The Bromfield boys indoor track team capped an undefeated season with a first-place finish last Wednesday in the Midland Wachusett League Division C championships.
The Trojans racked up a total of 112.16 points, placing first out of seven teams in the meet at the Fitchburg High School indoor track.
“Winning the league championship means a lot to me, not only because I am a captain, but also because it is concrete evidence of the work my teammates and I put in every day,” said team captain and senior Nick Kronauer.
Junior Patrick Griffin took first in the 600-meter with a time of 1 minute, 34.38 seconds. “Patrick was late to the party,” said Coach David Boisvert. “He signed up about halfway through the season, but still managed to outrun all of his competition.”
In the 1000-meter, Kronauer, sophomore Paul Malloy, and freshman Price Day finished in the top three with times of 2 minutes, 50.91 seconds; 2 minutes, 51.30 seconds; and 2 minutes, 58.60 seconds, respectively.
The 1-mile also fell to Kronauer’s running aptitude, as he placed first in a speedy 4 minutes and 48.08 seconds.
Bromfield senior and team captain Ellis Toll and Day placed first and third in the 2-mile race, with times of 10 minutes, 25.72 seconds for Toll, and 10 minutes, 38.19 seconds for Day.
Other first-place performances went to both the 4×200-meter (1 minute, 49.65 seconds) and the 4×400-meter (4 minutes, 8.84 seconds) relay teams.
“It’s natural to look at just the first-place scorers and thank those athletes for their great records,” Boisvert said. “However, in track, it’s all about the team as a whole. Without all the second, third, fourth, and other placing athletes, we can’t succeed.”
In the 55-meter, junior Roniel Foster placed third with a time of 7.12 seconds.
In the 55-meter high hurdles, sophomore Jake Valladares and junior Sam Beebe placed fifth, and sixth, with times of 9.71 seconds and 9.77 seconds.
Juniors Dan Colony and Brendan Beale both ran spectacular performances for the 300-meter, with third and sixth place times of 40.24 seconds, and 42.25 seconds.
The Bromfield 4×800-meter relay team placed second.
As for field events, senior Deji Oyekunle launched the shot put to second place with a distance of 40 feet, 1 inch. Valladares jumped his way to fifth place in the high jump, reaching a height of 4 feet, 10 inches.
“Last year, we finished a very close second and made it our goal to win the championship this year,” Toll said. “After we finished the regular season undefeated, we knew we had a good shot at it if we ran good races. We all performed at or above the level we expected and came out on top. For our team, the league championship is a dream come true.”
