Seekonk High junior distance runner John Gregorek shattered the Bishop Feehan and his Warrior home course records, being spurred on by teammate Sam Spencer during the 40-50 mile per week workouts and an accelerated offseason weight training and conditioning program. "He's made some big jumps, but having Sam (Spencer) there pushing him has been a major help," said coach Eli Mello.

"It's getting there and despite the rain last weekend, we think that it should be ready," related Attleboro High Athletic Director Mark Houle of soggy and patches of grass-less Tozier-Cassidy Field. "Hopefully, with another week, that will be five weeks, it should be okay to play on."

"This will be our first chance to show the state what we're about," said Mansfield High boys' cross country coach Julie Collins of her Hornets, ranked No. 9 overall by the Mass. State Track Coaches Association, heading into Saturday's running of the Bay State Invitational at Franklin Park in Boston. "It's been hard to work around the postponements (dual meets), but we have to get our work in for November."

- Bishop Feehan High product Nick Schwieger, a freshman at Dartmouth, got his first start at fullback for the football team against No. 7 nationally ranked UNH. He had four rushes and caught a pass, while returning three kickoffs for 61 yards.

- King Philip High football coach Brian Lee couldn't come up with a strong-legged kicker for kickoffs during the preseason, so the Warriors are now kicking off the grass. What? Instead of using a tee, junior Brian Spigarolo (and sometimes junior Brandon Howard) boots knuckleballs to the receiving teams, addressing a horizontally placed ball right off of the grass. "We have not been blessed with a traditional kickoff guy, so we tried different things that would give us a chance to get decent coverage and make the kick hard to field," said Lee. "Sometimes it works sometimes not, but it is the best option thus far." - Senior defensive end Donald Smith, the former Attleboro High Bombardier, is having a terrfic season for the Bryant University football team with 21 tackles (five for 46 lost yards) and four QB sacks (for another 34 lost yards), two of those last week against Division I Wagner.

- Also at Bryant, coach Archie Boulet's golf team won the Dartmouth College Invitational as Foxboro's Scott Congdon, a senior, took second place with a 4-over-par round of 142, including a final round even-par 69. Foxboro's Mike Pyne took 16th place and Bishop Feehan grad Kyle Hoffman took 29th place in the six-team field.

- "That's huge, we always tell the kids, don't beat yourself," related Norton High football coach Robb McCoy, whose unbeaten Lancers have just one turnover through three games.

- At the Codfish Bowl Invitational Cross Country Meet at Franklin Park in Boston, the UMass-Lowell women's team received a 25th spot from former Bishop Feehan High Shamrock Emily Thomas, a senior and a 42nd spot from junior and former North Rocketeer Jenna Banks.

- "She's allowed me to play three in the back (defensively)," related North Attleboro High girls' soccer coach Geoff Burgess of junior central midfielder Jill Haney. "She runs the offside trap, I can move her back to sweeper and she's pretty quick."

- "For whatever reason, our defense has been disorganized, we have these little panics," said Foxboro High field hockey coach Melissa Bordieri, whose Warriors, nonetheless, have just two Hockomock League losses heading into the second half of the season.

- "He's been dynamite," said King Philip High boys' soccer coach Kip Lewis of senior Joe Maguire, who moved from an outside back to a central defender due to an injury suffered by Alex Katapodis. "He's really good at stepping out and making the tackle."

- First Seekonk High boys' soccer coach Jeff Creamer moved incumbent goalie Casey O'Brien to forward, then to an outside back and now he's stationed at the left outside fullback spot. "He's a big, strong kid and he's fast," said Creamer of the SCC 200-meter track champ.

- Former Dighton-Rehoboth High Falcon Aislynn Sherry scored the match-winning goal for the Keene State (7-3) field hockey team in a 1-0 victory over Westfield at 52:22 of the second half of the Little East Conference match.

- And on a somber Falcon field hockey note, remember in your prayers Shirley Richardson, the mom of D-R field hockey coach Roberta Cordeiro. - Senior striker Devin Askew now has six goals for Eric Greene's Norton High boys' soccer team, basically "because he's stronger and he's winning more balls that way."

- The Attleboro High girls' soccer team will conduct a car wash Saturday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Bliss Brothers parking lot on Park St. Also, all former Bombardier soccer alumni are invited to the annual Varsity-Alumni matches on Oct. 11, the girls kicking off at noon, the boys at 2.

PETER GOBIS may be contacted at 508-236-0375 or via e-mail at pgobis@thesunchronicle.com