SCHOOL RECORDS, NATIONAL QUALIFIERS, US #4 4X800 HIGHLIGHT INAUGURAL NE INVITE
Meet Information
MSTCA Northeast Invitational
January 10-12, 2020
Reggie Lewis Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - This year the MSTCA held their first ever weekend long meet which included the standard MIAA Indoor Track & Field events, with a few editions. For The Minutemen, the Northeast Invite was an opportunity to qualify for the Middlesex League Championships, the Division 1 Championships, and in some cases to make a run at qualifying for the New Balance Indoor Nationals at the Armory in New York City.
Highlights from Friday:
Things got off to a great start for Lexington on the first day of competition with Michael Gupta's peformance in the 25lb. Weight Throw. The LHS senior's best throw flew an impressive 64'10" besting his closest competitor by over 11 feet! That throw marked a new personal best - breaking his own school record - in his primary event. In edition to qualifying for Nationals, that throw was now ranks him as the 17th best thrower in the United States this winter. Along with Gupta's huge night, sophomore Daniel Ramsey turned in a personal best of his own. Running for the first time in the Indoor Mile the young harrier used a 32 second final 200m to run a huge PR of 4:44.78 and qualify for the League Championships. Fellow classmate Mari McBride matched her season best by clearing 4'8" to finish ninth in the High Jump.
Highlights from Saturday:
The performance of the weekend was turned in by The Minutemen's 4x800m Relay of seniors Andrew McGovern, Josh Backert, Selvin Backert, and sophomore Evan Eberle. The top seed going into the meet, the quartet came to Boston with four goals in mind; win the meet, break the school record of 8:01.25, achieve the Nationals qualifying mark of 8:01.00, and break the coveted eight minute barrier. They achieved them all and more. From the gun Selvin Backert charged into the lead, dictating the pace through the first leg, and with his patented finish he put The Minutemen in the lead with an unofficial split of 2:00 before handing off to the youngest member of the relay. Eberle took the baton and maintained the lead through 400m when Walpole's superstar Shane Grant brought his team back from 10th place to take the lead, with what would be a 1:53 split. Despite this, the sophomore remain poised and with 150m to go charged back at Grant and with a final push handed off the baton to Josh Backert in the lead after splitting 1:58 unofficially. Backert thundered away from the field with a brisk 26 second first 200m before settling into pace and giving The Minutemen a sizable lead with another 2:00 split. After his teammates had taken care of the rest of the teams in the field, when McGovern got the baton it was just the captain against the clock for the final four laps of the relay. After coming through the 600 mark the clock read "7:28." As he sailed down the backstretch he dug deep and, with his relay-mates cheering him down the homestretch, finished with a flurry to break the tape in 7:58.79, smashing the school record and putting up the fourth fastest time run anywhere in the country this season!
Along with the 4x800's big day, senior Lily Sheth ran a tremendous race in the 600m. After sitting back for the first 400m, LHS's captain made a move on the backstretch that South Hadley's Farrell Dawson simply could not match. Sheth charged away from the field taking the victory with a season best time of 1:40.34. In addition to Sheth, junior Aylin Bruce turned in a season best of her own in the same race. Bruce's time of 1:44.26 qualified her for Divisionals and was good enough for 11th place overall. Not to be outdone by his female 600m counterparts, junior Stephen Joseph made his first trip to Reggie Lewis count by running a League qualifying time and four second PR of 1:27.27. That time was the eighth fastest on the day. In the Girls Seeded Long Jump, Rachel Caldwell-Glixon leaped 16'2" to place 7th.
Highlights from Sunday:
In the final day of competition The Minutemen had three girls competing. Sophomore jumper Anna Yang started off the day for LHS by jumping 15'6.50" in the Girls Unseeded Long Jump. That performance was followed by senior captain Keena Gao's leap of 15'8" in the next flight. The pair finished eighth and fifth respectively in the event. Next up for Lexington was "RCG" in the 55m High Hurdles. Another senior captain, she turned in her best performance of the season by running 9.10 seconds to finish second overall in the unseeded section. Along with her run in the Hurdles, in preparation for her specialty the Pentathlon, RCG ran 2:45.65 in the 800m.
After his stellar performance in the 4x800m yesterday, Josh Backert took a step down in distance and a step up in speed by competing in the seeded section of the 400m. Backert who is the #1 ranked 600m runner in Massachusetts went up against the #1 ranked 300m runner in the state, Methuen senior Stanley Manci. Despite a hard charging finish to close the gap on Manci, Backert ran out of real estate finishing a close second to the winning time 50.29. However, Backert's time of 50.65 set a new LHS Indoor record in the 400m. Also competing in the 400m, running from the unseeded section, was fellow classmate Colin Breen. The senior took his first crack at the 400m since the spring and with a time of 51.93 placed sixth overall. Also doubling back from Saturday's 4x800, Selvin Backert and Eberle ran 2:01.19 and 2:04.64 respectively in the 800m. Backert was fifth overall, while Eberle's time was enough for 13th. Senior Ian Richter ran 8.54 seconds in the 55m Hurdles to finish ninth overall in the unseeded section.
Up Next
The Minutemen are back in action Saturday when they will compete in the MSTCA Division 1 Relays. This meet serves as a test of teams' depth charts as it is a relay only meet where both boys and girls team titles will be handed out. The meet - at Reggie Lewis - begins at 3:00pm.
