Great old run rolls on
It’s hard to believe this is the final weekend of June.
That’s not a good sign for those of us who want summer to go on forever, is it?
So while we ponder that thought, here are a few tids and bits to possibly distract you:
First, is there a more traditional, special local event than the annual Decathlon-Heptathlon? The 65th version of the former and 45th of the latter took place at Nashua North last weekend, and the amazing part about it is it takes high school kids out of their specialties and has them try new events.
And that’s how the best athletes are determined.
For example, this year’s champion Jack Sullivan of North had never pole vaulted – until he practiced it just one day during the week before the event. And vaulted a respectable 8.75 feet.
And the incredible scene is watching the non-runners – like Sullivan – collapse after running the 1500, and it was the same for the girls in the 800, both the final events of the two competitions. In one group of the 800, the girls fell like dominoes as they crossed the finish line.
As Merrimack’s Sam Epstein said, “It gets really tiring, everything starts to feel slow, it’s just yuck.”
And as Sullivan said as he collapsed after the 1500, “Oh my God, that race is awful.”
Again, his approach was to have fun, especially in the events he had never competed in before. And those were everything except the high and long jump. Incredible.
“It was rough doing every event, all within one day,” he said. “I took the whole past week working on everything I didn’t feel as confident on.”
And all the pain was plenty of gain with the first place trophy. The event is also a reminder of just how un-athletic certain sports scribes are.
– Hollis Brookline is looking for a new boys soccer coach as longtime Cavs coach Steve Martus stepped down, pretty much according to sources a mutual decision between him and the administration. He had the Cavs compete hard as a Division II contender, but now HB will be moving forward hoping to get someone as soon as possible. It’s that time of year when coaching moves are made.
– One of the events that should have been mentioned in last week’s Summer Dates column is the Nashua City Golf Championship. How could we forget the area’s premier golf event? It will be on Saturday, July 23 at Nashua Country Club and then Sunday, July 24 at Sky Meadow Country Club.
Nashua’s Tommy Ethier is the defending champ while former Alvirne golf coach Bob Lind won the senior event in 2021.
– One Celtics thought: We felt they would win the NBA title going into the playoffs, because of the way they played defense during their incredible turnaround from January. So why didn’t they win? There are probably a lot of little side reasons, but the main one: Golden State’s more experienced best player, Steph Curry, played much, much better than Boston’s inexperienced best player, Jayson Tatum. Sometimes it’s just that simple, folks, especially in the NBA.
– Still wish the FCBL had gone with three umpires this season rather than two for the regular season. The league reduced the number due to the fact their third umpires were too inexperienced, so they focused their efforts on getting the best two for each game, and paying them as such. Partially a money move, and partially a quality move, but the first few weeks, in our humble opinion, has shown it to be a not-so-great move. We’ll see down the road if that changes for 2023.
– Congrats to Rivier University’s Craig Kolek for an incredible job well done guiding the school’s women’s volleyball team for 22 years. He’s coached the men for 24, and will hold on to that job but he’s since passed the women’s torch on to alum Jeff Costa. He’s a Hall of Famer, has over 1,000 wins and a combined 22 championships between the two teams.
He’ll now focus more on the men’s team and his duties as assistant AD. We’ve always said if he were a hoop coach there would be a statue outside the school in his honor. How lucky has that University been to have both he and soon-to-be-former AD Joanne Merrill running the show, Merrill for 42 years?
Amazing.
Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.