Weymouth boys take Div. 1 South sectional crown

HINGHAM — Hingham’s Sean McKay has always thought of himself as a 400-meter runner who also competes in the 400 hurdles as a secondary event.

The Harbormen senior just may be reassessing his resume today after burying the 400 hurdle field in 57.06 seconds at the Div. 2 South Track & Field Championships on Sunday on his home track.

McKay, who will attend UMass Amherst, found his workouts during the week, especially striding over the first hurdle, made a big difference as he got out smoothly and was never really challenged in the hot conditions.

“I did a lot of work this week getting the first hurdle down,” said McKay, who was scarcely out of breath at the finish line. “I felt good the first 200 and then gutted it out the last 200. That’s the kind of race it is. It’s tough.”

Like his teammate, Ryan Fennelly also came up big in the final as he methodically pulled away from a strong field for the victory in the 110 hurdles in 14.48.

Brockton’s terrific sprinter, Dourvens Bleus, really felt the heat radiating off the track when he got into the blocks of the 200, but was able to shake it off as he stormed to the win in a swift 22.41. Later in the meet he blazed his way to victory in the 100 with a time of 11.08.

“I felt pretty good,” said Bleus of his 200 win. “It was really hot, but the start felt good. I had a long stride and had a good lean going into the turn.”

Weymouth overcame a false-start disqualification and a strong seed failing to make it to the discus final to edge out Hingham by a half point for the team title, 67-66.5. Wildcat Ronan Folan once again dominated the shot put with a winning toss of 53-11 and had a second-place finish in the 4×100 (43.90), and another silver-medal showing came from Liam Higgins in the javelin (159-7).

The South victory was Weymouth head coach John Connolly’s first in his 11 years at the helm.

“South sectionals is new with the COVID and finally we aligned with the other sports,” said Connolly. “When you win by half a point it really is a team effort. They did so well. All of them. We handled adversity well. We left a few points out there. They never let it bother them and they really stepped up.”

Durfee’s Daniel Keating didn’t hit a new personal best, but was more than good enough to capture his specialty with a leap of 6-2. A strong technician in the high jump, Keating will be looking to exaggerate his head movement over the bar.

“I wanted to PR, but came in just short of that,” said the Hofstra-bound talent. “I’m happy with how it went, though. I definitely want to clear 6-6 (at All-States).”

Ironically, Keating’s dad, Tom, an All-American in the steeplechase at Bridgewater State University, coached Durfee’s last All-State champion in the high jump — Kevin Pearson in 1995.

Marshfield’s Jay Joyce had a huge afternoon on the first day of competition on Friday. The Rams junior captured the mile in 4:21.40 against a stacked field that included Newton South’s Jonathan Orelowitz (4:22.39) and Brett Miller (4:22.49), and Marshfield’s Drew Pesko (4:29.69).

Joyce’s teammate, Clay MacDonald, surged away from Eero Helenius of Newton South in the 800 for a 1:56.81 victory. Helenius finished strong to clinch the silver medal in 1:58.95. MacDonald, Pesko and Jay then teamed up with Alex Hayes to win the 4×800 in an impressive 8:12.39.

Oliver Ames’ Kyle Sarney established himself as the favorite in the 2-mile at All-States with a 9:22.53 as the top-five runners broke 10 minutes.

Sharon’s Patrick McManus waged a duel with John Ferrarelli of Weymouth in the pentathlon and came out on top by just two points, 3,009 to 3,007.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3zIskgz