The winter 2023-24 sports season is underway. Skiers won’t hit the slopes until January, but the Bromfield varsity basketball, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, and co-op ice hockey teams have been playing and racing since the season opened Dec. 11.
The new season has brought a change in the format of indoor track and field competition. Coach Marisa Steele reports that athletes from nine schools of the Midland Wachusett League will compete in five weekly invitationals at the Fitchburg High School track. The league will have three divisions, each consisting of schools chosen for proximity, not size. Gone are the dual meets of past years in which two Midland-Wachusett League schools at a time would compete. Team scores will no longer be compiled, nor winners and losers declared. Instead, runners with similar seed times from each of the nine schools will compete in seeded heats, ensuring that the fastest runners in the league will have a chance to race with one another weekly. The league’s top athletes will also compete in weekend regional races sponsored by the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association.
The seven other schools in Bromfield’s division are Ayer Shirley, North Middlesex, Littleton, Lunenburg, Groton-Dunstable Regional, Fitchburg, and Leominster.
At the first MSTCA event of the season, the Dec. 10 Winter Festival, the girls 4×800-meter relay team (sophomore Rosie Bradley, junior Isabel Jackson, junior Emma Squire, and junior Evelyn Wool) won first place with a time of 10:37.85. At the MSTCA Small School Winter Festival the following weekend, senior Jack Stahl set a new meet record of 1 minute, 23.90 seconds in the 600-meter. (See additional results below.)
Left: Colin Harte competes in the 55-meter race. Right: Jack Stahl runs a leg of the 4×400-meter relay. Earlier in the day he set a record in the 600. (Photos by Jen Manell)
The records and upcoming schedules of the eight varsity teams the Press is following this season appear below. We are grateful to team parents Brian Piekos and Julie Gowel for their coverage of ice hockey and boys basketball. They will be joined in January by a squad of student reporters who are wrapping up their training at the Press this month.
Boys basketball (league 1-1, all 2-1)
- 12/11 @Parker (N), 64-36 win
- 12/15 @Gardner, 69-60 loss
- 12/19 vs. Narragansett Regional, 39-32 win
- 12/21 @Tahanto Regional, NA
Upcoming games
- 1/5 @West Boylston, 7 p.m.
- 1/8 @South Lancaster Academy (N), 7 p.m.
Girls basketball (0-2, 1-2)
- 12/13 @Oxford (N), 44-40, win
- 12/15 vs. Gardner, 49-19 loss
- 12/19 @Narragansett Regional, 53-27 loss
- 12/21 vs. Tahanto Regional, NA
Upcoming games
- 12/27 GHS Winter Tournament (at Gardner High School), 7 p.m.
- 12/30 GHS Winter Tournament (at Gardner High School), TBD
- 1/5 vs. West Boylston, 7 p.m.
- 1/8 vs. South Lancaster Academy (N), 6:30 p.m.
Boys swimming (1-2, 1-2)
- 12/11 @Shrewsbury, 124-51 win
- 12/13 @Tantasqua Regional (N), 88-87 loss
- 12/18 vs. Algonquin Regional, 98-73 loss
- 12/21 vs. Advanced Math & Science Academy Charter, NA
Upcoming meets
- 1/3 @Gardner (at Mt. Wachusett Community College), 7 p.m.
- 1/6 @Grafton (N) (at Whitin Community Center), 6 p.m.
- 1/10 @Doherty Memorial (at Boys and Girls Club of Worcester), 3:30 p.m.
Girls swimming (1-1, 2-1)
- 12/11 @Shrewsbury, 98-82 loss
- 12/13 @Tantasqua Regional (N), 121-55 win
- 12/18 vs. Algonquin Regional, 87-81 win
- 12/21 vs. Advanced Math & Science Academy Charter, NA
Upcoming meets
- 1/3 @Gardner (at Mt. Wachusett Community College), 7 p.m.
- 1/6 @Grafton (N) (at Whitin Community Center), 6 p.m.
- 1/10 @Doherty Memorial (at Boys and Girls Club of Worcester), 3:30 p.m.
Boys indoor track
- 12/13 Mid-Wach Invitational. Senior Colin Harte won the 600-meter run and placed third among 30 runners in the 55-meter dash. Eighth-grader Kai Kemeza, the youngest runner in his events, placed 12th among 25 runners in the 1,000-meter run and 11th among 26 runners in the 1-mile run.
- 12/16 MTSCA Small School Speed Classic. Senior Jack Stahl placed first in the 600-meter race, setting a new meet record of 1:23.90. Senior Colin Harte placed third in the 300-meter with a time of 36.75 seconds; and the boys 4×400-meter relay team, consisting of Harte, Stahl, sophomore Liam Kemeza and sophomore Harrison Binnick, took seventh place with a time of 3:46.77.
- 12/20 Mid-Wach Invitational, NA
Upcoming meets
- 12/27 MSTCA Boston Holiday Challenge (at “the Track,” New Balance, Boston), 9 a.m.
- 1/6 MSTCA Freshman-Sophomore Small School Championship (at Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, Boston), 10 a.m.
- 1/10 Mid-Wach Invitational (at Fitchburg High School indoor track), 5 p.m.
- 1/12-14 MSTCA Northeast Invitational (at Reggie Lewis Center, Boston)
Girls indoor track
- 12/10 MTSCA Small School Winter Festival. 4×800-meter relay team won first place with a time of 10:37.85.
- 12/13 Mid-Wach Invitational. Junior Wendy Aftomis won the girls 300-meter with a time of 46.60 seconds and finished the 55-meter in eighth place with a time of 7.90 seconds. Freshman Satriah Sikochi was fifth in the 600-meter run and tied for fourth place in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 4 inches. Senior Gretchen Day placed fifth in the 1-mile run with a time of 6:52.70.
- 12/20 Mid-Wach Invitational, NA
Upcoming meets
- 12/27 MSTCA Boston Holiday Challenge (at “the Track,” New Balance, Boston), 9 a.m.
- 1/6 MSTCA Freshman-Sophomore Small School Championship (at Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, Boston), 10 a.m.
- 1/10 Mid-Wach Invitational (at Fitchburg High School indoor track), 5 p.m.
- 1/12-14 MSTCA Northeast Invitational (at Reggie Lewis Center, Boston)
Coed Alpine skiing
No meets until January.
Ice hockey (Littleton/Bromfield/Parker co-op) (2-0, 2-1)
- 12/9 vs. Danvers (N), 5-1 loss
- 12/13 @Leominster, 9-0 win
- 12/16 @Oakmont Regional, 6-2 win
Upcoming games
- 12/23 vs. Fitchburg (at Groton School O’Brien Ice Rink), 3 p.m.
- 12/28 @Grafton (N) (at Buffone Arena Rink 2), 2 p.m.
- 1/3 @Lunenburg (at Wallace Civic Center), 6:30 p.m.
- 1/6 @Dover-Sherborn (N) (at Rivers School MacDowell Ice Arena), 7:30 p.m.
- 1/10 vs. Saint Bernard’s (at Groton School O’Brien Ice Rink), 8:15 p.m.
The @ symbol designates an away contest (though sometimes the availability of venues requires these to be held at home). N means a game or meet was non-league. NA means a score was not available at time of publication. Scheduled games and meets are shown from Friday, Dec. 22, through Thursday, Jan 11, 2024.
—Compiled by John Osborn
