HOLYOKE — The final leg of the final event decided the Western Massachusetts Division 1 boys track & field champion.
Heading into the 4×400-meter relay, Amherst Regional trailed Chicopee Comp by eight.
The Hurricanes needed to win and have the Colts finish no better than seventh.
Amherst led through the first three legs, but Westfield caught the Hurricanes down the final stretch, winning in 3 minutes 28.16 seconds. Amherst was second in 3:29.41.
That, coupled with a fourth-place finish by Comp, gave the title to the Colts with 100 points Friday.
Amherst, the defending champion, finished second with 95.
“We missed a couple people who didn’t show up today. It was huge. It hurt us in the 4×8 even though those guys ran their heart out,” Amherst coach David Thompson said. “At the end of the day if we finished everything like we supposed to we would have been where we wanted to be.”
The Hurricanes didn’t leave Holyoke High School empty handed.
Adawehi Robinson repeated as the shot put champion, throwing 46 feet, 11 inches. He overtook Commerce’s Esdiel De Leon on the last throw of the final round.
“I think it helped that the Commerce guy was there to push him, and he had to fight for it,” Amherst throws coach Sarah Hickman said. “He had to go get it. He hadn’t thrown 46 in a meet all season. I was proud of him to take it seriously.”
Robinson also added a discus title at 149-08. Of the two, he prefers to throw discus.
“I feel like it’s a dance move. It comes more comfortably than shot,” Robinson said. “Shot’s more of a brute strength. It’s more hardcore.”
Jericho Sylla joined him atop the podium. He leapt 43-2 in the triple jump, edging Northampton’s Marcus Peterson (41-6).
“Normally my first jump’s really far. I knew I had to get my first jump far so I could rest for the long jump and the 4×1 because of my hamstring,” Sylla said. “I was hoping to fly.”
Peterson returned the favor in the long jump.
He hit 21-6¾ for Northampton to beat Sylla’s 21-2¾.
“I find that when I’m jumping it comes a lot from my approach and where I mentally am,” Peterson said. “Honestly when I first start I try to recite a scripture. Today I was in Philippians 4:13, which is ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ I think that was what helped push me today.”
The pair have been pushing each other for their entire high school careers and maintain a friendly rivalry.
“Me and JJ are pretty good friends. Over the years we’ve been around the same spot,” Peterson said. “He’s a good friend and he can push me farther than I think I can go sometimes.”
Northampton finished third with 85½ and reached that point without one of their top athletes in Nik Smith, who missed the meet to attend his sister’s graduation.
“That’s everything you ask for out of a meet like this,” Northampton coach Brnadon Palmer said. “It’s been a strange night to see how things have been coming together for this team. We’re down without Nik, but we’re right in there, which is huge.”
Liam Sullivan provided a steadying presence for the Blue Devils.
He won the mile (4:24.56) and 2-mile (9:53.74) while contributing the anchor leg to Northampton’s winning 4×800 relay.
“I’m definitely trying to build my confidence going into the postseason where I focus on the 2-mile and give a hard effort there,” Sullivan said. “Races like that, controlled wins where I test out my kick and feel confident in it, it’s good to know where my base is to do those events comfortably.”
Northampton trailed Holyoke in the 4×800 until the third leg when Liam Flynn claimed the lead in the last 200 meters.
“Just put a killer move,” Palmer said.
Then it came down to Sullivan to close.
He maintained Northampton’s lead, and the Blue Devils won in 8:17.36.
“I wanted to push that first lap because the kid on my back, (Cameron Correia of Holyoke) he’s quick, he’s got good foot speed, so I wanted to take the kick out of him a bit,” Sullivan said. “Then, 500 to go, I felt a lot of people on me. I didn’t look back but I knew they were on me. I just tried to push it really early because I knew otherwise those guys are stronger than me and I’d already done two events.”
The Blue Devils will turn their attention to next weekend’s West/Central championship meet knowing they’ll be at full strength.
“This proves to us that our training is on point, that we’re where we need to be physically before these races,” Palmer said. “A little bit more on the preparation side of things, and we can get there.”
Amherst will look at its runner-up trophy with a different eye.
The Hurricanes don’t want another one.
“It’s not a good feeling at all. We know if we had a little bit more points in such and such event we knew we could have had this win,” Sylla said. “It’s just motivation because we know we don’t want to feel this again.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.