Fenwick enjoys successful day at weight throw championships

Bishop Fenwick was well represented at the inaugural USATF-inspired Massachusetts Scholastic Weight Throw Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on Wednesday.The school got its first boys state weight throw champion in Sean Farrell of Peabody, who won the boys competition with a toss of 54-6 3/4.”(Farrell’s) a big, strong kid,” Fenwick coach Jay Smith said. “He loves this event.”St. John’s Prep student Sean Enos of Lynnfield finished second (54-6 1/2).Farrell’s fellow Crusader Joe Russo of Peabody finished fourth. Russo threw 41-9 1/4.In the girls meet, of the four competitors, all but first place went to Fenwick: Katie Wilkinson of Peabody, second (38-11); Tina Moran of Salem (36-5 1/2); and Maggie Lepley, a sophomore from Lynn (26-8 1/2).In the weight throw, high school athletes toss an object of between 20 and 25 pounds (20 for girls, 25 for boys). In college, female athletes also toss 20-pound weights, while male athletes throw 35-pound weights. Yet Smith described the event as a rarity for many high school athletes, although both Fenwick and St. John’s have programs.”It’s a very small network now,” he said. “It’s grass-roots.”While he said that the Crusaders must usually travel outside the state to compete, as they do in New Hampshire or Rhode Island, quite a few Fenwick athletes have distinguished themselves in the event. Last year the program sent five members to nationals; this year, four – Farrell, Zach Nardone, Wilkinson and Moran – will attend nationals in New York City on March 11-12.Smith has high praise for the event. Without it, he said, “if you’re a thrower and nothing else (as opposed to running as well), you only get one event (in winter).”