Watertown High track teams race with country’s best

The Watertown High School track and field team capped off a record-filled season with a strong showing at the nation’s premier high school track and field competition.

Eight members of the Raiders track team (four boys and four girls) traveled to North Carolina to compete at New Balance Outdoor Nationals at Aggie Stadium, on the campus of North Carolina A&T in Greensboro over the weekend. The Raider athletes paid their own travel expenses for the trip.

The Raider boys and girls both competed in the sprint medley relay, which consists of two 200-meter legs, followed by a 400-meter leg, and, finally, an 800-meter leg.

The boys foursome of junior Brian DallaCosta, senior Nick Soares, sophomore Austin Lin, and senior James Garbier combined to run a school-record time of 3 minutes 34.75 seconds. DallaCosta (23.6 seconds for his 200-meter leg) started the race, handing off to Soares (23.4), followed by Lin (49.8), who handed off to Garbier, who ran 1:57.1 for 800 meters to close out the relay. The group finished 30th in the Championship section, the event’s top level.

“The team had a solid race,” said coach Tom Wittenhagen. “They finished second in their heat and 30th overall out of 55 teams from across the country.

“As far as the season goes, we improved our overall record in league play, as well as improving our results at the state meet. This was the best track team Watertown has fielded in six years, and the future looks bright with our two leading point scorers [Lin and DallaCosta] returning next year.”

The girls’ team, competing in the Emerging Elites section of the Sprint Medley, clocked in at 4:28.18 to finish 32d out of 42 teams. Juniors Keegan Duguay (28.4) and Sahar Khan (30.1) ran the 200-meter legs, followed by sophomore Katherine Tolman (64.2) on the 400 leg, before senior Lea Strangio — who owns a multitude of school records, indoor and out — closed out her high school career with a 2:26.1 in the 800-meter anchor leg.

The Raiders boys and girls set a total of 15 school records during the indoor and outdoor seasons, including:

* Lin won the Division 4 state title in the indoor 300 with a school-record 36.37;

* Garbier, who is headed to Northeastern University this fall to run at the Division 1 level, set the mark in the outdoor 800 (1:55.13), lowering his own school record from last spring;

* Strangio now owns records over 600 (1:40.37) and 1,000 (3:13.63) indoors, as well as the 800 outdoors (2:18.32);

* DallaCosta won the outdoor pentathlon at the Division 4 outdoor state meet (2,609 points), and then set a school record with 2,634 points a week later when he finished fifth at all-states;

* Relay records that were shattered include the boys’ 4 x 400 relay (indoors and outdoor), the girls’ 4 x 400 (indoors), the boys’ and girls’ sprint medley relays (indoors and outdoors), and the boys’ distance medley relay;

* Garbier, Lin, Soares, and senior Daniel Shin won the 4 x 400 at the Division 4 outdoor state meet, crossing in 3:33.73, more than 4.5 seconds faster than the closest competitor. In February,  Garbier, Lin, Soares, and junior Prosper Lubega won the 4 × 400 relay at the Division 4 indoor meet in 3:30.38.

It was, overall, an excellent season for the Raiders track team, and things are only looking up for the future.

–June 18, 2014–