season by the addition of indoor track newbie and the progression of a seasoned veteran.

“[Junior] Billy Martell had a great year for us, his first year doing winter track, in the 300 meters and our 4×200 team,” Driscoll said. “And then senior Joey Coletti had another spectacular year in the 600 meters and 4×400 for us.”

Driscoll said Coletti was the biggest surprise of the winter.

“I wasn’t sure what we were gonna get out of him,” Driscoll said. “I knew he was a senior, [but] he really bought into the team this year and bought into the running, and I think he had an outstanding year for us.”

Coletti was a leg on the 4×400 relay team, along with sophomore Kyle O’Brien, Ryan and senior Andrew Tassey, that finished in 3:51.62 to help the Panthers edge Duxbury on Dec. 19.

“I think that was our best meet,” Driscoll said. “Beating that team with a lot of depth. We really, really ran well and jumped spectacular that night. We had to hit all our marks and all our spots and we did that night. “

Driscoll said he hopes to continue to develop the indoor track program by attracting more student-athletes over the offseason.

“We’d love to have every kid come out for track, but we get kids need rest after their fall seasons,” Driscoll said. “We just really want to build the program back to where it was.”

Season Preview: Boys’ indoor track clearing hurdles as it improves

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Head coach Mike Driscoll has several newcomers on his hands this winter.

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ indoor track team looks much improved from last winter.

Why? Well look at the club’s first meet of the season against Hingham. After falling to the Harbormen, 63.5 to 36.5, last December, the Panthers, who finished last season with a 2-3 record, hung tough this time around as they were just edged out, 57-43. Sixth-year head coach Mike Driscoll credits the performances of a few of his seniors — Brian Edwards, Brett Holmes, Andrew Newman and Jack Ryan — as a big reason why they were able to hang around.

“All had outstanding meets,” Driscoll said. “The last couple of years Hingham has really destroyed us, and this year we took them down to the wire. I think we surprised them a little bit. We didn’t win, but we at least proved we’re capable of winning track meets this year.”

On the ground, Ryan, who is one of two Panthers captains, raced to a first-place finish in the 600-meter dash with a time of 1:30.45, and was a member of the 4×400 relay team that also took home first. Newman completed the 2-mile run in 10:35.44, which was nearly 30 seconds better than opponent, for the win.

Edwards, who is also a captain, spearheaded the Panthers’ high jump with a 5-foot-7 leap, which earned him the top spot. Holmes, a senior and first-time indoor track participant, took his talents to the long jump and he shined with a first-place finish courtesy of a 20-foot-10 ½ jump. Both were on the 4×200 relay team as well.

“I would say right now our strength will be our jumps,” Driscoll said. “Brian Edwards is one of the better high jumpers and Brett Holmes came out for indoor season [and] he’s one of the top long jumpers in the state, so those areas will be huge for us.”

Holmes is one of several newcomers Driscoll said he will be relying on to shore up one of club’s weak spots — sprinting.

“We needed to improve in the sprint area,” Driscoll said. “That was a big thing for us last year, we needed to get some more sprinters and depth. We got Brett Homes to come out for winter track for the first time, Billy Martell and Jacob Nixon, three sprinters who we didn’t have last year on the winter team and they’ve been a huge addition to our team.”

The Panthers will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 5 at 4:30 p.m. at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center against Pembroke.

“We want to have a winning season, we think it’s obtainable, it’s going to be tough, but we want to have a winning season and we want to have success every meet, so we measure it on how we improve,” Driscoll said. “Everybody’s different in track, it has an individual aspect to it, but it’s also a team thing, so the individuals are looking to improve to help the team to get a victory.”