Bellingham Track Begins Season April 4th
By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer
Having coached the Bellingham track team previously, Peter LaCasse has been asked to come back and help out with the high school team this spring. While he does know some of the Blackhawk athletes, he is once again familiarizing himself with the rest of the team. Although it is still early in the season, he is going through a lot of notes to get up to speed, but believes that he will have 30-plus athletes on both the boys and girls squads when the season opens up.
Having rather low numbers last spring, the boys team seemed to struggle a bit, but the temporary coach is optimistic that with the increase in numbers this season that that the team will be competitive within the Tri Valley League.
“I know that they can be competitive, and our goal is to be .500 or better,” LaCasse said. “We can compete against the majority of the teams in the TVL; Dover-Sherborn and Norton will be tough, but if they go out and do their job, we should be OK.”
Two seniors that Lacasse will rely heavily on for leadership this season will be Franci Marku and Colin Thibeault. Marku will participate in the longer sprints like the 400 and 800 as well as being a part of a relay team, while Thibeault will run the mile and ½ mile. Both athletes are expected to be an important part of the team in earning points each meet.
Twins Jeremiah and Dasha Domercant will also be looked upon to help Bellingham’s score on a regular basis. Jeremiah will be returning to the team as a sprinter and hurdler, while his brother will be participating on the team for the first time.
“The two juniors will be really strong sprinters,” the Coach said. “Dasha is relatively an unknown to me, but he is a fast athlete who should be able to help us in numerous events.”
One other junior that the Coach is familiar with is Ryan Ginn, who has the potential to do the longer sprints as well as the middle distances. Ginn has done the 400 hurdles in the past, and LaCasse believes that he has progressed and should be able to pick up some points for the team. He will also have a chance to take part in the relays as well.
While the boy’s team had their struggles last year, the Bellingham girls squad had themselves a pretty good season.
“The girls had a solid season, and although they lost a few key seniors, we should be OK this year with the young ones coming up to replace them,” LaCasse said.
The Blackhawks have only two seniors that will be returning from last year’s team that the Coach knows about at this point. Baileigh Murphy will be back to take part in the 400, 800 and 400 hurdles, while Jamie Costello will participate in the sprinting events. The Coach is also hoping that the two seniors bring some leadership to the rest of the team.
In addition to the seniors, Lacasse will also field some quality underclassmen athletes. Sophomore Calleigh Elder will run the sprints, but will also return as the team’s number one javelin thrower as well being an important part of the 4x100 relay team where she will run the opening leg. According to the Coach, Elder’s participation in the sprinting events will all depend on when the javelin takes place.
Another sophomore Olivia Carney will be looking to run the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay and could possible take part in a jumping event. Last year, Carney was the team’s number two sprinter in the 100.
Emma Smith, another sophomore, will take part in events anywhere between the 800 and 2-mile and freshman Elizabeth Ragain will run the 800 and mile with the mile being her niche race.
Bellingham Track will open the season on April 4 at Medway.
