by Amy Brockelman
SHREWSBURY -- The Fitchburg boys' track team arrived at Saturday's 34th Ralph H. Colson Memorial Class Championships looking for respect, and at the end of the afternoon the Red Raiders earned that and more.
The Raiders captured the Class B Championship, defeating two time defending champion Nashoba Regional. The Raiders Scored 134 points, earning six first place finishes while favorite Nashoba was runner-up with 115 points. "We were the last ones to defeat Nashoba (1993) and heading into this meet we didn't get much credit. Most people picked Nashoba and Oakmont to win," said Fitchburg coach Chris Woods.
Fitchburg dropped to Class B due to school enrollment, and following the victory, the team issued a warning to Class A winner St. John's that the Raiders will be at their heels at the All-Class meet in two weeks. "This winter when I knew our numbers I suspected we'd be in B, so it was a motivating factor for these kids to win this meet. We've competed against A teams and done well but we'll take the opportunity in B," Woods said.
A host of Raiders sized the opportunity yesterday, including Frank Ortiz, who finished second in the 440 and went down in a heap on the track with a right hamstring pull. Ortiz was helped off the track and appeared to be done for the afternoon, but he anchored the mile relay that took first with a time of 3:41.5. "I needed to run it because it's my senior year," Ortiz said. "We did what we had to do today to get respect."
In the field events, freshman Keith Leavitt was a surprise winner for Fitchburg, hurling the shot put 43'11", while Kevin Keenan took the triple jump crown with a leap of 42'4". Carlos Troche won the 880 in 2:04:.5 and Elio Rodriguez ran away with the two-mile in 10:38.6. The two also were part of the winning 4x880 (9:00.3) that beat second place Oakmont by more than six seconds.
Nashoba had won 12 of the past 13 Class B titles, but two first-place and five second-place finishes equalled the runner up plaque yesterday. Ben Greenwood had a personal best mark of 12-3 in the pole vault and Derek O'Riorden had the fastest time of the day in the 120 high hurdles with a time of 15.5. "We had good consistent performances but not enough top people to compete with Fitchburg," said Nashoba coach Ley Ricker. "We were the favorite only because we've won it so many years and we did well in the relays, but after the seedings earlier this week Fitchburg was already 30 points ahead of us."
Oakmont finished third with 101 points, but had four first-place showings including yet another victory in the mile by Kevin Horgan. The defending state champion was off his personal best, but won by more than 12 seconds with a time of 4:29.8. Other first place finishes were Steve Anderson in the discus (143-04) and Matt Nelson in the javelin (160-05).
Also in Calss B, Gardner High finished sixth overall with 40 points.
The individual performance of the day was turned in by North Middlesex high jumper Kyle Ridley, who set a meet record when he cleared a 6-9. Ridley didn't take his first jump until 6-0, while the rest of his Class A competitors cleared only 5-10. When he cleared 6-4 he won the meet, but the senior easily cleared 6-6 and then 6-8, the previous record set in 1992.
"I kind of zoned out during it and I basically had a good day," said Ridley, who shrugged off the broken middle finger he suffered last week. "It was an adrenaline rush to win and I didn't expect to do anything special today."
Ridley's jumping coach, Becky Reed, said he doesn't usually like jumping at Shrewsbury but on Friday talked about the possibility of beating the record. After taking the record he tried a 7-0 jump but came up short. "He jumped 6-9 and I jumped six feet after," said North Middlesex coach Bob Day. "He jumped 6-6 at Fitchburg on Tuesday and just barely missed 6-8. We were hoping today would be his day and it was. Our freshman (Justin Bickford) taking second place was great because they were helping each other out.
The Patriots finished second to St John's for the second straight year and were sparked by first place finishers Jason O'Loughlin in the 100 yard dash (10.1) and Chris Kolehmainene in the pole vault (12-3). St John's amassed a Class A meet record 181 points and won its sixth straight championship. "This team is more balanced than ever this year because we have sprinters," said St. John's coach Dick Donohue. "Hopefully we can keep the streak going, even though we have a heavily senior dominated team."
Wachusett finished third with 77 points, and Leominster finished sixth with a first place showing from Mike Fortin, who won the 220 yard dash in 23.1. Blackston-Millville repeated in Class C, with Millbury finishing seconds with 63 points and Lunenburg finishing third with 60 points. Paul Mayo won the pole vault (9-06) and Tom Sallee sprinted to a first place finish in the 330 yard hurdles with a time of 43.5.