Calvert Hall track takes season-opening win at Gilman Relays; Greyhounds finish second

by Nelson Coffin

MIAA track teams braved winter-like weather at the Gilman Relays on Saturday in a bid to prepare runners for the opening A Conference meet on Wednesday.

Calvert Hall (51 points), eyeing a fifth consecutive league title, topped the runner-up Greyhounds (44) and third-place Archbishop Curley (39) in the eight-event varsity meet that also included Carroll County’s Manchester Valley (37), McDonogh (33), Mount St. Joseph (24), Loyola Blakefield (23), Georgetown Day (21), John Carroll (20) and St. Frances Academy (3).

The Cardinals, who will lean on seniors JD Hughes, Lucas Archer and Josh Reeves and indoor MVP Max Miller this spring, crossed the finish line first in the 4X800 behind seniors Marco Carver and Blake Wancowicz, junior Evan Berdan and sophomore Oliver Cobo.

St. Joe’s Charlie Gochar, Chris Fagan, Liam Tedesco and Jack Webb placed second for a team that will also count on Webb, Demitrius Jackson, Trevor White and Boston College football commit Xavier Myers this season.

Calvert Hall (Max Ormerod, Kaden Omopariola, Luke Fistler, Jack Walsh) held off Gilman (Jack Mashaw , Liam Digges, Leo Bowen, Alex Zhao) in the distance medley relay 400 while the Cardinals (Leon Bryant IV, Joseph Okubanjo, Gavin Curry, Theo Neurberger) were just shy of  Manchester Valley in the 4X400.

Curley sprinters were No. 1 in the 4X100 (Kobe Cannon, James Pittman, Arie Randall, Rashein Gibbs) and 4X200 (Cannon, Randall, Semaj Campbell, Gibbs), with the latter foursome edging McDonogh (Kyle Rollins, Austin McNair, Will Fuchs, Javier Brown). 

John Carroll went the distance in the 4X1600 (Alex Wohlfort, Sam Riska, Jack Leach, Elliott Russell) with Calvert Hall (James Cullen, Logan Borchers, Aksel Hannestad, Declan Carter) next in line.

Loyola shined in the sprint medley relay 1600 (Liam Stappert, Ben Velasquez, Daniel McCormick, Zachary Edmondson-Deigh), topping second-place Curley (Zachary Gaudino, Rinji Holloman, Campbell, Ryan Krul).

The host Greyhounds, who will be paced by senior Kendall Lunn and juniors Cian Connolly and Lucas Mulligan this season, showed their best in winning the 4x110 shuttle hurdles, with seniors Suli Leheny Aariz Mozayan and Lunn and junior Zavier Quick prevailing over Georgetown Day.