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The Vineyarder boys won the 2020 Cape & Islands (C&I) indoor track championship, and the girls squad took second place in the C&I, last Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. Both teams were competing for the first time in the C&I this year.

While the Vineyarders took three first-place finishes and set a host of personal records on Saturday, the most stunning statistic was that 33 of Coach Joe Schroeder’s 53-member team put up points for Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS), according to our analysis.

MVRHS cruised to a 22-point win over runner-up Falmouth. Senior Dash Christy won the 55m hurdles. Christy led 18 Vineyarders on the boys squad who scored points.

Adrienne Christy won the mile, and Annabelle Biggs took the long jump by a wide 8.5-inch margin; they were two of the 15 girls who had Vineyarder points. The girls finished second to perennial powerhouse Nauset by a 105-93.5 count.

The key to both teams’ strong finishes was the overwhelming number of top-quality finishes by a combination of vets and underclassmen. “We try to base our training on that,” 32-year Coach Schroeder said this week. “Annabelle had a good day; Daniel Rivard and Braden Sayles were in shadows most of the season, but they stepped up on the big stage last week,” Schroeder said.
Peaking at the right time is important in all sports, and Schroeder knows how to do that. “Braden Sayles had two personal bests; Mickey Menton [fifth in the 55-meter dash] and Jonathan Norton [second in the 1000m] also had personal bests. Paige Pogue, who’s been strong all season, qualified for the state championships with a personal best in the shot put,” he said.

“We coach to help the kids peak at the right time. This is only our sixth year with an indoor team. Don Brown and Mike Lavers did a great job working with the kids. Given our practice environment, it’s quite an achievement,” Schroeder said.

Both the youngsters and the vets showed up on Saturday. Dash Christy took second in the 55m dash; JoJo Bonneau was second in the 55-meter hurdles, and Daniel Rivard finished sixth.

Emerging MVRHS stars Nick Pecararo was fourth in the 55-meter dash, and third in the 300-meter run. All-everything miler Peter Burke did not run on Saturday, but Zach Utz and Isaac Richards were second and third in the mile. Borja Tolay and Kieran Karabees finished third and fifth in the two-mile race. Daniel da Silva placed fourth in the 600-meter race, and Vito Aiello placed sixth in the 1,000-meter race.

Sayles, new to track, and Micah Vought placed third and fourth respectively in the shot put. Sayles also finished fifth in the long jump, and Daniel Rivard finished second in the high jump.

Senior captain Catherine Cherry was second in the mile, and second in the two-mile race.

As noted, sophomore Anabelle Biggs set a personal record in the long jump, soaring 8.5 inches beyond her nearest competitor, and Adrienne Christy placed third in the long jump. Biggs was also third in the 300-meter race, and fifth in the 55-meter dash. Eloise Christy and Yayla DeChiara took third and fourth in the 600-meter race, and Sydney Brown ran to third place in the 1,000-meter. The Vineyard’s 4×400 relay team finished second, while Charlotte Packer, who continues to move up, was fourth in the shot put.

As crunch time nears, Schroeder, noting that more Vineyarder girls have already qualified for states than in recent years, will take several team members to the Last Chance to qualify for Division 5 championships on Feb. 16 at Reggie Lewis.

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Success is a reward of reinvention, and Airport Fitness is taking off in a new direction right now.

The 24-year-old center has specialized in fitness workouts and tennis use on its comfortably large three-court indoor facility, and those uses remain unchanged, but director Connie McHugh is adding three new sports: pickleball, soccer, and futsal (we’ll explain that one in a minute).

“There may be more uses, such as basketball and badminton. Where we go depends on what people want us to do,” McHugh said this week. As the owner and founder of the sports facility, McHugh has constantly tweaked her offerings in exercise, training, and teaching.

McHugh has almost 35 years of teaching experience, and the former tennis pro, coaching-certified by the U.S. Professional Tennis Association, coached the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) girls tennis team, 2011 to 2015, to postseason play.

