By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Photo/Submitted
Grafton – Finding the right mix in high school sports can often present challenges, but one program that got it more than right this year was the Grafton High School boys’ track and field team.
The Indians found the formula to capture the team’s first Southern Worcester County League (SWCL) crown since 1993 by recording a 7-1 record while also earning the distinction of being Class B district runners-up and tri-SWCL champions with Auburn and Tantasqua Regional high schools.
2015 transitioned into a “team first” mode, according to eight-year head coach Peter Gleason, where his athletes believed in each other, supported one another and set aside individualism for the good of the team.
“We’ve always had some super individual efforts every year,” said Gleason, who is assisted by Matt Bazinet. “We’ve always had great athletes here in Grafton, but we never really had a full commitment for the depth it takes to win in track. You need guys who are committed to coming every day that are going to do their job to ultimately then have a team effort.
“Track gets stereotyped as an individual sport but when you want to do things on a larger level as a team, you need a lot of different kids with a lot of different talents. You need kids who can run distance, weight men who can throw; you need jumpers, sprinter, hurdlers. You need depth guys who are good at a multitude of things who are willing to go in and get points here and there. We had that this year and we haven’t always had it in the past.”
Gleason is quick to acknowledge the selfless efforts of his senior captains. Keefer Canty, J. Scott MacDuffie, Mark Vogel and Dean Patulak are gifted athletes, but as much as talent was critical, so was leadership, and his young men brought the team together as none have in recent years.
“The humility of my captains and their willingness to care about the other kids on the team and not just care about their own accomplishments was what ultimately made this year my favorite year as a coach,” explained Gleason. “I could name many times where they were taking younger kids under their wing and helping them. The leadership that they decided to take wasn’t always there last year. But this year they came out of their shell to be leaders and they were good athletes besides.”
“We let teammates know what they had to do and at the meets they really stepped up and went above and beyond what we needed them to do and that was huge,” added MacDuffie. “It was a real group effort this year to win. We knew we could really do something great this year and that was a motivating factor to help younger kids out and show us that they can contribute to the team. This year we had depth all around and in most places. Everyone really put out for the team and that’s what made this year special.”
“At the beginning of the season when we saw how big the team was compared to previous year, we really thought that we could put kids into positons where they could win us meets and after the first meet we began to believe that we could take things further and keep winning,” said Canty, who competes in most events but prefers hurdles.
With his four inspirational captains moving on following graduation, Gleason knows that a similarly successful season in 2016 is no sure thing. But there is an abundance of talent returning, he said, and just like this season, finding the right mix is what it will be all about.
“We’ve got some juniors who I think can lead us next year as well. I’ve always believed that success breeds success. When you have a winning team, kids start to take interest and I think more kids will want to be a part of this. I do have some fantastic athletes coming back and some younger kids that will take on bigger roles. You never know when you have the right mix but I think we have some good things happening here with our program.”
A number of individual accomplishments were earned during the season. Canty became League and Class B champion in the 110 and 400-meter high hurdles while breaking a school record in the process. He was also the Wallace award winner as MVP of the District class meet, an all-state qualifier in 110 high hurdles and was a SWCL first-team All-Star.
Leo Shattuck was a 400-meter dash District Class B and SWCL champion as well as taking top honors in SWCL triple jump and being a SWCL first-team All-Star. Randy Amendekawas earned SWCL long jump champion, high jump runner-up and SWCL first-team All-Star. MacDuffie was a 100-meter and 200-meter scorer at both SWCL and District competition and was also a SWCL first-team All-Star.
