Westfield’s Shea Drugan wins the 55 meter dash during the final meet of the “Fall II” regular season at Agawam High School. (MARC ST.ONGE/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
AGAWAM – The COVID-shortened indoor track season held outdoors during the “Fall II” sports season came to an end April 21 for the Westfield High School boys track and field team. Despite suffering a 55-44 loss to the Agawam Brownies, several Bombers delivered solid outings – – and even some firsts – – hinting at a promising spring season to come.
The individual efforts were aplenty for Westfield.
Pratham Makonahally won the 2-mile in 13 minutes, 48.1 seconds. Ziyad Ghalayini finished first in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.5 seconds. Shea Drugan celebrated a victory in the 55-meter dash (6.4). Nicholas Krawiec took home gold in the 600 meters with a 1:42.4 finish.
Drugan’s 6.4 second finish tied his previous time, a record-setting mark. Drugan broke the school record in three straight meets, surpassing his previous bests each time.
“That’s just insane to think about,” Westfield boys track and field first-year head coach Ed McLeary said of Drugan’s feat. “He put down a lot of impressive times.”
McLeary said Drugan and junior Antonio Phaneuf, a solid distance runner, stepped up in leadership roles this past season. These two self-motivated individuals assisted the team throughout warm-ups, stretching exercises, and practice sessions, according to the head coach.
Krawiec (1000 meters, 3:34.8), and Westfield’s Joseph Taupier (long jump, 17-0; 55 dash, 6.7) and Mason Hynes (55 hurdles, 10.0) also nabbed second place finishes against Agawam.
Westfield’s third-place finishers were Hynes (high jump, 5-0) and Declan Matthews (600 meters, 1:54.8).
Christian Czarnecki was Westfield’s top finisher in the mile, claiming fourth overall in 5:53.9. He was also the first Bomber to cross the finish line in the 300 meters, nabbing fifth with a 54.1 second finish.
The 4×200 relay team (Ghalayini, Hynes, Taupier, Drugan) and 4×400 relay team (Czarnecki, Matthews, Hynes, Makonahally) won with times of 1:39.6 and 4:37.1, respectively.
Overall, the Bombers head coach was pleased with the final meet and the season as a whole.
“Coming into this season, my first time coaching, I just really wanted to make sure the kids could run and compete, especially after last year with sports cut due to COVID,” coach McLeary said. “I looked at the winter (indoor track season) as a warm-up season since the kids hadn’t been running for a year. Now I want them to hone in on breaking personal best records, winning events, and just doing good in general. Maybe win a couple meets; that would be great to bring home.”
Westfield track and field opens up its spring schedule May 11 at Agawam, beginning at 4 p.m.
Said McLeary: “It’s going to be great to just get out there as a team, compete, and run, especially for the seniors.”
RAMS CLOSE OUT FALL II TOO: Grace Hanna (high jump, 4-1), Mabel Buchter (shot put, 24-5), Emily Buchter (55 meters, 8.0), Hannah Bannish (600 meters, 1:57.3), and the 4×200 relay team (2:12) each won an event for Southwick in their final meet of the girls track and field regular season, a 49-35 loss to Hampshire. …Jake Buchter (shot put, 37-5) and Matthew Coviello (600 meters, 1:41.7) claimed first-place finishes for the Southwick boys’ track team. …The Southwick girls volleyball team closed out its season by sweeping South Hadley 25-16, 25-16, 25-12. Sarah Cerone (4 aces, 6 kills, 5 digs), Lina Carr (4 aces, 1 kill, 5 digs), Victoria Burkovskiy (1 block, 6 kills, 4 digs), Kayla Andrade (2 aces, 2 kills, 17 assists, 9 digs), Alexandra Methe (2 aces, 1 kill, 13 digs), and Kaitlyn Haseltine (3 aces, 3 kills, 10 assists, 6 digs) paved the way for the victory.
