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Lincoln's Carlson swims, leaps to victory |
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
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By STEVE MAZZONE Sports writer LINCOLN — He arrived at his event with about five minutes to spare. His hair was still wet and a little untamed.
But that’s nothing new for Lincoln High junior Sam Carlson. It comes with the territory when you’re a full-time swimmer and part-time high jumper during the winter months. Since he was a freshman, that’s been Carlson’s routine each and every week.
“It’s a little time consuming,” he said. “I don’t really have time to go to high jump practice, but I deal with it.”
In a Northern Division tri-meet against Cumberland and Mount St. Charles on Monday night, Carlson capped off a rare triple-winning day at the CCRI-Lincoln Fieldhouse. Just a mere hour after competing for the school’s swim team, where he took gold in the 50-yard freestyle and also swam a leg on the victorious 4 x 400 relay squad against Barrington, the versatile Carlson was back on top again, taking the high jump for the LHS tracksters where he matched a personal best with a leap of 5 feet, 6 inches.
“He doesn’t really have a whole lot of time to practice, so he’s jumping with his past experience,” Lincoln head coach John Menna said. “He does a good job with it. We try to squeeze some practice in, but he’s just a talented, talented kid.”
Competing in two different sports is not unheard of as a number of other athletes have also done it in the past. In track, the league rule states that an athlete can compete in one field event if they’re taking part in another sport.
Carlson, a standout cross-country runner and middle distance runner in outdoor track, prefers the pool in the winter, where he also excels. This season, he’s ranked among the top five in the state in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.
“It’s strictly swimming for me in the winter,” Carlson said. “The high jump is secondary. Swimming takes precedent over everything else.”
Considering he’s been used to it the last few years, Menna wasn’t concerned his star jumper wouldn’t make it to his event on time despite the swim meet finishing just over a half hour earlier.
“I was on the phone with his mother (track coach Sue Carlson) and I knew exactly where they were,” he said. “I measured out his steps, marked them down and put a piece of tape on the floor with his name on it.”
Carlson, who cleared the opening height of 5-4 and his winning effort on his first attempt, beat second-place finisher, Matt Cottle of Mount, on fewer misses. Both jumpers leaped 5-6.
As for the team competition, the unbeaten Clippers (6-0) had no problem sweeping the meet. Highlighted by some strong performances in the weight events, Cumberland took seven of the 11 events and rolled to a 72-23 victory over the Lions (5-2) and had a 75-20 rout of Mount (4-2).
The Clippers took the top two placements overall in the 25-pound weight throw, including a winning heave of 53-6 1/2 for Dave Linback. Teammate Brendan Duckworth was second, besting his previous best by four feet with a toss of 52-8 1/2. Duckworth achieved another PB in the shot put, taking the event with a distance of 45-10. The Clippers’ Matt Agostinelli was the runner-up at 43-2 1/2.
Joss Robison earned an impressive victory in the 600-meter run, his first time running the event this season. He clocked a time of 1 minute, 34.6 seconds. The Clippers’ Patrick Verdier was a distant second with a 1:39.2 clocking.
The Lions’ Mike Ericson broke away from Cumberland’s John Morgan just before the mile and claimed the 3000 crown by more than 16 seconds with his time of 9:58.1. In the 45-meter dash, Lincoln’s Nick Chisholm, one of the top sprinters in the state, cruised across the line in a time of 5.7.
Mount’s lone win came from Nick Belanger in the 300. Belanger edged the Clippers’ Brian Ferreri with a time of 41.1. Ferreri finished in 41.2.
In other local action on the CCRI oval, Woonsocket upped its record to 5-1 in the league, cruising past St. Raphael Academy, 81-13, and Central Falls, 85-9. Saints earned a split with a 53-23 win over CF. Shea earned a pair of wins on Monday by defeating Tolman, 46-37, and Ponaganset, 56-23. Tolman topped Ponaganset, 38-20.
For Woonsocket, which last week lost a heartbreaker to division-leading Cumberland, Geoff Phaneuf and multiple All-Stater Corey Brunelle turned in superlative efforts in their respective events. Virtually running all alone from the start, Brunelle dipped below the 2:40 mark in the 1,000 with a time of 2:39.8.
“He’s a wonderful runner and a great student. His work ethic is tremendous,” WHS assistant coach Dan Richard said. “He’s out there all the time. He does everything we ask. He’s just a treasure to coach.”
Phaneuf collected five points for Woonsocket with an upset victory over St. Raphael’s Jordan Monk. Monk, an All-State football player and one of the state’s fastest sprinters, held the lead over the Villa Novan senior for most of the two-lap race. With a spirit effort the last straightaway, Phaneuf edged a surprised Monk — who earlier won the 45 — by a tenth of a second at the line, breaking the tape in 39.3.
“He’s got super closing speed,” said Richard, about Phaneuf. “If he’s close to the opposing runner the last lap, you pretty much know he’s going to get him. He just has great acceleration the last straightaway.”
The Novans’ Jason Allard clocked a PB of 4:41.8 to easily take the 1,500.
Although it was swept in its meet, Ponaganset still claimed three victories with its five athletes. Tom Tetzmer won the shot put with a heave of 43-3, Jeremy Holger breezed to a victory in the 600 at 1:32.5 and Cole Maguire was the 3,000 titlist at 10:11.7.
Anthony Gonsalves was a double-winner for Tolman with first-place efforts in the 1,500 (4:44.7) and the 1,000 (2:56.8).
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 January 2008 )
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