Weekly Sports Roundup, August 29 - September 4

With all Wakefield’s summer leagues having concluded their seasons and the high school sports term about to commence next week, the past seven days weren’t exactly bursting with action. That being said, there were still a few things of note happening last week, as the Mystic Runners held the Lake Q 5k road race, and a name that will be familiar to most longtime Wakefield sports fans was added to the coaching staff at a prestigious New England University.

Mystic Runners Lake Q 5k
The latest edition of the weekly Lake Q 5k road race around Wakefield’s Lake Quannapowitt was held on August 31, and when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, there was a local harrier sitting atop the standings. Sean Akell, 31, of Wakefield, took the top prize with a winning time of 18.57, while Brian Daly of Stoneham placed second, traversing the three miles and 188 yards in 19.18. Finishing in third was another Stoneham resident, Rob Mirabile, who completed the course in 19.32. Middleton’s Greg Mastrangelo took fourth at 20.39, while Nathaniel Smith of Lynnfield rounded out the top five at 20.52. Naomi Lainge, of Stoneham, was the fastest female on the day at 22.08, followed closely by another Stoneham resident, Amber Windman, at 22.09—good enough for ninth and tenth place overall respectively.

Former WHS hockey legend named Assistant Coach at Brown
2010 Wakefield High Hall of Fame inductee Mike Souza has been named an Assistant Coach of the Brown University men’s hockey team under head coach Brendan Whittet. Souza will join former University of New Hampshire teammate Mark White, who has been named an Associate Head Coach of the Bears’ program.

Souza had amassed 97 goals and 109 assists by the time he played his last game as a Warrior, and when he graduated in 1996, those numbers represented a Middlesex League record. Souza was selected in the third round of the 1997 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, and played his college hockey under Melrose native Dick Umile at UNH, where he recorded an impressive 156 points in 156 games. The 33-year-old winger spent time in the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League before moving on to ply his trade in Europe. Souza spent five years in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, and wrapped up his career in the Alps with the most successful club in the history of the Italian Ice Hockey League’s Serie A, the Bolzano-Bozen Foxes, 18 time winners of the Scudetto, the small shield displayed on the jerseys of the team that wins the Italian league title.

Souza supplants former Providence College center Jerry Keefe, who moved on to become an assistant at Northeastern back in August.