SENSATIONAL EFFORT BY THE MINUTEMEN AT DIVISION 1 CHAMPS FALLS JUST SHORT
Meet Information
MIAA Division 1 Championships
February 17, 2023
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA.
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - It was a tale of two meets for The Minutemen coming into the Division 1 Championship. The Girls' Team had achieved everything that could have been asked of them with their convincing victory at the Middlesex League Championship last week. And while, they had no realistic shot at a team title on Friday, they did have the opportunity to compete for one more personal best, and hopefully punch their tickets to the MIAA Meet of Champions next week. The Boys were a different story. With one of the best rosters in recent history, The Minutemen had an outside shot at taking home the first or second place trophy. To do so however, would require going through two of Massachusetts Track & Field's bluebloods - Newton North and Saint John's Prep - in order to take home some hardware.
The meet got off to a stellar start for The Minutemen as senior captains Jayden "the Burger King" Bai, and Michael Gerfen were in the finals of the 55m Hurdles, poised to score big points for their team. They did just that. After a PR of 7.78 in the prelims, Bai took it to another level in the finals. Blasting out from the blocks and cruising over the five 39-inch barriers in 7.71 seconds. With that, he took home the Division 1 title in the Hurdles in the fastest time run by an LHS hurdler since Jon Cunha (LHS '05) set the school record in the event his senior year. For his effort, Gerfen (8.05) added another three points to Bai's 10, with a sixth place finish that put The Minutemen in an early lead. From there it was Branndon Uda-Thach's turn on the straightaway. Running a time of 6.71 seconds in the prelims, the LHS senior earned the eighth and last spot in the 55m Dash finals by less than one-hundredth of a second. In the finals he ran a lifetime best time of 6.64 to pick up two unexpected points for his team.
Things got started on the oval for The Minutemen with junior McKenna O'Hare Gibson, who found his way into the seeded section of the 600m despite only having run the event twice prior to Friday. He ran well, crossing the line in seventh place with a time of 1:25.13 to earn two points for his team. After O'Hare Gibson, Uda-Thach's number was called again, this time in the 300m. In a historically fast race that saw the top three athletes all break former Attleboro great Greigre Hafiz's 2003 record, Uda-Thach was able to manage a fourth place finish - and five more points - in a time of 35.21 seconds. And then it was the Bomb Squad's turn. With senior Kaden "the Sundance Kid" Cassidy finally at full health, the holy trinity of the misfit throwers that make up LHS's Shot Put crew was at full strength for the first time all season. They came to Reggie Lewis with one goal, and that was to sweep the podium and score every one of the 24 possible points they could for their team. Things were off to a stellar start in the prelims for the trio. After the second round of throws, Cassidy had just overtaken senior Allen Jiang for the lead with what would be his best throw of the competition (49'9"). That clearly lit a fire under Jiang, as his very next throw exploded out of his hand, crashing down in the sector at a whopping distance of 52'1.50". Along with senior captain Jack Ngo's second round throw of 47'4.50", that had LHS's Bomb Squad in control of first, second, and fourth place going into finals. Then the captain finished the job. Ngo uncorked his best throw of the season by nearly two feet in the first round of the finals. That throw of 49'0.25" would hold up over the final two rounds to earn him the bronze medal, and complete the dream of breaking out the golden broom at the Divisional Championships. Or to put it another way, in order to throw varsity Shot Put for LHS, an athlete must be one of the top three throwers in the Bay State in all of Division 1. With those 24 points secured, The Minutemen were back in business in the team scoring, leading Prep, and nipping at the heels of Newton North heading into the relays.