Think grinning emojis for early results from the pickleball addition. “We painted pickleball lines on two of the tennis courts in mid-October, and players have been showing up in droves,” McHugh said. “It’s a consistent year-round venue. Obviously, we’re not impacted by weather.” Pickleball has become an Island craze in recent years, and two outdoor courts at the senior center in Oak Bluffs are crowded with players in good-weather months.The players often move to the Boys and Girls Club in winter. 

McHugh has been careful to calibrate days and times to accommodate the long-term tennis community and the new gamers. “Tennis generates a morning/evening schedule for court time. Pickleball is a midday demand sport, so they dovetail nicely,” she said, adding, “Our third tennis court can be taped for pickleball, depending on demand.”

Pickleballers can show up between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and play for $5. Groups can reserve a court at night for 90 minutes for $10 a player, McHugh said.
“We’ve topped out at 20 a day, so sometimes we schedule two picklebll sessions. In 2020, we are going to offer teaching clinics, from beginners to experienced players looking to fine-tune their game,” she said.

McHugh is open to the idea of pickleball leagues, but doesn’t see it matching the community. “The pickleball culture is winners/losers. That is, the winners of a match continue to play, and the losers rotate out and wait for a new game to open up, though some players rent a court for their own group,” she said.

McHugh has also been able to slot full-court indoor soccer and futsal times into the Airport Fitness schedule. “If you were here tonight [Monday], you’d see 25 guys playing regulation soccer,” McHugh said, noting that smaller spaces are used for futfal, another cool pastime.

Futsal, also called futfal, was developed more than 80 years ago in Spain and Portugal as an indoor game on a hardwood floor (52 by 82 feet, typically), with five players a side, emphasizing soccer foot and ball-handling skills at high speed in small spaces. Futsal uses a smaller, harder ball and a smaller net than regulation soccer dimensions. The sport picked up major momentum in the 1980s and ’90s, and is now a major international pastime, with a World Cup and national rivalries.

“In futsal there are no offsides or out of bounds. It’s a different strategy than soccer. Our players are adults now, but we’re going to reach out to the Island youth soccer programs to see if there is an appetite for kids to learn soccer skills, or for older kids to work on their skills in the off-season,” McHugh said.

“We are leaving the book. We got two programs done this year, and what happens going forward depends on what people request,” she said.

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Two Vineyarder swimmers made school history at the South Sectional competition, and will swim at the state championships next Saturday afternoon at Boston University.

Junior Gabby Carr became the highest finishing Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School swimmer in South Sectional history, with a sixth-place finish in the 50m freestyle event at the sectionals at MIT of 25.36, a new school record.

She followed that swim with a 17th-place finish in 100 backstroke. Her time of 1:04.56 was also a new school record, beating her old record by over a second.

Freshman Ruairi Mullin joined Carr in the record books, with a successful swimming sectional championship weekend with a team-record, state-qualifying 1:55.02 in 200 freestyle. After qualifying for the sectionals by 0.02 seconds at the Conference Championships (dropping over 4 seconds from his best time), Ruairi dropped over 3 more seconds to break the team record, qualifying for next week’s state championship meet at BU. Ruairi’s 17th-place finish is the highest individual finish ever by a Vineyard boy. Ruairi joins Gabby Carr, who will swim the 200 and 500 freestyles at next weekend’s state championships. Carr qualified for the Division 2 state championships in six events (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 100 fly, and 100 back) but swimmers can compete in only two events at states.

Carr and Ruairi’s recent performances are noteworthy. Between the conference and sectional competitions, Mullin shaved seven seconds off his personal best 200m time, and Carr dropped a second off her school record in the backstroke. Carr and Mullin compete in a sport where improvement is generally measured in fractions of seconds. 

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The Vineyarder boys hockey dropped a 5-1 game to Bishop Stang on Monday, falling to 9-5-2 on the season. 

Despite the loss, the team is still tourney-qualified, and is chasing points to improve their spot in the D3 South Sectional seedings, which will begin in early March. 

