THE MINUTEMEN START MIDDLESEX LEAGUE ACTION WITH A PAIR OF VICTORIES
Meet Information
Belmont Dual Meet
December 20, 2019
Boston University Indoor Track & Tennis Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - After a snowstorm postponed the meet on Tuesday, The Minutemen finally kicked off Middlesex League action Thursday evening against Belmont. Last year the Marauders handed the Lexington High School girls their lone defeat of the season, but this year they were no match for The Minutemen. The girls cruised to victory 65-35. On the boys side a number of strong early season performances helped LHS runaway with the meet by a score of 67.33-32.66.
In the girls meet the performance of the night was turned in by sophomore Julia Lennon-Newell. While the young harrier came in with a personal best of just under six minutes in the mile, she showed that after a strong cross season in the fall she is ready to make an impact on the track this winter. Lennon-Newell used a strong move at 800m and a vicious finishing kick to win her first varsity race in a time of 5:32.70, qualifying for the Division 1 Championships in the process. Along with Lennon-Newell's breakout race, freshman Ava Criniti made her varsity debut for The Minutemen with a Divisional qualifying time of her own (5:34.87). That time earned her second place. Criniti was back later in the meet to pick up another second place, this time in the 1000m (3:17.46). Senior captain Lily Sheth made her season debut by putting up the fastest time in the League in the 600m. Her time of 1:43.35 also qualified her for the Divisional meet. Not to be outdone, fellow classmate and captain Pauline Steines won the 2 Mile in a D1 qualifying time of 12:08.34.
While the boys did not produce any Divisional qualifying marks at BU, seniors Andrew McGovern and Selvin Backert gave it all they had in the 1000m. McGovern went to the lead from the gun and Backert sat patiently waiting to make his move through the first four and a half laps. With less than 100m to go Backert swung wide and with a hard charge seemed to nip McGovern at the line running 2:39.69. However in a true photo finish - pictured above - McGovern held him off by one-hundredth of a second by running 2:39.68; both qualified for the League Championships, as did sophomore Traver Smith III (2:46.21) who broke out the golden broom for a clean sweep. Another big performance was turned in by Selvin's twin brother Josh Backert. The senior 600m specialist dropped down to the 300m and blew away the whole League with a personal best 36.87 seconds to qualify for the League meet.
Other Highlights for the Girls
Other Highlights for the Boys
Up Next
The Minutemen will return to BU on Friday December 27th where they will go up against Arlington. Junior Varsity athletes will be permitted to compete in this meet, and although the exact schedule of events has yet to be announced the meet is set to get underway at 9:30am.
Belmont Dual Meet
December 20, 2019
Boston University Indoor Track & Tennis Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - After a snowstorm postponed the meet on Tuesday, The Minutemen finally kicked off Middlesex League action Thursday evening against Belmont. Last year the Marauders handed the Lexington High School girls their lone defeat of the season, but this year they were no match for The Minutemen. The girls cruised to victory 65-35. On the boys side a number of strong early season performances helped LHS runaway with the meet by a score of 67.33-32.66.
In the girls meet the performance of the night was turned in by sophomore Julia Lennon-Newell. While the young harrier came in with a personal best of just under six minutes in the mile, she showed that after a strong cross season in the fall she is ready to make an impact on the track this winter. Lennon-Newell used a strong move at 800m and a vicious finishing kick to win her first varsity race in a time of 5:32.70, qualifying for the Division 1 Championships in the process. Along with Lennon-Newell's breakout race, freshman Ava Criniti made her varsity debut for The Minutemen with a Divisional qualifying time of her own (5:34.87). That time earned her second place. Criniti was back later in the meet to pick up another second place, this time in the 1000m (3:17.46). Senior captain Lily Sheth made her season debut by putting up the fastest time in the League in the 600m. Her time of 1:43.35 also qualified her for the Divisional meet. Not to be outdone, fellow classmate and captain Pauline Steines won the 2 Mile in a D1 qualifying time of 12:08.34.
While the boys did not produce any Divisional qualifying marks at BU, seniors Andrew McGovern and Selvin Backert gave it all they had in the 1000m. McGovern went to the lead from the gun and Backert sat patiently waiting to make his move through the first four and a half laps. With less than 100m to go Backert swung wide and with a hard charge seemed to nip McGovern at the line running 2:39.69. However in a true photo finish - pictured above - McGovern held him off by one-hundredth of a second by running 2:39.68; both qualified for the League Championships, as did sophomore Traver Smith III (2:46.21) who broke out the golden broom for a clean sweep. Another big performance was turned in by Selvin's twin brother Josh Backert. The senior 600m specialist dropped down to the 300m and blew away the whole League with a personal best 36.87 seconds to qualify for the League meet.
Other Highlights for the Girls
- LHS's "Bomb Squad" swept the shot put with Chrisondra Awomah (30'11"), Raquel Batista-Vieira (29'1"), and Tiffany Liu (27'0") going 1-2-3.
- Senior captain Keena Gao took the 55m Dash in a personal best 7.74 seconds, then won the Long Jump in 15'11.5".
- Eileen Cannon held off a hard charging Belmont runner in the 300m to take the tape in 44.87 seconds.
- In the High Jump sophomore Mari McBride won on jumps by clearing 4'8" on her first attempt.
- Senior captain Rachel Caldwell-Glixon took second in all three events in which she competed; 9.62 seconds in the 55m High Hurdles, 4'8" in the High Jump, and 15'7.5".
Other Highlights for the Boys
- The milers broke out the golden broom with senior Micah Benson (4:41.63), junior Max DiCerbo (4:46.55), and junior captain Nate Croke (4:52.56) doing the heavy lifting; Benson and DiCerbo qualified for the League Championships with their times.
- In the Shot Put it was another sweep for LHS; Michael Gupta (40'10"), Jaret Dlugy (37'5"), and Jack Ngo (30'8.5") took the top three places.
- The 4x200m Relay of Alex Murphy, Sal Jaramillo, Colin Breen, and Brian Her had the top time on the night running 1:35.00; the 4x400m team of the Backerts, Richter, and Jack Stevens matched that effort by running 3:38.34.
- Senior Matt McAlarney placed second in the 2 Mile with a League qualifying time of 10:01.50.
- Sophomore Michael Gordon came back in the final strides to grab third in the 300m with a League qualifying time of 38.22 seconds.
Up Next
The Minutemen will return to BU on Friday December 27th where they will go up against Arlington. Junior Varsity athletes will be permitted to compete in this meet, and although the exact schedule of events has yet to be announced the meet is set to get underway at 9:30am.