Several Hawks among Top-10 in their events

By Chris Villani

Milford High boys’ track head coach Dan Gordon said his team has picked up right where it left off from the indoor season, with the “usual suspects” continuing to produce at a high level and other athletes stepping up into bigger roles.

The Scarlet Hawks showed their strength early in the year with a dual meet victory over Taunton. 

“That was a real morale-booster,” Gordon said. “Their roster is about three times the size of ours.”

Senior captain Ben Parson is one of Milford’s top point scorers. He is ranked number one in Division III in the 400-meter dash and, at the end of April, was less than a second away from the school record.

“He has been continuing his career as an elite athlete at Milford,” Gordon said.

Another high-level athlete is Aloiye Okhipo, D3’s top runner in the 200 and the number two ranked runner in the 110 meter hurdles. Fellow junior Taylor Feliciano is in the top 10 in the 200, and the relays figure to be an area of strength for Milford. The Scarlet Hawks have the top-ranked quartets in both the 4x400 and the 4x100, and Gordon said they would like to win state titles in both. The sprint relay team includes Okhipo along with Jarrett Brown, Shawn Pierce, and Yael Lopez, the lone senior.

 

“These four guys have been working together for a couple of years now, and it’s nice to see them at the top of their divisional level,” Gordon said.

In the 4x400, Parson is anchoring the team with split times under 50 seconds and Gordon has high expectations for the group of him, Feliciano, senior Nick Simas, and junior Sean Mairs.

“I think we should win the state championship this year, no doubt,” Gordon said. “These guys work so hard on handoffs, their conditioning is top notch, and their will to win is extremely high. They are some of the best guys I have been able to coach.”

In addition to his contributions with the relay team, Mairs is a highly ranked 400-meter hurdler in just his second season with the event. Senior Brendan Morin, in his first year as a spring track athlete, is one of the better runners in the Hockomock League in the mile and the two-mile, and sophomore Folahanmi Ojolayo is already a highly-ranked high jumper and long jumper.

Gordon is confident that the mix of top-notch runners and field athletes will help Milford make some noise after moving into Division III this spring.

“The teams we are facing are new,” he said. “But I am pleased with the effort and the results, and I think that we can make an impact right away.”