NORTH ANDOVER — History was made this past weekend, as Peabody High’s boys track and field team (92 points) captured the MIAA Division 2 state championship at Duane Stadium on the campus of Merrimack College. It’s the first state title in program history.
Peabody Coach Fernando Braz credited senior leadership, athletes who bought in, staff members who spent countless hours, and athletic office support.
“Complete athletes buy in on accepting the challenge to be versatile and, when necessary, sacrifice individual glory,” said Braz, whose Tanners finished ahead of second-place Marshfield (66 points).
After Thursday’s Day 1, Peabody (37 points) trailed North Andover by three points. Some of the Tanners’ top performances Thursday came from Omar Mishal (3rd – 400m hurdles – 55.84) and Declan Smith (3rd – 800m – 1:54.48), both of whom broke school records with their performances.
Alex Jackson placed first in discus (180-05), followed by Areno Saint-Victor’s (153-10) third-place nod. Brian Stevens placed fifth in the 400mh with a time of 56.80.
But come Saturday, the Tanners turned it up a few notches – if that was possible.
Jackson’s 61-05 shot put throw collected first place, while Saint-Victor was right behind him with a heave of 52-04.50. Smith placed second in the mile (4:21.30) to break Marcelo Rocha’s former school record.
Henry Sawyer, Mishal, Stevens, and Dorlyn Morel raced to first place in the 4x400m relay (3:27.71), while Smith, Matt McCusker, Osama Mishal, and Mohamed Lhassouani placed second in the 4x800m relay (8:11.84).
Peyton Smith placed first in the 110m hurdles (14.96).
The girls finished fifth with 47 points. The Tanners were led by Alessandra Forgione, who won discus (130-2) and javelin (133-5) to go with a fourth-place nod in shot put (33-2).
Madison Holleran placed third in discus (113-2) and sixth in shot put (33-2.5), while Makayla Kokonezis placed fourth in triple jump (34-7) and fifth in the pentathlon (2,451 points). Kayley Bunn took seventh in the 100mh with a time of 16.88.
