Arcari Tops Hamel, Tewksbury Blasts Dracut

Revenge is known as a dish best served cold and let his rivalry with Dracut High's Keith Hamel chill for exactly three months before settling the score Wednesday afternoon at Dracut High.

Arcari, the 2011 Merrimack Valley Conference 55-meter dash champion bested Hamel, the 2011 Division 2 state 55-meter dash champion, in a much anticipated 100-meter showdown, sparking Tewksbury to a lopsided 112-33 win over Dracut Wednesday.

But Arcari , and was unable to compete in the Division 2 state meet a week later.

With his biggest rival on the sidelines, Hamel took first place at the Division 2 state meet, leaving Arcari to wonder what could have been if he had stayed healthy.

Arcari's first chance to answer that question came on Wednesday, May 11, exactly three months after the MVC meet. The pair, who were also two of the top running backs in MVC football last fall, squared off in a rematch that was won by Arcari, by a mere one-tenth of a second.

"Anthony made it clear to me this morning that he wanted to run against Hamel," said . "He said he wanted to run against him in the 100 and if he didn't beat him he wanted to run against him in the 200.

"I told him he wasn't running two races today so if he wanted to beat Hamel, he'd have to do it in the 100."

Arcari took full advantage of his lone chance, trailing by a half-step at the 50-meter mark but shifting into high gear in the last 30 meters to come from behind and clearly win the race. Arcari's winning time of 10.9 seconds tied his personal best.

"He was determined," Levine said.  "And that's what makes him such a tremendous athlete.  He's got a determination that's unbelievable."

Arcari was not the only Tewksbury High football player to post impressive results on Wednesday. won three events as he continued his remarkable recovery from a football injury (to his back)  that cost him the entire winter track season. Vibber won the high jump in a season's best 5'10", then took first in the triple jump at 40'0". Vibber then led a Tewksbury sweep in the 110-meter high hurdles, with George Kuegler in second and Eddie Motovu in third.

"Vibber is back," declared Levine. "He had so much doubt coming into the season because the injury was on his mind. But now he's starting to beat that."

Sophomore weight man , also a member of coach Brian Aylward's football team, won both the shot put (42' 10") and the discus (126' 2") to lead Tewksbury to a strong showing in the field events.

Dan Sugrue, another footballer, won the javelin in 156' 6" and took second in the discus.

But stealing much of the football team's thunder was sophomore Cory Cataldo, who continues to draw high praise from Levine. Cataldo won the long jump by beating senior multi-event star Richard Kirby by a mere 3/4 of an inch in an entertaining intra-squad match-up.

Cataldo got his second win of the day when he won the 400-meters in 53.6 seconds, and the super soph also cleared 5'8" in the high jump to take second place behind Vibber.

"Cataldo is the future star here," Levine said. "He's got a great athletic build. He's just a natural athlete."

Other Tewksbury winners included Kip Horahan, who took first in the mile run in  4:49.5, and sophomore Brian Amaral, who won the  800 meters in 2:06.5. Fast emerging star George Kuegler, a junior, won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:01.5 and took second in the 110-meter high hurdles behind Vibber.

In the pole vault, senior Colin Foley took first place at 10'0" with Nick Parsons in second at the same height and CJ Sutherland third. Foley also took second in the 400 meters in 54.2.

The mile relay team of Foley, Parsons, Sutherland and Blake Hery was victorious in 3:46.5.

The 4x100-meter relay team of Sutherland, Johnny DiGiorgio, Stefan Monteiro and Pat Bernardo took first place in the relay. Monteiro was also third in the high jump while Bernardo was second in the 200, behind Hamel.

Kirby took second in the triple jump with Monteiro third. Cory Thomas was second in the two-mile and Derrick Acosta was third in the shot put. Nick Souza was third in the 400-meter hurdles, and Craig Tino was second in the 800.

Tewksbury, 5-0, can clinch the MVC small school title with a win at Billerica next week.

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