By Ken Chaisson
Hometown Weekly Staff
It came down to the last throw in the last event.
The Walpole boys’ track and field team captured their third consecutive division 3 championship by one half of one point over Reading at Merrimack College on Sunday May 31.
In a tremendous battle that went to the last event, Walpole (99.5 points) hung on to outlast both Reading (99 points) and Longmeadow (96).
Longmeadow had the advantage of having multiple competitors in the pole vault, an event that not many schools compete in, including Walpole.
Longmeadow also created their own controversy. Their relay team won the 4x800M relay garnering 10 crucial points for them. However, after the race they excitedly spiked the baton and were disqualified from the event losing their hard-earned points.
Walpole then seized the opportunity by winning the 4x100m relay to grab a critical 10 points. The relay team of Matt Nealon, Brady Thomas, Robby Cameron, and Arnold Obour-Mensah were outstanding securing the second fastest time in Walpole school history.
Then in the 4x400M, Walpole, Longmeadow and Reading all scored points.
It all came down to the unlikely final event, the javelin, which was delayed earlier due to flooding issues, with Longmeadow holding a slim three point lead over the Timberwolves. However, Longmeadow had no one in the javelin finals. Reading won the event garnering ten points to leap frog both Walpole and Longmeadow into first place overall. Going into the final throw, Walpole’s Jake Stenstrom sat in 4th place. He needed to finish 3rd for Walpole to jump ahead of Reading. Stenstrom’s last mighty toss of 166 feet 4 inches was a personal record by five feet which moved him into 3rd to garner enough points to secure the team title. It was the third furthest heave in Walpole school history.
Walpole was the champion once again by the slimmest of margins. Three in a row in dramatic fashion.
Stenstrom also finished second in the 110M hurdles (15.14) and senior Arnold Obour-Mensah was second in the 100M dash (10.70).
A true team victory which wasn’t decided until the final moments.
Photos by Corey Coogan
