SILVER MEDALS ABOUND FOR THE MINUTEMEN AT MIAA MEET OF CHAMPIONS
Meet Information
MIAA Meet of Champions
February 26, 2022
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - This past weekend The Minutemen traveled to the newly branded and newly formatted MIAA Meet of Champions. In what was another classic example of an arbitrary decision made without the input of the stakeholders across the Massachusetts Track & Field community, the MIAA decided to no longer score the meet that has crowned the Baystate's Boys and Girls All-State Team Champions for decades. That meant that student-athletes would be running for themselves, and not have the added incentive of scoring points for their team. Despite the obtuse decision making by the governing body of Massachusetts High School Sports, The Minutemen joined the rest of the State's top athletes to compete for bragging rights.
As they have done all season, the Lex Girls' dynamic duo of senior captain Mari McBride and junior Ava Criniti led the way. With a final dash to the line, Criniti extended her streak of consecutive personal bests in the Mile this season by running 5:02.86. That performance earned her the silver medal and a runner-up finish in her signature event. In addition to the hardware, that time just dipped under the Nike Indoor Nationals standard of 5:03.00, which means she will be travelling to New York in two weeks to face the best the country has to offer at the National Championships. In the field, McBride competed in a crowded High Jump field. While seven athletes clared 5'2" - including McBride - it was her clean sheet en route to that height that would be the difference in the placing that earned her a silver medal of her own. To close out the meet, Criniti and McBride teamed up with senior captain Elena Sabin and sophomore Gabby Fainelli in the 4x400m Relay. Coming in seeded eighth overall, and running in the unseeded section, Sabin popped off with a personal best split of 62.8. Sabin turned over the baton to Criniti and then Fanielli who ran identical 62.1-second splits before handing off to McBride. On the anchor, the senior took her leg out in a blistering 26 seconds and would cross the line with a 58.6 split unofficially. With that the Lex Girls turned in a huge personal best time of 4:05.70, which would hold up through the seeded section to earn the quartet another runner-up performance on the day.
In the boys meet, The Minutemen were led by the efforts of star senior Evan Eberle (Ebb-er-lee - for those keeping track back home). The senior captain toed the line in what became a classic middle distance race. Unlike the unseeded section that went out in a brisk 58 seconds through 400, Eberle's heat came through in a casual 62 seconds, making for a physical race as the pack was bunched up throughout. Top seed Garret Rieden of Littleton broke away from the pack with 300m to go and could not be chased down on his way to the title. That meant a battle for second unfolded between Eberle, Weymouth's David Manfredi, and Andover's Colin Kirn. The trio battled around the final turn, but as they came down the homestretch Eberle was able to edge out the others by two-tenths of a second to win the silver medal with a new PR of 2:32.65. Along with Eberle's performance, junior Michael Gerfen achieved something not done by an LHS hurdler in over a decade by medaling in the 55m High Hurdles at the de facto State Championships. Gerfen's time of 8.10 seconds was just off his personal best, but still earned him seventh place overall.
Other Highlights from the Track
Up Next
After achieving top-six finishes at the Meet of Champions the Girls 4x400, Boys 4x800, McBride in the High Jump, and Eberle in the 1000m will return to Reggie Lewis for the final time this year for the New England Championships. The meet is set to begin at 10:30am next Saturday, March 5th.
MIAA Meet of Champions
February 26, 2022
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - This past weekend The Minutemen traveled to the newly branded and newly formatted MIAA Meet of Champions. In what was another classic example of an arbitrary decision made without the input of the stakeholders across the Massachusetts Track & Field community, the MIAA decided to no longer score the meet that has crowned the Baystate's Boys and Girls All-State Team Champions for decades. That meant that student-athletes would be running for themselves, and not have the added incentive of scoring points for their team. Despite the obtuse decision making by the governing body of Massachusetts High School Sports, The Minutemen joined the rest of the State's top athletes to compete for bragging rights.
