"May 6, be there."
That's when Pierce, a senior on the Hoosac Valley track and field team, will go head-to-head with local rival and fellow speed demon Wyatt Demo of Drury. The two busted onto the sprinting scene last year by claiming huge victories in the 100-meter dash. Pierce first grabbed people's attention by knocking off Mount Greylock's Aaron Castonguay, a two-time Berkshire County MVP in track and field, in late April. Three weeks later, another name was thrown into the county's "fastest man" argument when Demo beat Pierce by two-tenths of a second.
That defeat, along with the motivation he received from it, has stayed with Pierce ever since.
"He beat me by a little," Pierce said. "I've been looking forward to racing him since last year. I've got a picture up in my locker with me and him racing. It just helps me remember that I've really got to beat this kid."
The emergence of Demo and Pierce last year added to the excitement of an already successful track season. With Castonguay, who was also the WMass. winner in the 400, in the mix as well, North County schools could claim the Berkshires' top three sprinters as their own.
"Every time we were racing, everyone would stop and look," Demo said. "It was really exciting. It was fun to run whether you won or lost. I lost
With Castonguay gone to graduation, that leaves Demo and Pierce as the two main favorites to challenge for the county's quickest feet. Right now, Demo holds a slight edge after his performance in last year's sectional championships. The Blue Devil senior was raw and unpolished when he came out for the team for the first time last year, but Demo slowly progressed as the season went along. As his starts and form improved, so did his times. He first knocked off Pierce by running an 11.3 on his home track in mid-May and then went on to earn the top spot among Division 2 runners at Western Mass. later in the month. His time of 11.38 tied him with Commerce's David Christensen for fifth place overall among runners from Div. 1 and 2.
The way Demo finished last season has him feeling good about the possibilities for this year.
"I feel a lot better this year, more confident," he said. "I just got a parachute to help me run for speed. I've been doing some long distance stuff to get conditioned and get back into it. It pretty much came from last year, and now I'm feeling really good."
It hasn't always been about promise and potential for Demo. When he first came to the team, Drury boys' coach Jim Buffoni said Demo was all speed and little technique. But now as his level of success has increased, so has the amount of work he puts into it.
"He's working," Buffoni said. "I think he got the bug last year, and I think now he actually wants to be good. Last year, he just thought he'd go through the motions and see what he had. Now he's kind of taken a little pride in the thing, so he's working pretty hard. Hopefully, he'll continue to do so."
Buffoni said the biggest change in Demo this season is his curiosity about the sport.
"(When he first started), he could just run," Buffoni said. "We didn't teach him anything, he's just flat out fast. Now he's wanting to learn blocks, how to run and working on different things to make himself better."
What has been Demo's biggest improvement on the track?
"Everything," Buffoni said. "He was coming out of the blocks, and he was getting into better shape. At the beginning of the year, he was sporadic on how much he was working. By the end, he found out he could actually be decent at it, so he decided that he'd work a lot harder and it paid off."
Like Demo, Pierce also broke out in his junior year. Instead of working harder, though, Pierce slowed down a bit. Unlike his first two years when he ran track and played soccer in the spring, Pierce decided to concentrate solely on the former in his third year. The extra attention and the more energy he had to give to the sport helped propel him to be the Hurricanes' most consistent point scorer.
"He came here as a freshman and didn't show a lot in his first year," Hoosac boys' coach Ron Namislo said. "His second year, we saw potential. Last year, he stopped doing soccer. He only did track and that's when he just burst. He played Ajax, so he was doing an extra three workouts a week plus games, and it just tired him out. Last year, he made track No. 1 and as you can see, he just jumped off the page."
"When I was sophomore, coach (Tom) Corrigan told me that (I could improve if I didn't play soccer)," Pierce said. "My junior year, I increased my jumping by like three feet and my 100 by seven-tenths. I didn't go between track, soccer, and back to track."
Now, Pierce is an all-around track and field athlete, someone his team counts on to score in multiple events. Besides the 100, Pierce will also compete in the 200, the 4x100 relay and both the high and long jumps this year.
"At different races, I'll have to move him at different times to score points," Namislo said. "He's also doing the high jump and the long jump, so every meet we go to he's doing four events. I need to take that into consideration to get ready for Western Mass. But definitely when Demo is here, he's going to want to run the 100, and I'm going to let him."
