Birmingham Captures 1st League Track Title in 20 Years by 1 Point

It was not difficult to identify the winning coach after the Mid-Valley League track meet Friday at Kennedy High between the Golden Cougars and Birmingham.

The Braves’ Gary Mazziotti had an ear-to-ear smile as he accepted congratulations after his team had edged Kennedy, 64-63, for the league dual-meet title.

Mazziotti, 37, had waited a long time for this moment, Birmingham’s first boys’ league title in 20 years.

“Winning league was our No. 1 goal at the start of the season,” said Mazziotti, who won the 1968 City Section two-mile as a member of the squad that won Birmingham’s last league title. “A lot of the kids on this team had won the ‘C’ City title a couple of years ago and the ‘B’ league title last season. And they wanted to win the varsity title and make it a clean sweep.”

Led by seniors Sabino Miranda and Marcel Sellers, the Braves accomplished their goal, terminating Kennedy’s run of consecutive league titles at three.

“Winning league was a big goal for all of us at the start of the season,” Miranda said after winning the 880-yard run (2:06.9), mile (4:44.0) and two-mile (9:59.8). “I really wanted to finish my senior season as a champion.”

Although Miranda’s victory in the two-mile, combined with the third-place finish of teammate Oscar Ramirez, gave Birmingham (8-0, 5-0 in league meets) an insurmountable 64-58 lead with one event remaining, it was the performances of some less-heralded Braves that proved to be the difference.

“We expected to dominate the distance races and we expected them to have an edge in the sprints,” Mazziotti explained. “And that’s what happened. But I didn’t think we’d go 1-2 in the long jump and 2-3 in the pole vault.”

Sellers won the long jump (20-7) as expected, but Steve Weinberger’s second-place effort of 20-3 1/2 relegated Kennedy’s Patrick Doucette and Cord Bailey to third and fourth. Freshmen Tri Tran and Howie Schier placed second and third in the pole vault, each with marks of 11-6.

The Braves’ victory overshadowed some fine sprint performances by Kennedy (6-1, 4-1). Tony Brown won the 100 meters in 11.2, Fred Decatur took the 220 in 22.5, Damon Garrett upset Birmingham’s Rodney Burt in the 440, and the 440 relay team of Doucette, Brown, Garrett and Decatur clocked a season best of 42.8.