The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • P4

4 Globe North The Boston Globe THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2012 Sports John Vellante Renewed dedication at Central Catholic NOTEBOOK summer working to become a better player. He lifts weights at Planet Fitness with his older brother Vincent, a Marine, and plays pickup ball at courts in his hometown. "During the summer and at the end of the winter season, I noticed that I needed to get stronger, so I started lifting every day to separate myself from other big men," Cambio said. "I've also incorporated swimming into my workouts too, to really focus on endurance, because at the end of the day, it's about how I can help my team as more of a role player come next basketball 'The kids talked about really doing the little things to make themselves better basketball RICK NAULT Central Catholic High boys' basketball coach, applauding his players' offseason workouts BILL GREENEGLOBE STAFF Art McDermott, at his gym in Wilmington, will compete in the discus at the World Masters Games in Italy next summer. A masterful showing Andover's Art McDermott takes national age-group titles in discus, shot put Nelson, Cambio have full summer By Ryan Maclnnis GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Tyler Nelson collected himself at the top of the key at the Cedardale Health and Fitness basketball court in Haverhill on Friday afternoon.

His black T-shirt drenched in sweat, he glanced at the hoop in a triple-threat stance, keeping his imaginary defender on his toes, before pouncing to the basket for an aggressive layup. A rising junior at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, the 6-foot-1 Nelson has spent countless hours in the gym this summer working on his game. Still, he can not erase the memory of March, when Central was bounced by Charle-stown in the Division 1 North semifinals. Nelson left every ounce of his body on the court that day, and remembers clutching his knees as the buzzer sounding and looking up at the scoreboard to see the final score: 54-47. "The tournament loss was frustrating after the season we had," Nelson said.

"But it only motivated me to work harder, and really focus on what I needed to do better as a point guard to help get our team back to where we want to be." As a sophomore point guard, Nelson led Central Catholic in minutes played and points scored. Not content, he has been working out this summer three to four times a week at Athletic Evolution and working on his game either at Central Catholic or at Cedardale. "I gave up playing high school baseball to focus on basketball," the 17-year-old Haverhill resident said. "I've been working a lot on taking the ball to the basket and improving my on-ball defense. Starting this past year really taught me how to use my clock management skills to get the most out of every possession." Nelson, along with Raider teammate Nick Cambio, suited up for the Boston Amateur Basketball Club's lOth-grade squad that recently captured the national AAU title, beating a team from Charlotte, N.C., 61-55, in overtime in Orlando, Fla.

Nelson dropped 16 points, eight in overtime, and Cambio added six in the victory. The BABC team won nine consecutive games en route to the title, its third straight, and finished the season 53-1. "The tournament taught me that you really have to play your best and contribute every game," the 6-foot-6 Cambio said. "I wasn't the tallest guy there, so my defense had to step up and come through to help our team win." Like Nelson, the 16-year-old from Tewksbury has spent his Ever since turning 50 late last year, Art McDermott has had a field day in the USA Masters championships. In March, at the indoor track field championships in Bloomington, the An-dover resident won his age group in the shot put with a throw of 49 feet.

He followed that up earlier this month with another title this time at the outdoor nationals near Chicago, and this time in the discus. He threw the disc 164 feet 2 inches to easily outdistance his from Dallas. Two-time defending champion Ed Riewerts, 53, of Mansfield, Texas, was third at 156.1. "Two for two, it doesn't get any better than that," said McDermott, who graduated from Maiden Catholic in 1979. He runs Matrix Strength Fitness in Wilmington and is the throwing coach at Andover High "I would have thrown the shot put, but the two events were just too close to each other.

As it turned out, things worked OK." After Maiden Catholic, McDermott went to Tufts, where he earned All-America honors in both the shot put and dis- were great overall experiences. I know I'm not going to the Olympics, so these two meets were great avenues for me." By winning in Chicago, McDermott qualified for the World Masters Games in Torino, Italy, next August. "I know 165 feet is not going to win, so between now and then, I hope to add between 10 to 15 feet to my distance. I'll be competing against the Europeans and the competition will be extremely high." The USA Masters drew more than 1,000 participants ranging in age from 50 to mid-908. Others participating from the area included Dan Ver-rington, 50, of Bradford, who won the 10,000 meters in 36 minutes 25.14 seconds, and grabbed a silver in the 5,000 meters.