Coach Matt Mincone said before the game, “I’m treating this as a playoff game. Stang [8-4-4] is a good team, the kind of team we’ll see in the tournament.” Mincone said the game was closer than the score indicates. “We need to clean up the defense. We’re allowing wide-open shots,” he said.

Last week, the inconsistent Purple put up back-to-back shutouts against Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School and Cardinal Spellman, then dropped a 4-3 verdict at Nantucket on Saturday, with a piece of the Cape & Islands League title on the line. 

At Dennis-Yarmouth, Hoffie Hearn had three goals and an assist, including two power-play goals; Nick BenDavid tallied his first MVRHS career goal. Charlie Lakis and John Coogan had assists. The Cardinal Spellman game saw top MVRHS scorer Hunter Meader with two goals and an assist; Nick Rego, Jackson Pachico, and Colby Zarba each had assists. Goaltender Graham Stearns had a quiet night in his fourth season shutout.

On the Cape’s other Island, Cam Geary had two goals, Kenny Hatt scored the other. Assists went to Aiden Marek (2), Logan Araujo (1), and Pete Gillis (2).

Mincone missed the game because of a family death. On Monday, he noted the inconsistency that has plagued his skaters this season. “And this year, it seems, we have to pay for every mistake. Against Nantucket, for example, a face-off in our end somehow squirted in front for an easy goal. The good news is that kids are aware of mistakes. So they are able to fix them,” he said.

The Vineyarders have Stang, Mashpee-Monomoy, and the Fairleigh-Dickinson weekend tournament among the final five contests. The annual Fairleigh-Dickinson includes 14-1 Hopkinton, and MVRHS also has Plymouth North on the regular-season schedule.

Projecting tourney seedings today, the Vineyarders look to be a middle seed, perhaps in the 8 to 10 range, with 10 points available to them before the end of the season.

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The MVRHS boys basketball team had their hands full against the visiting Nauset Warriors on Tuesday before nailing down a four-point win before a spirited Senior Day crowd. The boys, now nine and seven on the season, need just one win in their remaining four games to qualify for state tournament play.

The game was nip-and-tuck all the way and was not settled until captain Jarad Regan sank four free throws in the final 17 seconds to stem a late Warrior charge. Jared had 24 points on the night while Nico DePaula and Aidan Araujo added 15 and 13 respectively. Liam O’hara led the Warriors with 21 points.

The boys are back in action Wednesday at home against Sandwich High School at 4:30 pm.

Check back for a longer version of this story in the online and print editions of The Times. — Ed.

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The Vineyarder girls hockey team improved to 6-10-2 on the season last week, beating Latin/Fontbonne Academy 6-4 early in the week before losing 5-0 on Sunday to Sandwich High School, in a Cape and Island League (C&I) meet.

Senior captain Lauren Boyd got the offense going early against Latin/Fontbonne with the first of her two goals in the game. Freshman Ingrid Gunderson scored her first career varsity goal before Ava BenDavid and Skyla Harthcock scored to put the finishing touches on the win.

Coach John Fiorito is a happy guy these days, because his family welcomed Rocco Fiorito into the Island community on Jan. 11, the first Island baby born in 2020.

He’s also impressed with his team’s effort in its first season in the C&I, after nearly a decade in the smaller-school Eastern Athletic Conference. “This is a tough league for us. Unlike other sports, there’s only division because of the small number of teams [seven] with girls hockey. So we get to play large schools like Falmouth and Barnstable,” he said.

With six wins, the Vineyarders have already matched their total wins in 2019, with four left to play. They won’t be going to the tournament, but “qualifying for the state tournament is always the goal; we have been able to compete in the C&I. The loss to Sandwich was an outlier. They scored in the last minute of the first period, and the first and last minute of the second. We’ve been in nearly every game. We’re just not as deep as some other teams. C&I is tough because there’s no one dominating team, but four or five very good ones,” he said.

Fiorito was pleased with the effort of young’uns like Gunderson and Skyla Harthcock, a senior and hockey newbie.