As they have done all season, the Lex Girls' dynamic duo of senior captain Mari McBride and junior Ava Criniti led the way. With a final dash to the line, Criniti extended her streak of consecutive personal bests in the Mile this season by running 5:02.86. That performance earned her the silver medal and a runner-up finish in her signature event. In addition to the hardware, that time just dipped under the Nike Indoor Nationals standard of 5:03.00, which means she will be travelling to New York in two weeks to face the best the country has to offer at the National Championships. In the field, McBride competed in a crowded High Jump field. While seven athletes clared 5'2" - including McBride - it was her clean sheet en route to that height that would be the difference in the placing that earned her a silver medal of her own. To close out the meet, Criniti and McBride teamed up with senior captain Elena Sabin and sophomore Gabby Fainelli in the 4x400m Relay. Coming in seeded eighth overall, and running in the unseeded section, Sabin popped off with a personal best split of 62.8. Sabin turned over the baton to Criniti and then Fanielli who ran identical 62.1-second splits before handing off to McBride. On the anchor, the senior took her leg out in a blistering 26 seconds and would cross the line with a 58.6 split unofficially. With that the Lex Girls turned in a huge personal best time of 4:05.70, which would hold up through the seeded section to earn the quartet another runner-up performance on the day.
In the boys meet, The Minutemen were led by the efforts of star senior Evan Eberle (Ebb-er-lee - for those keeping track back home). The senior captain toed the line in what became a classic middle distance race. Unlike the unseeded section that went out in a brisk 58 seconds through 400, Eberle's heat came through in a casual 62 seconds, making for a physical race as the pack was bunched up throughout. Top seed Garret Rieden of Littleton broke away from the pack with 300m to go and could not be chased down on his way to the title. That meant a battle for second unfolded between Eberle, Weymouth's David Manfredi, and Andover's Colin Kirn. The trio battled around the final turn, but as they came down the homestretch Eberle was able to edge out the others by two-tenths of a second to win the silver medal with a new PR of 2:32.65. Along with Eberle's performance, junior Michael Gerfen achieved something not done by an LHS hurdler in over a decade by medaling in the 55m High Hurdles at the de facto State Championships. Gerfen's time of 8.10 seconds was just off his personal best, but still earned him seventh place overall.
Other Highlights from the Track
- The 4x800m Relay of sophomore Glenn Burscu (2:01.6), freshman Max Zhang (2:04.3), senior captain Ollie DiCerbo (2:02.4), and Eberle's 1:59.0 split placed fourth overall with a huge season best time of 8:07.41.
- Senior captain Joshua Lee turned in a big PR in the 300m Dash to place sixth overall with a time of 36.22 seconds.
- Lee led off the 4x200m Relay with a 23.2 split before junior Jayden Bai (22.9), Gerfen (23.7), and sophomore Khai Uda-Thach (23.5) took things home for a season best time of 1:33.37; that time placed the relay seventh overall.
- In the Girls 1000m senior Annie O'Brien finished off her career in style with another PR of 3:07.64 in the 1000m to finish 12th in the State in what will likely be her final time in an LHS singlet.
- Josh Lee was back in the 4x400m Relay to leadoff with a 51.2 split; senior Andreas Padilla (55.8), junior Alexios Kontothanassis (53.6), and junior Aviv Spitz (54.8) then combined to bring the team through the line in 3:35.47 to finish 12th.
- The Boys Mile saw DiCerbo run just off his PR with a strong time of 4:25.47 to finish 14th overall.
- Junior Uma Sanker (11:57.56) and senior captain Clara Fu (12:00.79) finished 18th and 20th respectively in the 2 Mile.
- The Girls 4x800m Relay of sophomores Samara McVey (2:29.7), Maya Dubrovsky (2:33.5), junior Serena Caira (2:41.3), and sophomore Adia Singh (2:39.1) finished 22nd with a time of 10:23.60.
Up Next
After achieving top-six finishes at the Meet of Champions the Girls 4x400, Boys 4x800, McBride in the High Jump, and Eberle in the 1000m will return to Reggie Lewis for the final time this year for the New England Championships. The meet is set to begin at 10:30am next Saturday, March 5th.