LYNN — As the postseason nears, the St. Mary’s winter track team has enjoyed plenty of success. Both the girls and boys teams captured Catholic Central League regular-season titles, and now the focus turns to the postseason.
Head coach Tristan Smith said he is proud of what his athletes have accomplished.
“So far I’m over the moon with how both teams have stepped up,” Smith said. “Over and over we’ve said let’s just work as hard as we can and become one percent better in our own way. Sometimes that blossoms into becoming the best.
“For both teams to understand what it takes to win the conference title and achieve personal bests while setting school records, it’s been great to witness and be part of it,” he said.
With both teams bringing home conference titles to Tremont Street, Smith said it boosted the overall mood of the program.
“When it’s both the boys and girls teams firing on all cylinders, it makes the bus ride home a lot happier and makes our team meeting the next day better because the kids are jumpier,” Smith said. “Everyone is really sharing in this success. I always tell the kids that everyone matters and everyone has the potential to have a positive impact and make a difference for their team.
At the league championships, the final results for both teams came down to the relays. The boys team finished first to secure the title. Although the girls also crossed the finish line first, not enough teams displaced Cardinal Spellman, resulting in the Spartans finishing second.
Smith believes both teams will remember that day.
“I think the kids are going to remember that for a long time. I know I will. It was disappointing on the girls side, a team that we matched up really well against in the regular season, but they brought a little more firepower to the conference meet,” Smith said. “I’m telling the girls that’s what happens at championship meets when other teams displace other teams that change the scoring. Now we’re going into the MIAA state championships ranked third, and that’s the drum that I’m banging – that we could be on the other side of it.”
When asked about individuals who have made a jump this year, Smith spoke about two individuals. The first was Kelsey Kwiatek. Despite being one of the top runners in the state in the last few years, Smith said she continues to improve.
“She’s been doing it for so long, so sometimes the trajectory she’s on maybe doesn’t get fully appreciated,” Smith said. “She’s on pace to do really huge things this season. It’s great to see her keep improving because once you get to those higher levels, sometimes you slow down in your jumps, but she hasn’t.”
Smith also mentioned Paolo Meho, who is newer to the team than Kwiatek.
“One of our newer athletes who has only been doing it for a few years is Paolo Meho in the boys shot put,” Smith said. “He threw a major personal best of 43 feet, and he’s been chasing it since. He threw it early in the season, but he came in with a goal in mind and he executed it.
“Between Kelsey, who’s been doing it since sixth grade, and Paolo, who is relatively new, I think we’re improving across different events with kids at different training ages,” he added. “That’s why the team itself is having success and earning accolades that we’ve never really seen in school history, despite a great history of standout athletes.”
Smith praised his assistant coaches and said he would not be able to do his job without them.
“None of this success belongs to just me. Our assistant coaching staff, Mark D’Amico, Shaina Cruel-Reynoso, BigCat Phoenix, and Christian Fraser have been tremendous,” Smith said. “They really help get everybody ready in their individual events so that we can move forward as a team.”
Now all eyes are set on the MIAA state championships later this week and the message is clear for Smith
“Let’s prepare mentally and physically to have the best race, the best jump and the best throw of our lives on Friday,” Smith said. “If that leads us to more meets in the future, we’ll deal with that. Right now, Friday at states is everyone’s last chance to get a personal record.”