Next up for The Minutemen was the 4x200m Relay of Bai, Gerfen, junior Khai Uda-Thach, and senior captain Alexios Kontothanassis. After a dynamite run by the Boys that featured Kontothanassis winning the race in a thrilling comeback over Prep, the team was wrongfully disqualified when an official made an unappealable judgement call that LHS - who was passing Prep on the inside of lane one - interfered with the Eagle's second runner. In fact, the official clearly stated that the team in lane two had interfered with the team trying to pass them in lane one. With video review not admissible in Massachusetts Track & Field, there was no recourse for The Minutemen, as determining which team is which was considered a "judgement call." Thus 10 points were awarded to Prep, while LHS got nothing. With just the 4x800m and 4x400m Relays left, the Lex Boys were now sitting in third. Newton North would seal the team title by winning the 4x8, and eventually scoring 78 points. But despite the setback in the 4x2, there was still a glimmer of hope that The Minutemen could earn a runner-up finish in the team competition. And, quite simply, they refused to quit, and kept coming after Prep. The 4x8 of junior Nayan Das, freshman Colin Smith, senior Antonio Lopez, and junior Joey "Candy Man" Ryan were not expected to factor into the team scoring. No one told them that however, and they ran a gutsy race from start to finish that featured the Candy Man coming back with an impressive 2:04 split - only minutes after emptying the tank in the 2 Mile - to earn the team sixth place and three much needed points. Their effort also knocked Prep out of scoring any points in the event. With that, it meant - as all great track & field meets do - it all came down to the 4x4. The score stood at LHS 49, and St. John's Prep with 55.5, meaning that The Minutemen would need to outscore the Eagles by seven points to take home some hardware. All competing in their third events of the day Khai Uda-Thach, Kontothanassis, O'Hare Gibson, and Branndon Uda-Thach had one job to do, win. Khai got things off to a good start with a 53.7 split before handing off the baton in third place. Meanwhile, Prep sat back in fifth (a position that would score enough points to hold off The Minutemen). As Kontothanassis approached the second exchange the entire field was separated by less than a second. His 52.6 split put his team in fourth place once O'Hare Gibson got the baton. He would remain in that position after carrying the baton in a cool 52.1 split. Again five teams in the field were blanketed across the homestretch coming into the final exchange. LHS made huge gains on the final handoff to vault the team into second position. From there it was Branndon Uda-Thach versus Saint John's of Shrewsbury's Francis Devaney versus Newton North's Quincy Scott for the 4x4 crown. While the three blasted around the track in the first 200m, Uda-Thach had fallen back to third. However, he used his signature 400m finish in the latter half of the leg to move up on Scott's shoulder. A slight stumble with 75 meters to go, looked as though it would seal LHS's fate, but Uda-Thach refused to give in and charged for the line taking victory from the hands of Devaney by three-hundredths of a second. His unofficial split was 51.3 on the way to a final time of 3:29.47. While The Minutemen did their job, Prep was able to do enough to best LHS in the team scoring. Their fourth place finish in the 4x4 put the final score at 60.5 to 59. Despite the disappointing outcome, not enough can be said about the way the Lex Boys competed on Friday. They were relentless all night. Turning in personal bests, doubling and tripling events, and truly carried themselves like champions. It was an honor to watch them rise to the occasion, and the team will certainly have more in store for the rest of the state next week at the Meet of Champions.
The Lex Girls were led, as they have been all season, by the legs of senior captain Ava Criniti. Coming into the meet as the top seed in the Mile, Criniti went up against Newton South rival Amelia Everett for the first time since she got the better of her to win the Division 1A Cross Country Title in the fall. The two cruised through the first 800m of the race in a casual 2:39 before Everett pulled away with a strong kick that Criniti could not match. LHS's captain would finish runner-up with a time of 5:08.33. Next up on the track was junior Adia Singh. Having been nothing but consistent for The Minutemen over the last month, Singh ran a tactically sound race that saw her dashing past Haverhill's Lauren Downer in the final meters of the unseeded section to win the heat with a time of 1:41.36. That time would hold up through the final section to place sixth overall. Another sixth place finish was turned in by senior captain Uma Sanker in the 1000m. Sanker ran a time of 3:02.94. She was then back later in the meet along with Criniti, fellow captain Serena Caira, and junior Samara McVey. The quartet grabbed fifth place in the 4x800m Relay with a time of 10:02.13. Finishing off the meet for The Minutemen was the 4x400m Relay of freshman Morgan Wipke, junior Gabby Fainelli, sophomore Caroline Kvaal, and Singh. The team managed to put together a strong race in a time of 4:18.03 that earned yet another sixth place finish on the evening.
