Caprio, Kirby Excel At State Class Meet

TMHS girls track team finishes ninth, boys finish 11th at Division 2 state championships.

Watery eyes and frustrated looks were far more prevalent than smiles and fist pumps for the Tewksbury High boys and girls track teams at the MIAA Division 2 championship meet at Bridgewater State University on Saturday. Richard Kirby and Andrea Caprio provided the two brightest moments on a day that saw the TMHS girls team finish in ninth place and the boys team finish 11th. Kirby had an outstanding meet, setting a school record in the 400-meter hurdles and taking third place in the pole vault, while Caprio captured second place in the javelin. Kirby ran the 400-meter hurdles in 55.83 seconds to put his name in the Tewksbury record books. He finished fourth in the competition in that event. Needham's Peter Farlow won the race in 55.31 …

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Kirby Sets Meet Record, Redmen Take Fourth At MVC Championships

Richard Kirby's record-setting performance in the 400-meter hurdles leads to strong Tewksbury showing.

Tewksbury High all-purpose man Richard Kirby had his sights set on two possible first place finishes at the Merrimack Valley Conference track and field championships in Lowell Saturday night. So when the first opportunity -- in the pole vault -- didn't bear fruit, Kirby took it out on the competition. The senior sprinter/hurdler/jumper/vaulter blew away the field in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, setting a new meet record with a time of 56.34 seconds, to lead Tewksbury to a fourth place finish in the meet. "He and I were both a little disappointed in his pole vault results," TMHS coach Steve Levine said after Kirby took fourth in that event at 12'0".  "But I told him to shake it off, because he had another event to run. And he did. He…

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Four Students Receive Hats Off Awards from Rotary Club

Students feted at monthly luncheon.

Four of Tewksbury's best and brightest were honored recently with Hats Off Awards from the Tewksbury Rotary Club. Honored for the month of April were Tewksbury Memorial High School seniors Richard Kirby, Olivia Bennett, Colin Foley and Sean MacLeod. The presentations took place at the Rotary Club's Hats Off Luncheon at the Tewksbury Country Club. Hat's Off is a joint initiative of the Tewksbury Rotary Club and Tewksbury Memorial High School.  The Award recognizes those students who have distinguished themselves academically, have contributed to the co-curricular program at the High School and have been actively involved in the community.

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Arcari Tops Hamel, Tewksbury Blasts Dracut

TMHS boys track team improves to 5-0 with 112-33 win over Middies.

Revenge is known as a dish best served cold and Tewksbury High's Anthony Arcari let his rivalry with Dracut High's Keith Hamel chill for exactly three months before settling the score Wednesday afternoon at Dracut High. Arcari, the 2011 Merrimack Valley Conference 55-meter dash champion bested Hamel, the 2011 Division 2 state 55-meter dash champion, in a much anticipated 100-meter showdown, sparking Tewksbury to a lopsided 112-33 win over Dracut Wednesday. Back on Feb. 11, Arcari beat Hamel at the wire in the 55-meter dash at the MVC Indoor Track championship meet. But Arcari pulled a hamstring muscle as he out-leaned Hamel over the final five meters, and was unable to compete in the Division 2 state meet a week later. With his biggest …

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TMHS Boys Track Team Takes Charge In MVC Div. 2

Tewksbury crushes Methuen, 87-58 on a day filled with state qualifiers and personal bests.

With 35 years of coaching under his belt, it takes a lot to get Tewksbury High boys track coach Steve Levine all worked up. But Levine's Redmen did just that Monday afternoon in Methuen, as the TMHS tracksters posted more personal bests and state qualifying times and distances than Levine could keep track of while steam rolling Methuen, 87-58. The win puts Tewksbury, now 2-0 in Merrimack Valley Conference Division 2 meets, in position to capture yet another league crown in the coming weeks. "It was a great, great meet by so many kids," Levine said. "We told the kids before the meet that the cream of the crop steps forward in big meets like this one, and they sure did today." Dan Sugrue, Ryan Vibber, Anthony Arcari and Richard Kirby were …

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TMHS Boys Take Third At Division 2 Relays

Kirby, sprinters lead boys while Caprio, Clark and Spinelli set javelin record.

On a state-wide level, the Tewksbury High boys track team isn't over-loaded with superstars. Aside from senior sprinter Anthony Arcari and senior all-purpose man Richard Kirby, there aren't many TMHS athletes who are a legitimate threat to win an individual Division 2 state championship this spring. But what the Redmen do have is depth, and plenty of it, which came in very handy at Saturday's Dvision 2 State Relays at Whitman-Hanson High School. Led by the first-place 4x200-meter relay team of Kirby, Pat Bernardo,  Arcari and John DiGiorgio, the Tewksbury boys placed in the top six in eight different events and piled up 42 points, good for a somewhat unexpected third place finish in the meet. Mansfield won the state relay title with 73 …

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Tewksbury High Spring Sports Previews

New Challenge For An Old Coach

Practices and meets will all be on the road for Tewksbury High's boys track team this spring.

After 28 years of coaching track at Tewksbury High, you'd think Steve Levine would have this thing down to a science. But Levine's final season as the TMHS boys track coach will be anything but routine. With a new high school being constructed on the site that all 27 of Levine's previous spring track teams called home, the 2011 season will be new in many ways. For openers, team practices are being spread out over several facilities every day. Less than two weeks into training, Levine's runners have trained in the Tewksbury High gym, the high school parking lot, behind the Ryan School, outside the Wynn Middle School and on the high school football field at Doucette Stadium. "We're all over the place," said Levine, who will be retiring at …

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