The South Hadley track and field squads are small, but mighty this year.
It helps when you have two superstar athletes anchoring both the boys and girls rosters – Jonas Clarke and Emma Sanford.
Sanford and Clarke are fresh off competing at the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet, where Clarke placed third overall in both the 55-meter dash (6.25) and the 60-meter dash (6.69). Sanford competed in the high jump, where she cleared 5 feet, ½ inch and ran in the Rising Stars 60-meter hurdles (8.84).
Clarke is one of the fastest runners in the entire state, and he’s committed to Harvard University for next year, where he will further both his academic and running careers. Not much else can be written about him – he’s broken a number of records during his time at South Hadley, many of them his own, and is only getting better. This year, he’s looking to improve his start in the blocks, in addition to posting a solid 400-meter time.
“We’ve had some great athletes come through, but Jonas is arguably the best athlete that’s ever come out of South Hadley in any sport,” Tigers head coach Nick Davis said. “It’s a privilege to be able to coach somebody of that caliber but it’s also a lot of fun for me to be able to just watch him go as fast as he goes.”
Sanford is a Swiss Army knife athlete that coaches dream of – someone who can jump into multiple events – and win them – with ease. She’s competed in the 100 hurdles, 200 dash, high jump and long jump this season, winning all four of them at the Tigers’ recent dual meet against Belchertown.
Having two phenomenal athletes like Sanford and Clarke is a blessing and a bit of a curse, according to Davis.
“It’s awesome having Emma around because I know I can rely on her to go get points pretty much wherever we need them. But it does make things more difficult, because just like working with Jonas, I mean, we have to get a little bit more specialized in what we’re talking about at practice and what we’re looking for as far as details go,” Davis said. “So it it makes it a challenge when we only have a limited a limited amount of time at practice.”
The Tigers have a lot of youth this season – their girls team graduated 12 seniors last year – so they will rely on their younger runners and veterans like Sanford in what Davis called more of a ‘rebuilding’ year.
The same is true for the boys’ squad, which has about 10 athletes on it, give or take. Besides Clarke, senior Liam Sibley-Welch will be relied on in multiple events.
Northampton’s track team finally feels like its getting back to normal after COVID-19 impacted participation numbers.
“(Our coach) had worked with a bunch of freshmen boys, and they all came back this year, and they have grown and they’re doing fantastic,” Blue Devils girls head coach Linda Rowbotham said. “And I think the same thing will happen with the girls because we have a bunch of freshmen girls.”
Like some other local teams, the Northampton field athletes faced obstacles when it came to preparing for the season. The Blue Devils didn’t have an indoor facility where jumpers could practice, only getting out to the long jump or high jump areas within the last week or so. Despite that hurdle, the coaching staff has already seen significant improvement from their athletes, who they encourage to compete in multiple events to make them more well-rounded competitors.
“I think the aim here is not to build one-dimensional athletes,” Northampton boys head coach Nick Sharon said. “I think we’re trying to build multi-dimensional athletes who have multiple strengths. We’re trying to find strengths for athletes that maybe only focused on one thing in the past to give them just another opportunity, another thing to do. It never hurts to have that versatility on a team.”
As far as people to watch for the Blue Devils, Riley Cole is the team’s best distance runner on the boys’ side, and will look to keep dropping his time in the long distance events in an effort to return to the state meet. Rowan Hodgson is also one to watch in the jumps and sprints.
On the girls’ side, Quincy Biddle is the reigning Central-West champ in the 400 hurdles, and will look to replicate that success this season. Sprinters Kendall Reynolds and Kaiah Gregory are both back this year after injuries sidelined them last season, and there are a host of others that Rowbotham expects will do well. Also worth watching are the sprint relays on the girls side; the 4×100 meter relay team has already qualified for the Western Mass. meet.
The Hurricanes will spend their entire season on the road.
Amherst doesn’t currently have a home track that’s in usable condition to host meets. Though it appeared to have found a solution in using Amherst College’s track when the college team wasn’t using it, that fell through, too. The Mammoths’ throwing area is far from the track across Route 116, and the Amherst College athletic department wasn’t comfortable with the high-schoolers using it.
It’s caused some scheduling headaches for the coaching staff.
“Last year was the first year we could not compete on our track, and we’re probably two years away from getting a new one. I suspect that next year won’t happen, either,” Amherst coach said Chris Gould. “It’s a shame not to have any home meets, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just when the meets get scheduled, rescheduled and canceled, which is the real problem.”
On a happier note, this year’s Amherst team is full of young talent, one of the program’s largest teams in recent memory. They’ll be anchored by veterans like distance runner Tamar Byl-Brann, hurdler Eliza Dole, hurdler and sprinter Bevin Montgomery-Gehrt, pole vaulter Maddy Parker and sprinter and thrower Courtnegail Rose.
On the boys’ side, the distance depth is one of the best in the area, led by David Pinero-Jacome and brothers Ryan and Kyle Yanko. Though both are known for their cross-country running, Ryan will likely focus more on hurdles and high jump while Kyle hones in on mid-distance events like the 400 and 800-meter run. Ben Buffone is another leader of the distance core, though he’s currently working his way back from an injury.
In other events, The Saviour Robinson will be one of Amherst’s top performers in sprints and jumps.
The question for Frontier’s Jack Vecellio is simple – how high can he go this season?
That’s a literal question – Vecellio is the reigning Central-West and state champion in the pole vault, and he appears ready to defend that title this season. He’s already broken the state indoor record and Frontier’s outdoor record this season, and is poised to soar even higher as the year goes on.
Prior to the outdoor season, Vecellio competed at the Nike Indoor National Championship, New Balance National Indoor Championship, and Adidas National meets. He won both the Nike and New Balance meets and took second at the Adidas.
Vecellio is also the reigning Central-West champ in the 400 meter hurdles. While he’s best known for his pole vaulting prowess, expect him to make a splash in that event as well as other sprints.