“Ingrid has worked hard, and is getting more ice time. She had her first career point, an assist, earlier in the week. Skyla shows what a smart athlete she is after playing hockey for the first time last year. She’s got five or six goals in, really, her first year,” he said. 

Like every Island high school coach, Fiorito keeps a close eye on the youth programs for his sport. “There are some great players there, maybe a year or two away [from high school], but the days of our team being dominated are over. I think we can say that,” Fiorito said.

The Purple play on Monday, Presidents Day, against Norwood, then suit up Thursday, wrapping up their home schedule with the annual senior game against Nauset.

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Led by Zach Utz with a sixth-place finish in the mile run, and Charlotte Packer’s seventh place in the shot put, nine Vineyarder runners posted top 10 and top 20 finishes at the Last Chance indoor track meet at the Reggie Lewis Center (RLC) on Saturday.

The Last Chance is an annual event designed to give athletes a final opportunity to qualify for the state championships, to be held next weekend at RLC. The Last Chance is all about time. Athletes must finish within time parameters set by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) to qualify for the state championship field. Athletes who have already qualified use the final pre-state meet as a tuneup.

Last Chance events drew a crowded field, with 40 to 100 athletes competing in each event. Utz’ sixth-place mile finish came against 88 runners, and Packer’s seventh-place shot put finish came against a field of 44 throwers.

Annabelle Biggs finished ninth among 59 runners in the 300m. JoJo Bonneau dropped a quarter-second from his preliminary race time to finish 10th in the 55 hurdles. Senior captain Catherine Cherry finished 10th in the grueling two-miler, and the girls 4×800 relay team was fifth.

Notable performances included Eloise Christy’s 13th place in the 600m run, and Adrienne Christy’s 13th place in the mile. Yayla DiChiara finished 14th in the 600m. Keiran Karabees finished 14th in the two-mile run.

MVRHS Coach Joe Schroeder believes his charges are primed for the state championships in the team’s sixth season of indoor track competition.

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Tournament qualification eluded the Vineyarder boys basketball team after they dropped a tough two-point home loss to the Sandwich Blue Knights Wednesday. The final score was 64-62.

Now sitting with a 9-8 record on the season, the boys have to win one of their last two games to qualify for tournament play.

The purple sharpshooters dominated the majority of the game, leading the Blue Knights 33-27 at the half. Vineyard senior Jared Regan had the hot hand of the game finishing with 20 points (four makes from beyond the arc), nine rebounds, and one steal. Junior Mike Trusty had 12 points, six of which were key makes in the final quarter, and five steals. Senior Aiden Arujo was right behind with 11 points and five rebounds. 

Despite a three-point lead, the Vineyarders best-laid plans went awry heading into the final quarter.

Sandwich’s Chris Cronin walked off the court with 31 points and was helped by teammates J.P. Downes and Colby Leighton who had 10 points each.

Both teams got into foul trouble throughout the game. The Vineyarders finished with 19 fouls to the Blue Knight’s 15.

The boys now need a win at either Barnstable on Friday at 5 pm or at Wareham on Monday at 4 pm to clinch a tournament spot.

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The Vineyarder boys hockey team won its 10th game of the season Wednesday night against Mashpee/Monomoy (M/M) in a 4-3 thriller on Elias Gubderson’s game-winning goal in the waning minutes of the game.

The Vineyarders (10-5-2) have qualified for the south sectional tournament in March and are playing for seeding in the annual state hockey tourney.

Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) freshman goalie Alex Walsh picked up his first career win in a game that looked like a rout early before turning into a nailbiter.

Scott and Pete Gillis all scored in the first four minutes of the game but M/M roared back with three goals to tie it after one period.

The Purple outshot M/M 20-2 in the second period but were unable to light the lamp. The score continued until Gunderson scored with 4:07 left in the game to break the tie. Game scoring assists went to Zarba, Nick Rego, Liam and Aiden Marek and Logan Araujo.

