By Jess Thomas
The Nashoba Regional boys track team came into the Friday, May 8 meet with a 4-0 record, but ran into a fast and competitive Westborough squad.
The Chieftains picked up the first loss of the year, 98-47, placing the team in a three-way tie with Westborough and North Middlesex with one dual meet left.
“It’s always a back and forth with us and Westborough, which isn’t a bad thing,” eight-year head coach Jim Nosel said after the meet. “It keeps it competitive.”
The captains of the 2015 edition of the team are Zack Wright, Adam Heislein, Ben Hart and Travis Macko.
Wright finished third in long jump on Friday with an 18’10” jump. Heislein finished third in the 1-mile run with a time of 4:48.9.
Macko has won the shot put for Nashoba in each of the last two meets, throwing 45’1” in the Chieftains’ 98-47 win over Hudson on Wednesday, May 6. He threw 44’6.5” on Friday to pick up points for Nashoba.
Perhaps the most impressive performance against Westborough was in the discus where Wyatt Boelens threw 150’5” to win by over 20 feet.
In pole vault, Devon Duggan cleared 12 feet to pick up the first place finish for the Chieftains.
The Rangers had the edge in the majority of the running categories in its win, but Nashoba’s Kyle Cloutier did win the 2-mile with a time of 9:59.6. Stow teammate Ryan Gillooly was third with a 10:19.2 time.
Nosel said, “I was hoping things would be a little closer than (they were), but the Westborough distance (runners) came out and did really well today.
“In the eight years I’ve been coaching, both teams always look forward to this meet,” Nosel said. “Meets can go either way.”
The Chieftains will get a shot at North Middlesex to finish dual meets this season, looking to gain the edge in record over the Patriots.
“North Middlesex has two horses in the stable, pretty much first and second no matter what they compete in,” Nosel said. “It’s going to be an interesting meet, it could be close or it could be a blowout.”
The Patriots only loss this season came to Westborough, 93.5 to 51.5, on Wednesday, May 6.
Following that battle, it will be time for the district and league meets which will answer some questions as to who has the strongest team in this close affair of a season.
“Each school has their first and second place events,” Nosel stated. “It’s a question where everything else pans out; let’s put it that way.”