Boys' Track Places Third at Division 2 Meet

Despite missing one of its best all-around athletes, the boys’ outdoor track and field team placed third Saturday at the Eastern Massachusetts Division 2 championships at Bridgewater State University.

The Tanners put up 50.5 points, behind champion Mansfield’s 126 and second-place Central Catholic’s 71.

“It was a great team effort,” Woburn coach Mike Fowle said. “I’m really proud of how the kids performed.”

In senior Craig Langes absence, Bobby Smith and Michael McAdams led the way for the Tanners, with teammates Valerio Silva and Rodrigo Costa making significant contributions as well.

Smith, a senior, won the long jump, finished fourth in the triple jump and was part of Woburn’s fourth-place 4x100-meter relay team. McAdams, a junior, placed in three individual events, the 400-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash and high jump.

Coming into the meet, Langes, the reigning indoor state champ in the long jump, was seeded first in long jump, second in the triple jump. However, with Langes out due to injury, Smith filled in nicely, winning the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 4 inches, and finishing fourth in the triple jump with a hop, skip and a jump of 43 feet, 3.25 inches.

Smith moved from third to first on his final attempt in the long jump and from eighth to fourth on his last try in the triple jump.

If Langes had been able to compete, the Tanners still would’ve had trouble moving up to second place.

McAdams beat his own school record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.57 seconds, which put him second behind Needham senior Peter Farlow, 55.31, by 0.26 seconds.

In the 400-meter dash, McAdams placed fourth in 50.81 seconds, and, in the high jump, he tied for seventh. McAdams actually cleared the same height, 6 feet even, as the fourth-place finisher in the high jump, however, it took him more attempts to do so. Silva tied for ninth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 10 inches.

Silva, a junior, showed his real strength in the 200-meter dash, finishing second behind Catholic Memorial’s Donovan Henry in 22.61 seconds. Henry, also a junior, ran the event in 22.19 seconds.

After sneaking into the 110-meter hurdle finals with the eighth best time, Rodrigo Costa proved he belonged, moving up to fourth place with a time of 15.93 seconds, a 0.73-second improvement over his trials run.

Smith and Silva teamed up in the 4x100-meter relay with junior teammates Gavin Wilson and Taylor Jean-Gilles. The squad ran 44.05 seconds to place fourth.

Woburn’s 4x800-meter relay team, of David Cooper, Dylan Crowley, Kyle Sullivan and Jake Rousakis, was seventh in 8:20.47. Its 4x400-meter relay team, of Costa, Wilson, David Cooper and Dylan Crowley, was eighth in 3:34.27.

The girls’ team finished 30th with four points.

Sophomores Shannon Gay and Kelly Garrity both placed for the Tanners, as did the team’s 4x100-meter relay team.

Gay was eighth in the 100-meter dash in 13.66 seconds, Garrity eighth in the 200-meter dash in 27.71 seconds. Gay only had one underclassmen ahead of her, Garrity two.

The 4x100-meter relay team placed seventh in 51.51 seconds.

Woburn sophomore Kayla Peary finished 11th in the high jump. Peary cleared 5 feet even, the same height as the fifth-place finisher but in more attempts.

Smith, McAdams, Silva, Costa and the boys’ 4x100-meter relay team will compete this coming Saturday at the Massachusetts All State meet at Bridgewater State University.

Complete Results