Other Highlights for the Boys
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Newton North - 78
2. Saint John's Prep - 60.50
3. Lexington - 59
4. Acton-Boxborough - 35
5. Brookline - 31
6. Andover - 25
7. Westford Academy - 21
8. Weymouth - 20
9. Lowell - 19
10. Xaverian Brothers - 18
Other Highlights for the Girls
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Brookline - 63
2. Newton North - 51
3. Wachusett - 43
4. Central Catholic - 36
5. Lowell - 33
5. Franklin - 33
7. Andover - 29
8. Cambridge Rindge & Latin - 28
9. Westford Academy - 26
10. Framingham - 24
11. Lexington - 21
Up Next
LHS's Bomb Squad will compete in its signature Indoor Track & Field event - the Weight Throw - this Wednesday at the USATF NE Youth Indoor Meet. With the MIAA not sanctioning the event in standard Track & Field meets, this meet hosted by the New England chapter of the USATF will serve as the 12th annual scholastic Weight Throw Championships for Massachusetts.
MIAA Division 1 Championships
February 17, 2023
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA.
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - It was a tale of two meets for The Minutemen coming into the Division 1 Championship. The Girls' Team had achieved everything that could have been asked of them with their convincing victory at the Middlesex League Championship last week. And while, they had no realistic shot at a team title on Friday, they did have the opportunity to compete for one more personal best, and hopefully punch their tickets to the MIAA Meet of Champions next week. The Boys were a different story. With one of the best rosters in recent history, The Minutemen had an outside shot at taking home the first or second place trophy. To do so however, would require going through two of Massachusetts Track & Field's bluebloods - Newton North and Saint John's Prep - in order to take home some hardware.
The meet got off to a stellar start for The Minutemen as senior captains Jayden "the Burger King" Bai, and Michael Gerfen were in the finals of the 55m Hurdles, poised to score big points for their team. They did just that. After a PR of 7.78 in the prelims, Bai took it to another level in the finals. Blasting out from the blocks and cruising over the five 39-inch barriers in 7.71 seconds. With that, he took home the Division 1 title in the Hurdles in the fastest time run by an LHS hurdler since Jon Cunha (LHS '05) set the school record in the event his senior year. For his effort, Gerfen (8.05) added another three points to Bai's 10, with a sixth place finish that put The Minutemen in an early lead. From there it was Branndon Uda-Thach's turn on the straightaway. Running a time of 6.71 seconds in the prelims, the LHS senior earned the eighth and last spot in the 55m Dash finals by less than one-hundredth of a second. In the finals he ran a lifetime best time of 6.64 to pick up two unexpected points for his team.
Things got started on the oval for The Minutemen with junior McKenna O'Hare Gibson, who found his way into the seeded section of the 600m despite only having run the event twice prior to Friday. He ran well, crossing the line in seventh place with a time of 1:25.13 to earn two points for his team. After O'Hare Gibson, Uda-Thach's number was called again, this time in the 300m. In a historically fast race that saw the top three athletes all break former Attleboro great Greigre Hafiz's 2003 record, Uda-Thach was able to manage a fourth place finish - and five more points - in a time of 35.21 seconds. And then it was the Bomb Squad's turn. With senior Kaden "the Sundance Kid" Cassidy finally at full health, the holy trinity of the misfit throwers that make up LHS's Shot Put crew was at full strength for the first time all season. They came to Reggie Lewis with one goal, and that was to sweep the podium and score every one of the 24 possible points they could for their team. Things were off to a stellar start in the prelims for the trio. After the second round of throws, Cassidy had just overtaken senior Allen Jiang for the lead with what would be his best throw of the competition (49'9"). That clearly lit a fire under Jiang, as his very next throw exploded out of his hand, crashing down in the sector at a whopping distance of 52'1.50". Along with senior captain Jack Ngo's second round throw of 47'4.50", that had LHS's Bomb Squad in control of first, second, and fourth place going into finals. Then the captain finished the job. Ngo uncorked his best throw of the season by nearly two feet in the first round of the finals. That throw of 49'0.25" would hold up over the final two rounds to earn him the bronze medal, and complete the dream of breaking out the golden broom at the Divisional Championships. Or to put it another way, in order to throw varsity Shot Put for LHS, an athlete must be one of the top three throwers in the Bay State in all of Division 1. With those 24 points secured, The Minutemen were back in business in the team scoring, leading Prep, and nipping at the heels of Newton North heading into the relays.
