Category Archives: Triton

June 2, 2008 · 1:20 am

Triton Regional High School Seniors Discuss Sports

(Triton Regional High School seniors Amanda Desjardins and Kyle Devenish)

Kyle Devenish grew up playing whatever sport was going on in the neighborhood at the time. Soccer was especially big,” he recalled. “I was always part of youth leagues in elementary and middle school.”

On the other hand, Amanda Desjardins ended up playing field hockey and lacrosse by chance. “An indoor field hockey league needed an extra player so out of the blue I joined as an 8th grader and it became my favorite sport,” said Amanda. “I got into lacrosse because my mum told me when I was a freshman to pick a spring sport and I chose lacrosse.”

Amanda played four years of field hockey and lacrosse. For Kyle it was four years of soccer, basketball, and track.

Kyle admitted that sports forced structure on him that helped academically. “I managed my time better in season. I would do all of my homework in school, if possible, in studies because I knew that my time would be limited after a practice or a game. When I was in between seasons, I sometimes put the schoolwork off figuring that I would get the it done at home. That didn’t always work out.”

Amanda found the in school studies valuable as well. “It is tough to find time at home after night or away games. The hardest time I had academically was my freshman year. We had projects with partners and because of my sports schedule it was difficult to get together with a partner.”

Kyle credits his mother for helping him organize his practice/game sports schedule. “My mum has a big calendar on the wall which is color coded. My things are in green. My brother Shawn (sophomore) does football and track and his sports events are on there in a different color.”

Both seniors said that they made use of the school assignment book. They also mentioned that they have cell phones with calendars.

Kyle will be going to UNH and expects to study civil or environmental engineering. “I hope to become a professional engineer.”

Amanda, also attending UNH, is looking to get a degree in medical laboratory science. “I could start out doing volunteer work in city hospitals before moving into paid employment.”

Amanda realizes that athletics will be a lot different for her in college. “I won’t be trying out for any of the teams there. I do expect to go to the gym a lot and I plan to stay with running. I may try club sports. I will definitely miss the structure of high school sports.”

Kyle’s athletic career may continue at UNH. The skilled triple jumper could perform for the Wildcats in track. “(Triton track) Coach Colbert is going to contact the UNH coach. I have signed up with the NCAA clearinghouse.”

Even if Kyle doesn’t make the track team, he plans to take part in soccer and basketball intramurals. “I’d go crazy if I sat around too much.”

(Prepared for The Town Common and likely to appear in that weekly publication in late June or early July.)

Triton Girls Star at Cape Ann League Open

Another meet. Another victory. That’s the way it has gone for the Triton girls outdoor track team (pictured above). Undefeated during the regular season the girls added the Cape Ann League Open championship to a truly remarkable season at windy Hamilton-Wenham on May 24th.

“It’s a thrill,” said Triton coach Joe Colbert reflecting on the victory. “It is certainly one of the top moments of my coaching career. This is a special group of hard-working kids. We’ve waited for this for a long time.” Someone on hand suggested that the last time Triton took the CAL Open was in the late 1980s.

“We won because we’ve got some stars but we also have depth,” was how Coach Colbert explained the outcome. The stars were certainly out, even on a Saturday afternoon, as Deanna Latham, Nikki Wurdeman, and Rachel Bourque dominated multiple events and combined for 74 of Triton’s 115 points on their own. The magnitude of those numbers is better understood when you realize that together the three girls outscored the full-squad final totals of every other competing school except for second place North Reading.

When the CAL Open was over Deanna Latham (pictured here) took five trips to the front during the awards ceremony. The first four trips were for medals and the final one was for her selection as MVP of the event. The sophomore took first in the long jump, high hurdles, and triple jump as well as second in the 200 meters.

Several other girls from the area did quite well. Newburyport’s Meghann Ronan won the high jump while teammate Kaitlyn Wallace finished second in the shot put and third in the discuss.

The top performer for Amesbury was Dawn Storek with a third in the javelin. For Ipswich, it was Molly Miller with a third in the high hurdles.

The Hamilton-Wenham boy’s team, like the Triton girls, remained undefeated.

The Triton boys finished fourth. Pete Rock was the team’s top point scorer. He won the long jump and finished second in the 400 meters behind the winner, Newburyport’s Tom Svirsky (pictured here).

Richie Pace also did well for Newburyport getting a first in the shot put and a second in the discus.

Other area firsts were by Amesbury’s Ben Lord (pole vault) (shown here) and Triton’s Kyle Devenish (triple jump).

Triton’s Billy Tindle took second in the high hurdles and fellow Viking Andrew Goodwin placed third in the mile.

Amesbury’s John Lannan tied for third in the pole vault and teammate Kevin Johnston was third in the 100 meters.

Newburyport got a third place finish from Thayer Adsit in the 800 meters while the top pointer scorer for Ipswich was Neil Verzins ending up third in the shot put.

Triton Girls Still Undefeated

(Byfield) Over at sunny Triton yesterday two of the best girls’ track teams in the Cape Ann League squared off. When it was over undefeated Triton remained that way with a 77-68 victory over visiting Masco.

The Vikings were without their top distance runner (Keely Maguire) who had season-ending knee surgery. Keely’s absence made things a lot tighter than they would have been.

Triton used its depth in other events to carry the day. The javelin was a prime example of the team’s depth. (Pictured above left to right: Jenna Norton,Michelle Bashaw,Rachel Bourque,Marissa Crowley)

The Vikings collected all the points in the javelin. Rachel was the winner with a toss of 118′ 11″. Michelle was second and Marissa was third.

Rachel’s winning distance is significant because it qualifies her for the Nationals in North Carolina in June. Michelle will also be in the Nationals because she reached the magic 118′ mark earlier in the season. Michelle’s mother told me that qualifying two kids is quite an accomplishment since most of the other qualifiers are from prep schools.

Triton’s final meet is next Tuesday at home with Pentucket. Later this month is the Cape Ann League meet followed by the state meet. How far can this team go??