The Vineyarders now gird for the annual Fairleigh-Dickinson tournament this weekend at the MV Ice Arena.

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The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) swim team completed its season on Sunday in record-breaking fashion. 

Junior Vineyarder swimmer Gabby Carr lowered two of her own school records, in the 200m freestyle and the 500m freestyle, and Ruairi Mullin dropped his week-old school record by over a second to place 14th in the 200m freestyle at the Division 2 State Championships at Boston University.

Mullin finished in 1:53.72 to become the first Vineyard boy to place at either the sectional or state meets. With those points, the Vineyard tied for 34th place out of the 53 teams competing. Ruairi and Carr placed in all three events they swam at the state meet. The tandem set a new MVRHS team record every time they entered the water at sectionals and states. Wayland won the boys meet by over a hundred points. 

Carr finished 12th statewide in the 200m and 13th statewide in the 500, continuing a record of unique achievement since she burst on the high school swimming scene as a freshman. Carr has set a host of swim records at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS), was a key contributor to the first ever MVRHS regular-season winning record, a league championship, and in 2019 became the first MVRHS swimmer to score points at the statewide competition.

On Saturday, Carr lowered her record in the first split of the 200m, with a 57.06 pace. Her previous record split came two weeks ago at the conference championship meet. Her overall 200m time was also a new MVRHS record at 1:59.43.

Impressively, Carr lopped two seconds off her 500m school record, finishing in 5:27.07 in the grueling race, helping the Purple to 34th place among 59 entrants. Duxbury High School was the top team.

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Led by a host of top 10 finishers, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys indoor track team finished eighth statewide in Division 5 competition at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston Saturday.

The girls squad, headlined by senior captain Paige Pogue shattering her own personal record by two feet en route to a seventh-place finish in the shot put (32:11.5), finished 14th in D5 statewide.

Dash Christy was second in the 55m hurdles, followed closely by JoJo Bonneau in fourth, for the highest finish in state competition. Zack Utz ran seventh in the mile run. Christy qualified for All-States with his effort.

The girls and boys relay teams continued to build their quality performances. The Vineyarder girls 4×800 (Sydney Brown, Eloise Christy, Yayla DiChiara, and Adrienne Christy) turned on the burners for a second-place finish, qualifying for the All-States next Saturday. The girls 4×200 (Ciara Hoyt, Shantavia Wylly, Nicole Menton, and Annabelle Biggs) finished 14th. The boys relay teams took sixth place in the 4×200 (Bonneau, Christy, Braden Sayles, and Nick Peccarro) and 10th in the 4×800 (Jonathan Norton, Vito Aiello, Isaac Richards, and Utz).

Biggs took 11th place in the 300m run, just a second out of a top-five finish in the stiff statewide competition.

The All-State championships, which include all qualifying athletes, regardless of division, will be held next Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center, this year including Christy and the girls 4×800 relay team.

As the indoor season ends, the MVRHS track teams showed ample evidence of their depth, diversity, and individual talent that garnered the boys a Cape and Island League (C&I) championship and the girls a second-place C&I finish in their first league seasons.

A review of best event times posted in league competition this season shows that 24 MVRHS athletes set top-five finishes in C&I competition. Peter Burke set the best times in the mile and 100m, Dash Christy has the best league time in the 55m hurdles, and Annabelle Biggs set the C&I standard for the long jump. Other MVRHS athletes with glittery performances were Borja Tolay, Braden Sayles, Daniel Rivard, Vito Aiello, Isaac Richards, Micah Vought, Nicole Menton, Yala DiChiara, Eloise and Adrienne Christy, Maria Bellebuono, and Aubrey Holmes.

“Our league did really well in the States. The Nauset girls won the D4 state title, a D-Y high jumper did the same. We’re the smallest school in the league, the only D5 team. Our kids did so well this year. I’m really proud of them,” Coach Joe Schroeder said.

