Hudson team captures first big meet of season
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Hudson - The Hudson High track team carried its indoor game outside and, much to their delight, enjoyed very similar results.

After an indoor season that featured many team and individual achievements, the Hawks started off the 2008 outdoor season by serving notice they're a team to be reckoned with, winning the Division 2 title at the Robert Duncan Relays, held May 3 at St. John's High in Shrewsbury.

"We were really excited to run this meet," Hudson coach Kathy Vinciullo said. "Performances don't always translate from the indoor season to the outdoor season. We looked at this meet as a barometer for where we're at, a starting point for heading into the heart of the season and the bigger meets … ahead of us."

The Hawks won the Duncan Relays two years ago, but finished third last season, behind Oakmont and Ayer.

"Not only are the relays a chance to see where you are, but a chance to see where everyone else is, too," Vinciullo said. "We knew Oakmont and Ayer were going to be competitive, but this gives us a chance to see how we stack up to everyone else in Central Mass. too: Sutton, Millbury and Blackstone-Millville, as well as the others."

Hudson won the title by recording four first-place finishes and rolling up 87 points. Oakmont and Ayer tied for second with 54 points, Sutton was fourth with 52 points, Millbury fifth with 45 points and Blackstone Millville sixth with 41 points.

The Hawks' quartet of Brian Vinciullo, Kevin Delaney, Luke Doherty-Munro and Conor Grogan won the distance medley relay in a time of 10:56.20, about 15 seconds faster than Sutton.

Hudson also won the 880-yard relay, the team of Geoff King, Steve Delaney, Chris Walker and Brian Mueller finishing in 1:35.70, a tenth of a second ahead of the Ayer team.

The Hawks also won the two-mile relay and the pole vault relay.

First-place finishes weren't the only order of the day for Hudson, however, as the team also recorded four second-place finishes, two third-place finishes and a fourth-place finish.

Second-place finishes came in the 440-yard shuttle hurdles relay, the high jump relay, the triple jump relay, and the javelin relay. The Hawks' third-place finishes came in the mile relay and the sprint medley relay; the fourth-place finish came in the long jump relay.

While a large core of Hudson athletes contributed to the victory in the Duncan Relays, a few stood a little taller than the others.

Steve Delaney ran a leg of the winning 880-yard and two-mile relays as well as the mile relay, which finished third. Pat Tomczyk was on the winning two-mile relay team as well, and also participated on the triple jump relay team (second place), and the mile relay team (third place). Will Murphy was a member of the third-place finishing mile relay and sprint medley teams and also competed on the javelin and shot put relay teams.

"It was a good way to start the season," Vinciullo said. "We had a lot of top performances despite there being a lot of tough competition. I think it gives us an idea of how we compare to the competition we'll see down the line in the class meet and the all-class meet."