NORTHAMPTON — Coming around the final turn, nobody was within striking distance of Amherst’s David Pinero-Jacome. He had a clear view of the finish line.

The senior, who was donning new spikes during Wednesday’s PVIAC Indoor Track Meet No. 4, then stumbled as he approached the line. He quickly recovered and still won the early-session 600-meter run by more than two seconds – posting a time of 1 minute, 26.36 seconds at Smith College.

“Going in, I knew I needed a hard effort,” Pinero-Jacome said. “I knew I would probably be alone for most of the race, so my plan was get out hard and keep going hard, and finish hard. I kind of stumbled with 75 meters to go. I got new spikes, it’s gonna take some time getting used to, I guess. It was a good race.”

Pinero-Jacome was one of three Hurricanes runners to finish in the top 10 of the event. Sophomore Owen Platt (1:28.80) took third and senior Patrick Staudenmayer (1:38.38) crossed the line ninth for Amherst.

Having two of his teammates always in the mix has helped Pinero-Jacome this season. While track is typically known as an individual sport, the senior believes it takes a team to achieve that coveted individual success.

“My teammates had a great race, too. It’s great having the same goal, having a bunch of guys in the same event,” Pinero-Jacome said. “It’s really motivating. Teamwork is very underrated in this sport, and people often think it’s an individual sport. But really you can’t get to the top alone.”

Having already qualified for states, Pinero-Jacome is hoping to fine-tune the small details over the remainder of the regular season meets to help prepare for the big showcases.

In the 1,000-meter run, Amherst sophomore Nicolas Lisle won with a time of 2:43.42, over a full second faster than the next finisher. Amherst also had two strong outings in the shot put, as juniors Logan Alfandari (first, 51-10.75) and Nathanael Oliver (second, 39-04.00) occupied the top two podium spots.

The 55-meter dash was very kind to both the ‘Canes boys and girls teams. Brendan Camphor breezed to a personal best 7.06-second time to take home sixth place, and Kora Brissett also finished sixth on the girls’ side with a 7.89. While neither felt like they ran their best race, they still turned in impressive times.

“Overall, I think I did pretty good,” Camphor said. “My coach told me I went off the blocks really well, but to me it didn’t feel like comfortable. I felt like I stood straight up, it didn’t feel right at all. But I guess coach was right. It worked out for me.”

“My block start could’ve been a little bit better, but I think overall I had pretty good speed,” Brissett added. “I think I could’ve knocked it up one more notch, but otherwise I think I did pretty good. Now I just gotta keep improving. The goal is to qualify for states.”

The Amherst 4x200 relay team of Ololara Baptiste, Brissett, Ella Austin, and Ruby Austin came in first place with a time of 1:52.55 despite missing one of its steady legs in Moriah Luetjen. The Canes’ relay team qualified for states and is certainly a dangerous bunch.

Elsewhere in the early meet Wednesday, South Hadley saw plenty of success. The Tigers girls beat Greenfield, 77-9, Commerce, 72-1, and Hampden Charter East, 73-3. The boys team also won its three meets, beating Greenfield 51-38, Commerce 60-19, and Hampden Charter East 59-12.

The Tigers’ 4x200 relay team of Lauren Marjanski, Ally Fleury, Emma Levreault, and Abigail Gelinas turned in a second-place finish in 1:54.14.

Gelinas and Marjanski each had busy days for South Hadley. Aside from the relay, the two competed in the 55m and long jump. Gelinas typically runs the 300m as well, but took the event off on Wednesday. Gelinas won the long jump (15-4.50) and Marjanski came in second (15-1), while Gelinas took home third place (7.68) with Marjanski right behind in fourth place (7.77) in the 55m.

Levreault also wasn’t limited to just the relay, as she finished the 600m run in 1:52.28 to take home second place — just over one second short of first. It looked like Levreault would have to settle for third, but she sprinted by West Springfield’s Caitlyn Bocon in the final stretch, making up for a slow start.

“Yeah I gassed myself out at the beginning,” Levreault said. “They were going a little slow at the beginning and I didn’t wanna get stuck. But in the end it worked out. I still got second. Soccer definitely makes me very competitive, and I don’t like to lose. So seeing people in front of me just makes me go faster, and hopefully I beat them in the end.”

On the boys side, South Hadley’s team of just six athletes was busy throughout the day, led by the long-distance prowess of Nathan Hutchinson. The junior competed in the 2 mile (seventh, 11.27:23), 1 mile (fourth, 5:02.80) a little over an hour later, and the 1,000 (13th, 3:00.41) to finish out his busy day. 

“I ran the 2 mile before it, so that obviously affected the time,” Hutchinson said. “Rough day, but overall not bad performances given the compound stress. It’s for the team, there’s only six of us. I’ll do whatever I can to score points so we can win.”

Being from Granby but competing with South Hadley via the program co-op, Hutchinson is thrilled to have the opportunity to run with a team in a competitive high school setting – and that’s why he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win.

“It’s a privilege to be able to race on an actual team versus trying to find a club somewhere, so that’s fun. And honestly, these are pretty awesome jerseys,” Hutchinson said with a laugh. “The blue is nice, but I like this orange, too.”

Wednesday’s evening session finish ed after print deadline. Results will be available in Friday’s edition of the Gazette.