MSTCA Northeast Invitational
January 10-12, 2020
Reggie Lewis Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - This year the MSTCA held their first ever weekend long meet which included the standard MIAA Indoor Track & Field events, with a few editions. For The Minutemen, the Northeast Invite was an opportunity to qualify for the Middlesex League Championships, the Division 1 Championships, and in some cases to make a run at qualifying for the New Balance Indoor Nationals at the Armory in New York City.
Highlights from Friday:
Things got off to a great start for Lexington on the first day of competition with Michael Gupta's peformance in the 25lb. Weight Throw. The LHS senior's best throw flew an impressive 64'10" besting his closest competitor by over 11 feet! That throw marked a new personal best - breaking his own school record - in his primary event. In edition to qualifying for Nationals, that throw was now ranks him as the 17th best thrower in the United States this winter. Along with Gupta's huge night, sophomore Daniel Ramsey turned in a personal best of his own. Running for the first time in the Indoor Mile the young harrier used a 32 second final 200m to run a huge PR of 4:44.78 and qualify for the League Championships. Fellow classmate Mari McBride matched her season best by clearing 4'8" to finish ninth in the High Jump.
Highlights from Saturday:
The performance of the weekend was turned in by The Minutemen's 4x800m Relay of seniors Andrew McGovern, Josh Backert, Selvin Backert, and sophomore Evan Eberle. The top seed going into the meet, the quartet came to Boston with four goals in mind; win the meet, break the school record of 8:01.25, achieve the Nationals qualifying mark of 8:01.00, and break the coveted eight minute barrier. They achieved them all and more. From the gun Selvin Backert charged into the lead, dictating the pace through the first leg, and with his patented finish he put The Minutemen in the lead with an unofficial split of 2:00 before handing off to the youngest member of the relay. Eberle took the baton and maintained the lead through 400m when Walpole's superstar Shane Grant brought his team back from 10th place to take the lead, with what would be a 1:53 split. Despite this, the sophomore remain poised and with 150m to go charged back at Grant and with a final push handed off the baton to Josh Backert in the lead after splitting 1:58 unofficially. Backert thundered away from the field with a brisk 26 second first 200m before settling into pace and giving The Minutemen a sizable lead with another 2:00 split. After his teammates had taken care of the rest of the teams in the field, when McGovern got the baton it was just the captain against the clock for the final four laps of the relay. After coming through the 600 mark the clock read "7:28." As he sailed down the backstretch he dug deep and, with his relay-mates cheering him down the homestretch, finished with a flurry to break the tape in 7:58.79, smashing the school record and putting up the fourth fastest time run anywhere in the country this season!
Along with the 4x800's big day, senior Lily Sheth ran a tremendous race in the 600m. After sitting back for the first 400m, LHS's captain made a move on the backstretch that South Hadley's Farrell Dawson simply could not match. Sheth charged away from the field taking the victory with a season best time of 1:40.34. In addition to Sheth, junior Aylin Bruce turned in a season best of her own in the same race. Bruce's time of 1:44.26 qualified her for Divisionals and was good enough for 11th place overall. Not to be outdone by his female 600m counterparts, junior Stephen Joseph made his first trip to Reggie Lewis count by running a League qualifying time and four second PR of 1:27.27. That time was the eighth fastest on the day. In the Girls Seeded Long Jump, Rachel Caldwell-Glixon leaped 16'2" to place 7th.
Highlights from Sunday:
In the final day of competition The Minutemen had three girls competing. Sophomore jumper Anna Yang started off the day for LHS by jumping 15'6.50" in the Girls Unseeded Long Jump. That performance was followed by senior captain Keena Gao's leap of 15'8" in the next flight. The pair finished eighth and fifth respectively in the event. Next up for Lexington was "RCG" in the 55m High Hurdles. Another senior captain, she turned in her best performance of the season by running 9.10 seconds to finish second overall in the unseeded section. Along with her run in the Hurdles, in preparation for her specialty the Pentathlon, RCG ran 2:45.65 in the 800m.
After his stellar performance in the 4x800m yesterday, Josh Backert took a step down in distance and a step up in speed by competing in the seeded section of the 400m. Backert who is the #1 ranked 600m runner in Massachusetts went up against the #1 ranked 300m runner in the state, Methuen senior Stanley Manci. Despite a hard charging finish to close the gap on Manci, Backert ran out of real estate finishing a close second to the winning time 50.29. However, Backert's time of 50.65 set a new LHS Indoor record in the 400m. Also competing in the 400m, running from the unseeded section, was fellow classmate Colin Breen. The senior took his first crack at the 400m since the spring and with a time of 51.93 placed sixth overall. Also doubling back from Saturday's 4x800, Selvin Backert and Eberle ran 2:01.19 and 2:04.64 respectively in the 800m. Backert was fifth overall, while Eberle's time was enough for 13th. Senior Ian Richter ran 8.54 seconds in the 55m Hurdles to finish ninth overall in the unseeded section.
Up Next
The Minutemen are back in action Saturday when they will compete in the MSTCA Division 1 Relays. This meet serves as a test of teams' depth charts as it is a relay only meet where both boys and girls team titles will be handed out. The meet - at Reggie Lewis - begins at 3:00pm.