Mount Greylock Girls, Boys Win Western Mass D2 Titles
BUCKLAND, Mass. -- Lilliana Wells has known nothing but success as an athlete at Mount Greylock Regional School.
The senior transfer has been part of state championship in cross country running, another on the Nordic ski trails and an undefeated Berkshire County track and field campaign this spring.
And on Friday night, she enjoyed something else: a homecoming of sorts and a Western Massachusetts Division 2 title under the lights at Mohawk Trail Regional High School.
“I’ve found everyone [at Mount Greylock] to be really welcoming,” Wells said after anchoring Mount Greylock in the 4-by-400 relay, the last event of the night. “And the coaches have been great. And I still have a great connection with all my teammates at Mohawk, and I’m really proud to be here, competing on my ‘home track’ against them and cheering for them as well.”
Competing in Mount Greylock’s red and white, Wells was part of a boys-girls sweep atop the podium.
Mount Greylock’s girls finished with 95 points beat out second-place South Hadley (81 points). Mount Greylock’s boys earned 97 points to eclipse runner-up Frontier (62 points).
Wells has fit right in with a culture of success at the Williamstown school.
“It’s been amazing,” she said. “Coming in as a senior and just getting to know everyone and watching all the younger girls grow in cross country and skiing and track. They’re just continuing to achieve greater and greater things. I’ve been really impressed with the work ethic.
“We have young girls like Josie Smith and Kate Swann. They’re eighth-graders, but they do everything, and they’re as valuable to the team as any older person is.”
Elder stateswoman Wells took an individual title in the 800 meters, where she finished in 2 minutes, 22.91 seconds to beat teammate Maddie Albert (2:27.11).
Her sister Jackie, another of those youngsters, won the mile (5:21.21) as a freshman. She edged Lenox’s Ellen Huth (5:22.88).
Mount Greylock’s boys got a win in the 800 (2:02.93) and a runner-up in the discus (116 feet, 3 inches) from Owen Brandriss. Mountie junior Josh Cheung won the mile (4:38.48) and ran a leg on the team’s victorious 4-by-800 relay quartet.
Cheung came from behind in the final lap to edge runner-up Alex Sharp of Frontier (4:39.31).
“I really wanted to go out hard because I’m pretty bad at pacing off other people,” Cheung said. “I wanted to stick with my pace. On the third lap, when Alex Sharp passed me, I got pretty nervous. But I just sped up, stuck with him and passed him for the last lap.”
The top performer in the boys meet was Wahconah senior Matt Lighten, who set two meet records, winning the 100 in 11.13 and the 200 in 22.69. He also anchored Wahconah’s 4-by-100 relay to a solid win, finishing in 46.29, ahead of runner-up Greenfield’s 47.64.
In the girls meet, the top performer was Pope Francis’ Alexandra Gonet, who won the 100 hurdles in a meet record time of 15.45, the 400 hurdles in 1:05.09 and the long jump in 15-10.
Performances like those were expected from stars like Lighten and Gonet.
Hoosac Valley sophomore Joe Delmolino surprised even himself by winning the discus with a throw of 117-6.
Delmolino picked up the sport earlier this spring and credits Hoosac Valley coach Dayne Poirot for recruiting him to the throws and fostering a love of the sport.
He came into Friday’s meet not expecting to win or even to qualify for next week’s Central-Western Mass sectional. He just wanted to set a personal record, which he did by about 11 feet.
Throwing late in the final round, Delmolino beat Brandriss by more than a foot. Brandriss had been sitting pretty after posting the 116-03.
The final competitor of the finals, Pope Francis’ Tevin Early, gave Delmolino a run for his money, but his throw measured 114-04, giving the Hurricanes’ rookie the win.
“I wasn’t really good [at discus] at first, and then I just threw one one day and it went pretty far,” Delmolino said. “[Poirot] helped me, and that’s how i threw it so far.”
But after doing so, he had the perhaps tougher task of watching his opponents try to catch him.
“Honestly, I wanted to win really bad, but I was making it look like I didn’t care,” Delmolino said. “But I did care. I cared very much.”
Full results of this meet here.