Next up for The Minutemen was the 4x200m Relay of Bai, Gerfen, junior Khai Uda-Thach, and senior captain Alexios Kontothanassis. After a dynamite run by the Boys that featured Kontothanassis winning the race in a thrilling comeback over Prep, the team was wrongfully disqualified when an official made an unappealable judgement call that LHS - who was passing Prep on the inside of lane one - interfered with the Eagle's second runner. In fact, the official clearly stated that the team in lane two had interfered with the team trying to pass them in lane one. With video review not admissible in Massachusetts Track & Field, there was no recourse for The Minutemen, as determining which team is which was considered a "judgement call." Thus 10 points were awarded to Prep, while LHS got nothing. With just the 4x800m and 4x400m Relays left, the Lex Boys were now sitting in third. Newton North would seal the team title by winning the 4x8, and eventually scoring 78 points. But despite the setback in the 4x2, there was still a glimmer of hope that The Minutemen could earn a runner-up finish in the team competition. And, quite simply, they refused to quit, and kept coming after Prep. The 4x8 of junior Nayan Das, freshman Colin Smith, senior Antonio Lopez, and junior Joey "Candy Man" Ryan were not expected to factor into the team scoring. No one told them that however, and they ran a gutsy race from start to finish that featured the Candy Man coming back with an impressive 2:04 split - only minutes after emptying the tank in the 2 Mile - to earn the team sixth place and three much needed points. Their effort also knocked Prep out of scoring any points in the event. With that, it meant - as all great track & field meets do - it all came down to the 4x4. The score stood at LHS 49, and St. John's Prep with 55.5, meaning that The Minutemen would need to outscore the Eagles by seven points to take home some hardware. All competing in their third events of the day Khai Uda-Thach, Kontothanassis, O'Hare Gibson, and Branndon Uda-Thach had one job to do, win. Khai got things off to a good start with a 53.7 split before handing off the baton in third place. Meanwhile, Prep sat back in fifth (a position that would score enough points to hold off The Minutemen). As Kontothanassis approached the second exchange the entire field was separated by less than a second. His 52.6 split put his team in fourth place once O'Hare Gibson got the baton. He would remain in that position after carrying the baton in a cool 52.1 split. Again five teams in the field were blanketed across the homestretch coming into the final exchange. LHS made huge gains on the final handoff to vault the team into second position. From there it was Branndon Uda-Thach versus Saint John's of Shrewsbury's Francis Devaney versus Newton North's Quincy Scott for the 4x4 crown. While the three blasted around the track in the first 200m, Uda-Thach had fallen back to third. However, he used his signature 400m finish in the latter half of the leg to move up on Scott's shoulder. A slight stumble with 75 meters to go, looked as though it would seal LHS's fate, but Uda-Thach refused to give in and charged for the line taking victory from the hands of Devaney by three-hundredths of a second. His unofficial split was 51.3 on the way to a final time of 3:29.47. While The Minutemen did their job, Prep was able to do enough to best LHS in the team scoring. Their fourth place finish in the 4x4 put the final score at 60.5 to 59. Despite the disappointing outcome, not enough can be said about the way the Lex Boys competed on Friday. They were relentless all night. Turning in personal bests, doubling and tripling events, and truly carried themselves like champions. It was an honor to watch them rise to the occasion, and the team will certainly have more in store for the rest of the state next week at the Meet of Champions.