If there is anyone that knows the importance of winning a crucial 100 race, it's Namislo. Last year when defending WMass. champs Greylock came to Cheshire, Namislo felt like his team had a good chance to win on paper. That chance swelled considerably when Pierce nipped Castonguay at the finish line to steal an unexpected five points. Pierce's shocking victory seemed to resonate throughout the Hurricanes' squad. The runners started pushing a little harder and the throwers started tossing a little further. In the end, Hoosac squeaked out a 74-67 win, handing the Mounties their only loss of the season. The meet would prove to be crucial as Hoosac, Greylock and Wahconah all tied for the league title with just one loss.
"When I was racing Castonguay here, I didn't know if I could beat him," Pierce said. "It felt wicked good and when I was walking back, (teammate Adam) Tarsa was like, 'I pronounce you God.' That race against Aaron, Ron was saying that probably changed the whole meet because everyone got excited and pumped up because it was at the beginning."
Fans can expect the same kind of excitement when Pierce and Demo square off again this year. Not only have the two increased their own profiles, but they've also increased interest in track and field at their respective schools. Part of that has to do with their event.
"There's no race that people all come and watch except the 100," Namislo said. "All of the other races, people are doing something. But when it's the 100, you can see all the teams come to the finish line because they want to see the race. That doesn't happen in track in any other event in high school."
Demo along with the success of the Blue Devils' WMass. winning 4x800 relay team have been at the forefront of a track revival at Drury. The Hurricanes have always been able to field a competitive team, but it's been years since the Blue Devils have had enough numbers to field a consistently solid squad. This season, nearly 90 students (60 boys and 30 girls) have come out for the team.
"We've got a lot more people. We've got over 55 boys that came out this year, so track became big at Drury. Everyone is coming out, all the athletes from different sports, so it's exciting. I think a lot of kids can excel at this sport, and they've come out."
There are at least a few kids who look at Demo and think they can pull off something similar to what he did last year. It's not often that an athlete can go from unknown to Western Mass. champion in a span of a few short months, and the thought of striking track and field oil is certainly appealing to some kids.
"All last year, kids tried to race me and say they were faster than me," Demo said. "It was a lot of fun. They came up and raced me on the track to see what it's about, and then I win."
The excitement of the Demo-Pierce showdown will likely carry over to the team competition, leaving both Namislo and Buffoni to think this year's meet could be one of the most evenly-balanced and exciting matchups in years.
"I think, especially this year for us with numbers, we've got some depth that if you can get an extra point here or there you're going to be way ahead of the game," Buffoni said. "I think we're going to be close in a lot of meets, and certainly the rivalry is a factor when it's kids that are all North County kids.
"It's a good rivalry and, hopefully, if we can get some throwers out, we'll be in that much better shape. We've never been able to score field points, but this year we have a couple of new kids. Obviously, if we can come out and win the 100, everyone else says we're not three steps behind like we have been in the past. I remember when we were shooting for a third in the 100, but now it's one of the races we're counting on winning."
"You could see a huge improvement in Drury the last two years, and I expect them to be really good this year," Namislo said. "For us, it's going to be great. And the premier race is going to be the 100. No question."
Namislo isn't the only one promoting this race like it's the "Fight of the Century." Both Pierce and Demo, characters in their own right, have already started creating buzz about an event that is still more than three weeks away. They still have their own individual goals for the season -- Pierce wants to break the school record time of 11.1, while Demo is hoping he can break the 11-second barrier -- but it's obvious both of them have May 6 planted firmly in their minds.
"(We've got a friendly rivalry), but when it comes down to it, it's Hoosac against Drury," Demo said. "I played football and basketball, so you know ... but he's my pal. He's funny."
It appears both sprinters have considered every advantage possible. After much ribbing by his teammates last year, Pierce, who was formerly known as "Fro" because of his long hair, has shaved his head this season in an attempt to shave some precious seconds off his time.
When told about Pierce's new, sleeker, aerodynamic look, Demo threatened to go one step further.
"Did he shave his fro, did he do that?" Demo asked. "Maybe it will (improve his time), we'll see. If I have to, I'll have to shave the goatee to match him."
When asked if the race between Pierce and him had any added emphasis this year, Demo made sure to give the race one last Don King-style promotion.
"Definitely," Demo said. "Me and Pierce, everyone needs to come and watch."
May 6, be there.
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