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After beating Barnstable on Friday 65-59, the Vineyard boys basketball team fell to Wareham on Monday, finishing the season at 10-9, but qualifying for postseason play. The boys now await results from other teams to see where they’ll be seeded for the playoffs.

Head Coach Mike Joyce told The Times that depending on results from other schools, the Vineyarders could be seeded anywhere from 8 to 14 in the postseason tournament.

Tournament qualification eluded the Vineyarder boys basketball team after they dropped a tough two-point home loss to the Sandwich Blue Knights on Feb. 12. The final score was 64-62.

But the team rebounded with an exciting win against Barnstable on Friday. The boys fell in a tough one-point loss to Wareham high school on Monday, 66-65.

Senior Jared Regan was the big scorer in Friday’s win against Barnstable, dropping 17 points, followed closely by Mike Trusty, who had 13. The Vineyard came out swinging in the first quarter, topping Barnstable 26-14, which proved to be the game’s decider in the end.

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Powerhouse Hopkinton High School (18-1) used a four-goal outburst in the third period to trim Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) 8-1 and take the 23rd annual Fairleigh-Dickinson high school hockey tournament championship at the MV Ice Arena on Sunday.

The Vineyarders made it to the championship round by virtue of a 4-2 win over Attleboro High School, and stand at 11-6-2, with the Senior Night season finale against Newton South High School set for 4:30 on Wednesday at home.

MVRHS Coach Matt Mincone knew what he was getting in the season-ending schedule of top-quality teams in advance of the state tourney: “No one likes to lose 8-1, but our kids gave good effort. Hopkinton is basically returning a team that went to the state finals last year. They are talented, deep, and fast, and we skated with them for much of the game.

“Hopkinton is the best team I saw this year, but Sunday didn’t feel like an 8-1 game. It was 2-0 after one, 4-1 after two periods, then we got tired and they got four in the third. Graham Sterns had a good game. They had 39 shots, and 25 of them were legitimate scoring chances,” he said.

On Saturday, the Purple dispatched Attleboro on two goals by senior Colby Zarba and singletons from Jackson Pachico and Hunter Meader on Saturday. Young defenseman Elias Gunderson was the Player of the Game.

On Sunday, Cam Geary lit the lamp for the Vineyarders on a power play against Hopkinton on a feed from Zarba and Gunderson. Now they cinch their belts for Newton South, a top North division team.

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Out of 218 runners, 25-year-old Vineyard native, now Bostonian Michael Schroeder took first place in the 22nd annual Martha’s Vineyard 20 Miler, with a time of 1:54:30.4.

Ella Martin, 26, of Woods Hole snagged the fastest time out of the 107 female runners with a 2:16:34.3.

The group Schragers Rule took first in the Amity Island Relay during the mixed male and female relay with a 2:02:52.6. Boyfriends R Sick of Watching Us Run took the top spot in the female relay with a 2:15:21 finish, while the Land Sharks took the top male relay spot with a 2:20:04.7.

A full list of results can be found at bit.ly/mv20mile.

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The MVRHS girls basketball team found themselves overmatched by a skilled, veteran Barnstable team on Friday at the high school. The hosts could not match the speed, size, and depth of talent of a Red Raider team that entered the game at 12 and 5 on the season, and controlled the game from the opening tap.

From the start, Barnstable employed a full-court press to harry the Vineyard guards as they brought the ball upcourt. Although the hosts succeeded in breaking the press more often than not, the pressure led to turnovers, which were often converted to Raider baskets. 

To complicate matters, the Vineyard shooters could not find their touch. Good ball movement on the offensive end was resulting in open shots, but they were not falling. Despite strong efforts by senior captains Kat O’Brien at guard, and Sasha Lakis underneath, Barnstable led by nine after one period, 14-5.

As the hosts’ shooting woes continued in period two, the Red Raiders caught fire. Senior Abby Al-Asousi led the way, hitting four three-pointers in the period, and 14 points overall. Although Vineyard senior Riley Yuhas nailed two late threes of her own, Barnstable pulled away and led 39-14 at the half.

