Panthers, Pioneers and Hawks on track

Region - Local indoor track teams excelled, winning three of the possible four District E Invitational team titles Feb. 9 at Fitchburg High. St. John's and Hudson High swept the respective D1 and D2 boys championships, and Marlborough's girls won the D1 title.

The Marlborough girls' title was their second straight behind individual wins by Ally Oram (2 mile), Kimberly Urena (600) and Brianna Kunycky (1,000). The Panthers also won the 3,200-yard relay with Oram, Dessie Stefanova, Alicia DiGiso and Kunycky.

St. John's far outscored the D1 field behind wins by Bill Vitello (shot put), Andrew Powell (high jump and 55 hurdles), Dennis Kott (600) and the 1,600-yard relay.

Hudson easily defeated the boys D1 field, bringing home the title behind wins by Brian Muller (55 yards), Brian Vinciullo (mile) and Luke Doherty-Munro (1,000). The Hawks' 800 relay team (Chris Walker, Geoff King, Derek Palintino and Muller), and the 3,200 relay (Conor Grogan, Kevin Delaney, Munro and Vinciullo) were winners.

Other local individual winners included Westborough's Kevin Stechler (55-yard dash), and Ryan Ruffing (meet record in 300 yards), Algonquin's Kaylee DeVincent (girls shot put), Shrewsbury's Ashlyn Derosier (girls 55 hurdles) and Hudson Catholic's Jessica Jarrard (girls 2 mile).

Make it 1,000

Congrats go out for another milestone in local high school basketball when Hudson Catholic senior Justin Severin eclipsed the 1,000-point high school career mark in the Wave's Feb. 7 game, a 78-63 loss at home to Worcester Tech. Severin surely wanted to do this before the large Hudson Catholic crowd crammed into the school's small Main Street gym. The game was Hudson Catholic's last home game of the season. Severin, a guard, has been averaging just under 15 points an outing for the Green Wave.

Rangers win pool title

No, we're not talking billiards. Feb. 5 proved to be a good day for Westborough's co-ed swim team as the Rangers raced away with the MidWach swim title. The ramifications of the meet go beyond the title as a pair of relay teams qualified for the states later this winter. The school's 200 free relay including Sam Kurtz, Mark Bernieri, Brendan Kelley and Josh Davis combined for 1:38.82, and the 200 medley team with Will Kenyon, Chris Rabidou, Mike Burton and Davis swam a 1:51.95. Both teams qualified for states.

The team title is Westborough's second straight in the meet held at Sturbridge's Tantasqua High School.

Individual winners for Westborough included Meg Darnley, diving; Allison Mahoney, 100 fly; Meredith Geller, 100 breaststroke; and Diana Zeng, 50 free. Zeng's time, 25.67, is a new school record.

Congrats to all the swimmers and coach Bethany Bergman, who defeated eight other teams.

Shamrocks AAU

basketball tryouts

For girls and boys looking to continue their hoop play beyond school and travel programs, AAU basketball is the place to be. One very popular and growing program is the Central Mass. Shamrocks, which since in its formation in 2002 by Tom Henrickson and Marcus Watson, has included many area boys and girls.

The Shamrocks will be conducting tryouts for teams, U11-17. All tryouts are slated for Shrewsbury High School. Teams will be formed in oneyear age groups. The boys U11-U14 tryout is set for Sunday Feb. 17 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. U15-17 boys tryout is set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. that same evening.

Tryouts for girls are set for Sunday Feb. 24. Girls U11-14 tryouts are set for 5 to 6:30 p.m., with the older girls going from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Tryout fees are $25. For more information, check the program's website at www. centralmashamrocks.com.

Send mail and sports ideas to ronwoodcock@charter.net.