AMHERST — The Northampton boys track & field team is deeper than its duo of Liam Sullivan and Nik Smith.
The Blue Devils beat Amherst Regional, 89-55, behind eleven first-place finishes from seven athletes Wednesday.
Sullivan and Smith still did their damage.
Smith won the 100-meter dash (11.0 seconds) and the 200 (22.0), and anchored the winning 4×100-relay team (44.4 seconds) for Northampton (2-1, 1-1 Valley League).
On Monday, Smith set school records in the 200 (21.9 seconds) and 100 (10.7 seconds) against Minnechaug.
“I think I came into (Wednesday’s) meet, not particularly to get PRs, but if that’s what is necessary, I’ll do anything to win,” Smith said. “It was a rough few events I did, but I just ran to the best of my ability.”
Sullivan won the 2-mile in 9:45 and came in second in the mile (4:50) behind freshman teammate Ben Gordon-Sniffen (4:49).
Gordon-Sniffen also won the pole vault at 8 feet, 6 inches.
Marcus Peterson also had a strong performance for the Blue Devils. He won the long jump (20-6), came in second in the 200 (23.4) and finished third in the triple jump (37-2½).
Northampton coach Brandon Palmer was optimistic with his team’s performance.
“Going forward we have to challenge ourselves and figure if we can put the whole picture together as a track and field team,” Palmer said. “We need to come to play like this every meet. I need to know where these athletes stand and they need to know what kind of potential they have.”
For the Hurricanes, top long jumper and sprinter Jericho Sylla was scratched from the meet after suffering a hamstring injury on his first warmup for the long jump.
“We’re just one man down. At the end of the day, we’ve still got a bunch of people that can run,” Sylla said. “I’m just hopping on one leg trying to cheer as loud as I can today.”
Without Sylla, Andre Shepperd finished second behind Smith in the 100 (11.2) and anchored the runner-up 4×100 team (44.8).
Ali Abdel-Maksoud was third in the long jump (16-11), 100 (11.5) and 200 (24.4) for Amherst.
“Honestly, I didn’t think about the points,” Abdel-Maksoud said. “I was just running, trying to get my best time. All I can do is hold my head up high, and if the points come, they come.”
Adawahi Robinson dominated the shotput (45-6) and the discus (150-8) to lead a Hurricanes sweep in those events.