The pattern held true the rest of the way. The Vineyarders worked hard and patiently to find good shots, but could not establish momentum against the scrappy Raider defense. With a deep bench, the visitors rotated rested players into the game freely, and dominated at both ends of the court. The final score of 59-23 reflected the one-sided nature of the contest. 

Sasha Lakis was a force on the boards throughout the game, and finished with seven points to lead the Vineyarders. Point guard Kylie Estrella directed the hosts’ press-breaking and offense admirably. Barnstable’s Abby Al-Asousi had 15 points to lead all scorers.

The girls finished their season with a home loss against Carver High School on Tuesday, Feb. 18, giving the team a 4 and 16 record for the year.

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The Vineyarder girls varsity hockey team impressed on Presidents’ Day, contending with Bay State Conference powerhouse Norwood High School before dropping a 4-1 game to the Mustangs (13-7-2) at the M.V. Ice Arena on Monday.

The Mustangs took a 3-0 lead into the third period before Vineyarder freshman Caroline Kelleher scored early to make it 3-1 on assists from fellow frosh Alana Nevin and junior Ava BenDavid. Norwood scored later in the period to put it away.

Amelia Simmons was a huge part of the story on Monday, facing 35 Mustang shots in the contest.

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) squad (6-11-2) gears up for its final game of the season on Senior Night on Thursday against Nauset High School.

MVRHS will honor seniors Simmons, Megan Zeilinger, Skyla Harthcock, Alex Rego, and captain Lauren Boyd before their final high school game at 4:30 at the M.V. Ice Arena.

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The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys hockey team ended its season with back to back losses against tough teams, including a 3-1 loss to Newton South High School Wednesday on Senior Night at the MV Ice Arena.

The MVRHS boys hockey team hung tough against visiting Newton-South on Wednesday before succumbing by a 3-1 score. The visitors started fast with a goal at 13:03 of the first period and followed it up with a second score at the 4:59 mark. The Vineyarders had their own chances throughout the period but were unable to capitalize.

The action stayed even in the second period, but after the hosts failed to convert on a man-advantage, Newton-South increased their lead to 3-0 with a late goal. Vineyard Freshman Liam Marek scored on an unassisted breakaway goal with 1:21 left in the game to avert a shutout. With the loss, the tournament-bound Vineyarders finished their season with a 11-7-2 record.

Coach Matt Mincone purposely scheduled likely top seed Hopkinton High School and the Newton South Lions to prepare his squad for the quality opponents they’ll face in the state tournament next week. “ They need to have a taste of playoff-level hockey,” Mincone said of his up and down team which dispatched state championship contender and lost to sub- .500 tems this season.

The Purple finished at 11-7-2 and will likely be a mid-level seed when the playoff schedule is released on Friday. “We’ll probably play next Thursday or Friday so we have a week to sharpen defense, goaltending and scoring touch,” Mincone said after Wednesday night’s loss.

“As I’ve said in the past, mitkes hurt. We made two or three yeateday and they scored on two of them,” Mincone said.

Each team scored once the rest of the way, including a third-period tally by freshman Liam Marek with assists from linemates Cam Geary and Nick Ben-David. That young line, with sophomore Geary and two freshman has been a bright spot in the second half of the season. Sophomore goalie Graham Stearns faced 21 shots.

The Senior Day contest featured a tribute to the team’s six seniors and their parents. Those seniors are: Logan Araujo, Kenny Hatt, Hoffman Hearn, Jackson Pachico, Jackie Pizzano and Colby Zarba.

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The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) boys varsity hockey team will play Somerset Berkley Regional High School on Feb. 28 at 6 pm at the Gallo Ice Arena in Bourne in the opening round of the Division 3 South Sectional playoffs.

The Vineyarders received a 12th seed in the 16-team field by virtue of their 11-7-2 season record. Somerset Berkley is the fifth seed, by virtue of their 16-4 season record. Both teams received a bye in the opening play-in round, which begins on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

If the Vineyarders beat Somerset Berkley, they will face the winner of sixth seed Dartmouth versus 13th seed Rockland in the second round. Rockland and Dartmouth face off at 8 pm Friday, after the MVRHS and Somerset Berkley tilt, at Gallo.

