With spring sports up and running (and jumping and throwing) again, the boys’ track team is off to a strong start to their season with impressive performances at invitationals and undefeated league status. With many experienced returnees and a load of newcomers, the boys have ambitious goals for the season.

The boys opened their season at Niskayuna High School in New York on April 12, the first Friday of break, where they ran in medley relays. The boys had their best result – fourth place – in the  distance medley, which consisted of a 1200-meter leg (three laps on a standard 400 meter track), a 400-meter leg (one lap), an 800-meter leg (two laps), and a 1600-meter leg (four laps). Seniors Jesse Seid, Jakin Miller, Josh Cheung, and Michael Maruk crossed the line in 11:29.69, less than a second behind the third place team.

After refueling at Dinosaur Barbeque and a night’s rest, the team returned the next day to compete in a regular invitational style track meet. Top performances were delivered by seniors Theo Sandstrom (ninth place in the 400m with a time of 54.26 seconds), Josh Cheung (seventh place in the 1500 with 4:20.23), and Jakin Miller (eighteenth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 70.02). Other standouts were brothers freshman Ryan and junior Brendan Goss, who took fifteenth in the discus with a throw of 95-09 feet and tenth in the shot with 38-01.25 feet, respectively.

The boys’ team went to the Berkshire County Invitational on Wednesday, April 17. Mounties dominated in the distance events, winning the distance medley with a team of Matt Sorrell, Brandon Fahlenkamp, Cheung, and Seid. Cheung also captured the 1600 in a time of 4:42.51, well ahead of the second place time of 5:07.08. Mounties Brandon Fahlenkamp, Corban Miller, and Declan Rogers backed up Cheung, taking eighth through tenth respectively.

Cheung came back in the 800 to take second in 2:09.13, while Corban Miller finished tenth with 2:30.78. Seid took another distance event for the Mounties, winning the 3200 in a time of 10:15.31, more than a minute faster than the second place runner. In the 400m hurdles Jakin Miller ran 1:07.47, good for a fourth place finish.

Freshman Jack Catelotti put forth a strong effort, taking third in the 200m (24.95 seconds), second in the 400m at 56.89, and helping the Greylock 4×100 team of him, Adam Sandifer, Seth Schultheis, and Brandon Sills capture third in a time of 51.86. In addition to Catelotti, Sorrell and seventh grader Vincent Welch had strong showings in the 400, taking seventh and eighth, respectively.

In field events, Sills was ninth in the long jump at 16-08.50 feet. Greylock had a strong showing in throwing events with Brendan Goss taking fourth in the shot (36-02.50) and twelfth in the discus (12 82-02), while Ryan Goss took tenth in the shot (32-00.00) and eleventh in the discus (82-05). Jakin Miller was the top scorer for Greylock in the javelin with a throw of 107-00, good enough for tenth.

After returning from break, the team was at the Williams track April 27th for a quad dual meet against Hoosac Valley, Lenox, and Taconic. The meet began at 4:30, and athletes from the four teams battled it out until around 8:20, finishing not long before the lights were set to shut off at 9 pm.

Greylock boys came out on top against all three teams, with a 86-53 victory over Lenox, a 92-45 victory over Hoosac, and in their closest match-up, a 76-65 victory over Taconic.

The meet started off with long jump, in which junior newcomer Finn Welch jumped 17-03.00, giving Greylock a point against Hoosac and Lenox. In the triple jump, Adriel Benko earned Greylock two more points against Hoosac and Lenox, with his first jump measuring 34-03.00.

Greylock was able to take an important first and third in the shot and discus against Taconic. Brendan Goss’s throw of 37-02.00 took fourth overall, while brother Ryan Goss threw 31-07.75 for seventh. Ryan Goss bested Brendan Goss in the Discus to win with 108-01 while Brendan chucked a 82-10 for third against Taconic. Jakin Miller threw a 103-02 in the javelin for second against Hoosac and Taconic, while Benko gave Mount Greylock third against Taconic with 99-05.

Jonah Kelly-Whitney was the top Greylock finisher in the 100 with a time of 12.88, good for second against Hoosac and Lenox, but a crucial first against the strong Taconic sprinting crew. Greylock’s win was aided by a sweep in the 200 with Sandstrom coming across the line in 25.29, Catelotti at 25.83, and Kelly-Whitney with 26.05. Sandstrom and Catelotti also captured first and second in the 400 with times of 56.11 and 57.20, respectively.

Greylock started strong in the first distance event of the night, with Cheung winning the mile in 4:56.76, and John Skavlem and Fahlenkamp finishing in sixth and seventh to sweep Lenox. Cheung took his second win in the 800 with with 2:11.43 while sophomore Will Starenko crossed the line fourth overall in a time of 2:20.29, good for third against Lenox and Taconic, and second against Hoosac.

Seid continued the distance winning momentum, winning the 3200m with a time of 10:21.04. Seventh grader Oliver Swabey crossed the line in 10:59.02 to take third against Taconic in a meet where every point mattered.

Jakin Miller helped Greylock’s cause with a second against Taconic in the 110m hurdles (19.72). Miller came back in the 400m hurdles, running 1:07.12 to take second to teammate Owen Crowell (1:06.49).

Greylock fielded strong relays, winning both the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m against all teams, and the 4 x 800m against Hoosac and Lenox. The first of the relays was the 4 x 800m, with Greylock teammates Cheung, Seid, Starenko, and Charlie McWeeny earning a close second with 9:03.86 to Taconic’s 9:01.18. The 4 x 100 of Schultheis, Kelly-Whitney, Sills, and Adam Sandifer crossed the line in 52.04 for first place after a false start from Hoosac disqualified them and neither Lenox nor Taconic boys finished the race due to improper baton exchanges. By the last event of the night, the 4 x 400, Greylock had already won with 71 to Taconic’s 65, a gap too big to make up with a 5 point relay. By tradition, the Greylock boys and girls teams lined the final corner of the track to cheer on the various legs. Catelotti led off the relay, passing the baton to Crowell, with a lead on the other teams. Crowell, Cheung, and Sandstrom, laid down impressive splits, widening the lead to finish in 3:47.62 over Taconic’s 4:04.89.

After their first victory, the team looks forward to two more league meets: Thursday May 2, against Drury, Wahconah, and Monument Mountain, and Wednesday, May 8, where they will battle perennial rival Pittsfield High School, last year’s league champions. Thus far, in addition to Greylock, Pittsfield and Wahconah remain undefeated in the league. In their first dual meet, Pittsfield took an impressive 108 over Hoosac’s 33, and 129 points to Drury’s 12. Wahconah beat Taconic 82-59.