Masters Hall of Famer Mary Harada, 77, of West Newbury, won the 800 and 5,000 meters. Around and about The Golf Coaches Association of America has awarded All-Academic honors to Bent-ley University players Matt competitor Tim Wil- cus. When Tufts throwing coach Kevin Coyne accepted a similar position at Boston University, McDermott followed him and continued his standout career. He was All-America each of his three years at BU, setting shot put and discus records. His throws of (shot) and 209.2 (discus) in 1984 still stand.

His winning throw in Chicago came in the preliminaries, on his first of six efforts. "I knew I'd have my work cut out for me because there were some outstanding competitors in the field," said McDermott. Riewerts "had won the previous two years and I was most concerned about him. I knew he would be tough. But by throwing almost 165 feet on my first throw, it shifted the pressure from me to the field.

That worked in my favor. Good thing, too, because on that first throw I sprained my left ankle and could never go longer. I fouled three of the remaining five throws and hit 160 and 155 on the others." McDermott loves throwing and did not want to stop simply because he turned 50. "When you hit 50 and compete nationally, the shot and the discus are lighter," he said. "The two national meets (159.3), a 52-year-old Both players are gearing up for the JJ Donovan Fall League at the North Andover Youth Center.

And Central Catholic coach Rick Nault is excited about what the tandem will bring to his program this winter. 'With both of those guys having real strong sophomore years and their summer success, it raises our expectations of ourselves as a team," said Nault. "Spending some time in the weight room was key this offseason, and I made that clear to them," he said. "The kids talked about playing less pickup basketball and really focusing on taking 200 jump shots, working on ball-handling skills and really doing the little things to make themselves better basketball players, and I like what I've seen so far." With the return of Nelson and Cambio along with five rising seniors, Central will be a power once again. Nault said he believes the team will be even better than last year's squad, which finished with a 22-2 record after starting the season 14-0.

'We have a very experienced team, and our ability to score both inside and out was key for us," Nault said. 'We're very balanced, we can get to the rim and score in the paint. The more big games these kids play the better. The experience will definitely help us in the long If '1 of Danvers, Dan Mc- of Topsfield, and Harry McDermott, 50, monitors Joe Melanson during a workout at his gym, Matrix Strength Fitness in Wilmington. BROWSE THE LARGEST DISPLAY OF HOT TUBS, SWIM SMS, GAZEBOS SAUNAS IN THE REGION FROM MAJOR BRANDS AT HUGE DISCOUNTS! Ryan Maclnnis can be reached at iB BIT fit THIS WEEKEND Kirkpatrick of Lancaster.

They combined for a 3.40 team GPA. Bentley which won the Northeast-10 Conference and New England Intercollegiate Golf Association championships, was one of two Division 2 East Region teams honored The University of Massachusetts Lowell women's soccer team, coming off an 1 1-6-4 season and a berth in the NCAA East Regionals finals, is ranked No. 17 in the NSCAA Division 2 preseason poll. The River Hawks return six starters and 14 veterans, including NE-10 Rookie of the Year Brittany Russo of Danvers, who led the team in scoring last season with 10 goals and an assist; sophomore goalkeeper Jane Hatziknostantis of Tewksbury who, along with Jill Carlson of Lexington, combined for nine shutouts and a 0.45 goals against average; and defender Casey Schulze of Chelmsford. UMass opens its season Aug.

31 in the River Hawk Classic against Bridgeport. New Hampton junior Noah Vonleh of Haverhill was named MVP of the recent Adidas Nations Tournament in Long Beach, Calif. The 6-foot, 8-inch Vonleh averaged a tournament-high 20 points and 12.8 rebounds in six games Longtime North Reading baseball coach Frank Carey has been named New England Coach of the Year by the National High School Baseball Coaches Association. In 45 years, Carey has compiled a 697-270 record. John Vellante can be reached at JohnPVelaol.com.

AUGUST 17-19 FRI. 2-8 SAT. 10-8 SUN. 10-5 SHRMERS AUDITORIUM 99 F0R0HAM ROAD, WILMINGTON, MA COME SEE SWIMSPAS IN ACTION! Em. $500 OFF 11.000 OFF VO ANY HOT TUB II ANY SWIM SPA SPAEXP0.COM 877-TUB-EXPO Tyler Nelson, a junior this fall at Central Catholic High, earned some hardware with his AAU team this summer..