By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Dover-Sherborn’s Johnny Bennett, Owen Comiskey, Luke Loeffler and Dan Griffiths put on an incredible performance on Friday at the MIAA Division V meet at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
Despite never having competed in the 4x400 relay together, this "makeshift" DS quad stepped up and delivered big by breaking the school record in the event with a time of 3:37.45 en route to a fourth-place team finish.
“We didn’t really know what to expect from this relay because we hadn’t had this combination of four run it together, and personally, I hadn’t run the 4x400 since my sophomore year,” said Bennett when asked about his performance. “The day of the meet, everything clicked and I [believe] we all were very happy with our individual splits and overall team time. We all had very clean handoffs and ran our hardest.”
As a senior, Bennett says that going out with his name in the school’s track record books certainly ranks up there in his career high school athletic accomplishments, of which there are many, considering his All-Scholastic status in football.
“It’s nice as a senior to have a group accomplishment like this and know we will be in the ‘record books’ of DS track history,” said Bennett. “Track is obviously very different from football, but in both sports, there is a rewarding feeling after trying your best, and any personal or team success as a result of that is an additional bonus.”
As a result of their record-breaking performance, Bennett and the gang have qualified themselves for the All-State meet. Bennett says he and his teammates will look to control what they can and try to lower their school record even more.
“All we can do is control how we run and not how other teams run,” said Bennett. “Winning the state is a big long-shot, but lowering our record is certainly a possibility. We will have fresher legs at all-states and more experience, which always helps.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