Hopkinton (19-1) is the top seed. The next five seeds won 16, and the remainder of the teams won 10, 11, or 12 games, in a tightly bunched field.

Assessing his team’s first-round opponent, boys hockey Coach Matt Mincone said, “Somerset Berkley and the Vineyarders know each other well. We were in the same league for a long time.The are fast and stay on you, don’t give you much time. They are very skilled up front, and have a great goaltender. 

“We lost a coin toss for an 11 seed, so we drew them as the five seed. They won 16 games, and at this level, every team is good, but we are familiar with their style,” Mincone said. ‘We’d rather not have a nine-day wait between games until Friday, but we’ll use the time to get ready.”

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The Edgartown School Eagles volleyball team outlasted Tisbury School Tigers by a three-games-to-one score on Feb. 20 at the Edgartown gym. The well-played match was the season opener for both teams, and drew a large, enthusiastic crowd.

Both teams started strong in game one. The skillful, patient play of both teams, which would typify the entire match, resulted in a seesaw struggle, with Edgartown holding a slight edge. When eighth grader Geo Meikle nailed a strong spike, the Eagles had a 23-17 lead they would not relinquish.

The Eagles rode the momentum to a convincing win in Game Two. They built an early lead on Geo’s powerful serves, and held the Tigers at bay for a 25-15 win. Steady and scrappy play by eighth graders Jenna Hathaway and Reelan Oliveira contributed to the win.

Game Three belonged to Tisbury. Led by the excellent serving of eighth graders Gerry Kane and Hawany Ribeiro, and the strong all-around play of Kaua Lima, the Tigers coasted to a 25-12 win.

For much of Game Four it appeared that Tisbury was going to force a deciding fifth game. But with the score knotted at 12, Geo hit a hard spike that triggered an Eagles run. They would lose only one more point the rest of the way. With Bryan Sornas serving, the hosts built a 24-13 lead and, appropriately, won the match on a Geo serve.

The match featured heady play and outstanding teamwork by both teams. Numerous points were long and hard-fought, with players patiently setting up their teammates for spikes and other putaways. The knowledgeable crowd showed its appreciation throughout for the play of both squads. 

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Updated 6:30 pm

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) 4×800 relay team set multiple school records this season, capping the season with a 20th place finish at the All-State Indoor Track championships last Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Juniors Sydney Brown and Ayla DiChiara and freshmen Eloise and Adrienne Christy — with a time of 10:19 — reset the MVRHS record they had set the week before while finishing with a best-ever second place in Division 5 competition.

The All-State competition format includes the top three winners in each division and the top nine teams from the state at large, regardless of division. 

Senior sprinter Dash Christy, the only other Vineyarder All-State qualifier, was 20th in the state in the 55m hurdles.

The Vineyarder 4×800 team was the first in the history of the school to qualify for all-state competition in the 4×800 event. Their ascendancy came as the team dropped 15 seconds from their early-season times, a huge upswing in track time.

Their success presages continued strength in an event MVRHS has only competed in for three years in its sixth indoor track season. “Yeah, it was a good meet for us. I wish more of our kids were there, but we had a pretty good day,” track Coach Joe Schroeder said after the All-State meet.

The girls lowered their time by seconds from the divisionals the week before. “That’s a significant achievement,” he said, noting that the growing familiarity of his women runners with relay events followed a period in which the team hadn’t fielded a full field of relay squads. “For them to compete and qualify for the states, yes, that’s special,” he said.

“We didn’t have the numbers for several years until recently,” he said of a track team that has expanded from the low 20s to the mid-50s in size over the past three years, producing league, divisional, and state championships.

MVRHS track athletes now rest until spring track practice begins on March 16.

Updated to correct the MVRHS 20th place finish.  — Ed.

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