COURTESY PHOTO BY WORCESTER STATE ATHLETICS
Jalil Gibson, a Lynn English alum, has built a strong freshman season at Worcester State this winter.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
A team needs contributions from many in order to become a champion.
With a roster chock full of locals, the Worcester State University men’s indoor track and field team became a champion this weekend, taking home the school’s first-ever Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) crown.
“We’re probably the most balanced team in the conference right now,” said head coach Al Halper, whose roster includes six Peabody High graduates, four Lynn natives and one Saugus native. “We have people in pretty much every event area, so there are not too many places that we’re weak.”
The Lancers proved Halper right at Saturday’s MASCAC/Little East Conference (LEC) Alliance Championships at the University of Southern Maine, as seven individuals earned MASCAC titles and two set school records. In the Alliance, only the host Huskies earned a better team score.
Lynn English alum Jalil Gibson was a key contributor to Worcester’s success, continuing an outstanding freshman season with a MASCAC championship in the 55-meter dash. Gibson sealed the win in 6.56 seconds, also good for fourth in the MASCAC/LEC Alliance.
Gibson has fared well all winter long, most recently leading the team in the 200-meter at the Tufts Stampede on Jan. 28 and finishing sixth overall in the 60-meter at the Wesleyan Invitational the following week.
“It’s been a great season so far, and we have a great team spirit. It’s been a big adjustment coming into college,” Gibson said. “But, I think my blocks, I’ve been starting off very well this season. I’ve had to work on getting better finishing the race because I kind of slow down at the finish line.”
The adjustment from high school to college was often discussed between Halper and Gibson in recent weeks, especially as championship season continues.
On Friday and Saturday, Gibson and other qualifying runners will compete at the NCAA Division III New England Championships at Tufts.
“Compared to what Jalil was used to in high school, it’s a much more intense environment,” Alper said. “I told him, ‘Everyone around you is as good or nearly as good as you.’ He’s better than most, but you’re always running with the competition. In high school, sometimes you go for weeks without seeing competition.”
Lynn Tech alum Justin Lewis was twice named the MASCAC’s Rookie of the Week this season after winning the high jump at both last month’s Tufts Invitational and Northeastern University’s Jay Carisella Invitational in December.
A pair of former Tanner throwers also scored en route to WSU’s conference title. Sophomore Marcus Vieira claimed MASCAC and Alliance titles with a 17.93-meter weight throw, while his classmate Anthony Christo placed third at 16.03.
While Viera set a Worcester State record in the weight throw to move up to sixth in the NCAA Division III ranks, it was truly a team effort.
“I had a great performance at two meets before Christmas break, but never really had another personal record until last week. This was a huge throw and a big step for me,” said Vieira. “But, this had to be done together, and a lot of the little things we talked about showed at the meet. It really was just one big family putting in the work to get it done.”
Making the jump to college has also brought Gibson closer to another one of the Lancers’ half-dozen Peabody natives who was one of his top competitors during their time in the Northeastern Conference.
“Phill Bynum was my biggest competition in high school,” Gibson said. “Now, he’s my roommate. We’ve started to bond more and he’s my best friend in college. … It’s always good to have people to talk to that you’ve known for a while.”
Lynn and its surrounding North Shore communities have been a key recruiting area for Halper, who has guided both the Lancers’ men’s and women’s programs since 2002. Having such a strong base of local talent has helped bring in even more athletes.
Of the Lancers’ 11 current locals, all but two of them are freshmen or sophomores. So, the future remains bright.
“We’ve been very fortunate to get some of the better athletes from that area,” Halper said. “From a recruiting standpoint, I can put out the word, but it’s really the guys on the team who sell the program. … It’s kind of like that pipeline concept. A great area for us to go.”
Names and notes
- Lynn’s Katie Burt recorded her 85th career victory for the sixth-ranked Boston College women’s hockey team on Sunday, making 11 saves in a 7-1 win over Vermont. The win moved her into a tie for ninth on the NCAA career wins chart and marked her 50th in Hockey East play, good for a second-place tie.
- Saugus native and Malden Catholic alum Mike Vecchione recorded an assist in the Union College men’s hockey team’s 8-1 win over Dartmouth on Saturday night. It was his 51st point, setting a single-season program record.
- Lynn’s Peter Mafo led the Westfield State men’s basketball team with 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting in Saturday’s 82-74 loss at Salem State. The Classical product also recorded three rebounds, six assists and a pair of steals.
- Saugus’ Norma Waggett posted two double-doubles for the Salem State women’s basketball team this week, logging 20 points and 13 rebounds in last Wednesday’s 64-43 win over Bridgewater State before a 26-point, 13-rebound performance in a 91-65 loss to Westfield State on Saturday.
- Marblehead’s Jake Kulevich scored his first goal since December and added two assists to help the Colgate University men’s hockey team finish a two-game ECAC sweep on Sunday with a 4-2 win over Yale.
- Danvers native Vinny Clifford scored all 12 of his points from beyond the arc on Saturday as the Endicott College men’s basketball team trounced Roger Williams, 101-71, to improve to 13-3 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play.
- Peabody’s Tom Buonopane has hit safely in six of the Eckerd College baseball team’s first seven games. The St. John’s Prep grad went 2-for-4 with two RBI in an 11-3 loss to Flagler in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader.
