NORTH ANDOVER — The team boasted some 18 runners two years ago. Besides some local allegiance to the Coffee Cake Running Club in the area, Amherst wasn’t exactly a hotbed for track talent.
When Moriah Luetjen was a freshman, she never imagined hoisting hardware at the Div. 4 outdoor track and field championships. She said she didn’t see the big picture of what her career would bring.
But a lot has changed in four years. Now a senior, Luetjen has watched the numbers grow before her eyes and the results they have yielded. Luetjen claimed first in the 400-meter run on Sunday (56.36) after taking second in the 200-meter run (25.35) on Friday to power Amherst Pelham Regional to its first outdoor track state championship at Merrimack College.
“It didn’t really seem like it was something that we were capable of until it was in reach,” Luetjen said. “And then it was like, ‘This is incredible.’”
Amherst Pelham totaled 87.5 points to edge Melrose (68 points) and Holliston (59 points) and claimed gold in three events. While Luetjen took first in the 400-meter run, Elizabeth Sawicki took the pole vault (9-0) and the 4×400 relay team of Ella Austin, Ruby Austin, Ololara Baptiste and Skylar Fox put the finishing touches on the dominant victory in the final running event of the evening in 4:00.36.
“We just had a whole arsenal of weapons,” said head coach Chris Gould. “For the first time we had people who could score in every event, and today they really exceeded expectations in many ways.”
Gould said the numbers increased from 24 to roughly 40 athletes on the team this spring and cites a growing appetite for running in the community for the interest. Gould is a proud member of the Coffee Cake club.
Gould said Luetjen “ran out of her skull today.” A modest Luetjen thinks she could have done better.
“This might be crazy to say, but I almost did better,” she said. “It was kind of hard to run that back stretch by myself and not be able to chase anybody because I feel like that’s what I excel at, is chasing people at the end.”
Melrose received a first place finish from Reilly Powell in the two-mile (11:10.15) on Friday and second place bids from Emeline Boyer in the shot put (37-02) and in the 4×100 relay (51.18) on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to come close to the victors.
The boys title came down to the final event, as Pembroke and Wakefield were knotted at 66 points for the lead. But after Wakefield’s JaMauri Belmer took eight points in the long jump with a leap of 23-06.75, Wakefield totaled 74 points to edge Pembroke and Burlington (53 points) to defend its title from last spring.
“That’s a great team,” said Wakefield head coach Ruben Reinoso. “For us to go down to the very last event, that’s the way track and field should be.”
Henry Brown placed second and Ryan Hogan (12-0) placed third (11-06) in the pole vault in what was a productive event for Wakefield.
But its foundation was in the relay teams, headlined by a first place finish by the 4×400 squad of Edgard Meneguello, Isaac Melo, Ethan Mezikofsky and Broderick Wyatt (3:30.12).
“It feels amazing. We’ve worked all year round for this, and it couldn’t be a better ending,” Wyatt said.
Luke Lamar set a new personal best to win the 100-meter dash (10.74) before playing a key role in Pembroke’s win in the 4×100 relay (43.45) to achieve the triple crown after winning the 400-meter hurdles on Friday (53.31) for Pembroke.
Elsewhere, the boys 400-meter run featured a fresh face. Amherst Pelham’s Miles Jeffries, who netted a blazing time of 49.71 to take gold, found quick success in his first season of outdoor track after making the switch from tennis.
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