Division 4 track: Amherst Pelham girls have arrived

NORTH ANDOVER The club boasted specific runners two years ago Besides particular local allegiance to the Coffee Cake Running Club in the area Amherst wasn t exactly a hotbed for track talent When Moriah Luetjen was a freshman she never imagined hoisting hardware at the Div outdoor track and field championships She noted she didn t see the big picture of what her career would bring But a lot has changed in four years Now a senior Luetjen has watched the numbers grow before her eyes and the results they have yielded Luetjen claimed first in the -meter run on Sunday after taking second in the -meter run on Friday to power Amherst Pelham Regional to its first outdoor track state championship at Merrimack College It didn t really seem like it was something that we were capable of until it was in reach Luetjen declared And then it was like This is incredible Amherst Pelham totaled points to edge Melrose points and Holliston points and claimed gold in three events While Luetjen took first in the -meter run Elizabeth Sawicki took the pole vault - and the relay band of Ella Austin Ruby Austin Ololara Baptiste and Skylar Fox put the finishing touches on the dominant accomplishment in the final running event of the evening in We just had a whole arsenal of weapons noted head coach Chris Gould For the first time we had people who could points in every event and in current times they really exceeded expectations in a multitude of avenues Gould declared the numbers increased from to roughly athletes on the unit this spring and cites a growing appetite for running in the group for the interest Gould is a proud member of the Coffee Cake club Gould reported Luetjen ran out of her skull the present day A modest Luetjen thinks she could have done better This might be crazy to say but I almost did better she reported It was kind of hard to run that back stretch by myself and not be able to chase anybody because I feel like that s what I excel at is chasing people at the end Melrose received a first place finish from Reilly Powell in the two-mile on Friday and second place bids from Emeline Boyer in the shot put - and in the relay on Friday but it wasn t enough to come close to the victors The boys title came down to the final event as Pembroke and Wakefield were knotted at points for the lead But after Wakefield s JaMauri Belmer took eight points in the long jump with a leap of - Wakefield totaled points to edge Pembroke and Burlington points to defend its title from last spring That s a great band noted Wakefield head coach Ruben Reinoso For us to go down to the very last event that s the way track and field should be Henry Brown placed second and Ryan Hogan - placed third - in the pole vault in what was a productive event for Wakefield But its foundation was in the relay teams headlined by a first place finish by the squad of Edgard Meneguello Isaac Melo Ethan Mezikofsky and Broderick Wyatt It feels amazing We ve worked all year round for this and it couldn t be a better ending Wyatt explained Luke Lamar set a new personal best to win the -meter dash before playing a key role in Pembroke s win in the relay to achieve the triple crown after winning the -meter hurdles on Friday for Pembroke Elsewhere the boys -meter run featured a fresh face Amherst Pelham s Miles Jeffries who netted a blazing time of to take gold discovered quick success in his first season of outdoor track after making the switch from tennis