The Lex Girls were led, as they have been all season, by the legs of senior captain Ava Criniti. Coming into the meet as the top seed in the Mile, Criniti went up against Newton South rival Amelia Everett for the first time since she got the better of her to win the Division 1A Cross Country Title in the fall. The two cruised through the first 800m of the race in a casual 2:39 before Everett pulled away with a strong kick that Criniti could not match. LHS's captain would finish runner-up with a time of 5:08.33. Next up on the track was junior Adia Singh. Having been nothing but consistent for The Minutemen over the last month, Singh ran a tactically sound race that saw her dashing past Haverhill's Lauren Downer in the final meters of the unseeded section to win the heat with a time of 1:41.36. That time would hold up through the final section to place sixth overall. Another sixth place finish was turned in by senior captain Uma Sanker in the 1000m. Sanker ran a time of 3:02.94. She was then back later in the meet along with Criniti, fellow captain Serena Caira, and junior Samara McVey. The quartet grabbed fifth place in the 4x800m Relay with a time of 10:02.13. Finishing off the meet for The Minutemen was the 4x400m Relay of freshman Morgan Wipke, junior Gabby Fainelli, sophomore Caroline Kvaal, and Singh. The team managed to put together a strong race in a time of 4:18.03 that earned yet another sixth place finish on the evening.
Other Highlights for the Boys
- Kontothanassis ran a PR of 35.85 seconds to finish ninth in the 300m; senior Jake Wheaton (36.22) was 12th; Bai ran 36.29 to finish 13th; Khai Uda-Thach was 15th in 36.92.
- The top freshman in the 55m Hurdles was LHS's Simon Tandeih, who ran 8.52 seconds to finish 24th overall.
- Senior Wesley Jarvis ran 1:31.43 to finish 26th in the 600m.
- In the 1000m, Lopez ran a PR of 2:40.39 to finish 11th; sophomores Nathan Cunningham (2:46.52) and Zach Barry (2:46.77) were 19th and 20th respectively.
- Das began his day with a time of 4:33.74 to finish 11th in the Mile.
- Running the 2 Mile, the aforementioned Joey "Candy Man" Ryan was just off his PR as he finish 11th in a time of 9:51.30; senior captain Aidan McPhee was 26th in 10:32.51.
- The Long Jump saw senior Jerry Gong finish 14th with a leap of 19:8.50"; Gerfen was 18th with a jump of 19'6".
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Newton North - 78
2. Saint John's Prep - 60.50
3. Lexington - 59
4. Acton-Boxborough - 35
5. Brookline - 31
6. Andover - 25
7. Westford Academy - 21
8. Weymouth - 20
9. Lowell - 19
10. Xaverian Brothers - 18
Other Highlights for the Girls
- In the 55m Dash, freshman Aubrey Deardorf ran a PR of 7.60 seconds to finish 11th overall; that time places her seventh among freshmen in Massachusetts.
- The 55m Hurdles saw juniors Amandine Mangon (9.31) and Katie Atkins (9.79) finish 11th and 20th respectively.
- Freshman Felice Haverly turned in a PR of 43.50 seconds to finish 15th in the 300m; junior Jada Solomon was 27th in 45.72.
- Along with Singh's great run in the 600m, both Wipke (1:42.31) and Kvaal (1:45.76) ran PRs to finish 10th and 16th in the event.
- Season or personal bests were turned in by senior Jasmine Sun (3:11.60), Caira (3:11.61), McVey (3:13.70), freshman Nadia Abdinoor (3:18.43), and sophomore Claire Cunningham (3:22.42) in the 1000m; all five ladies finished in the top 25 overall.
- In the 2 Mile, it was freshman Meghan Caldera who ran another PR to close out her season with a time of 12:12.09 to finish 14th overall; senior Ashley Taylor was 21st in 12:38.32, which is a lifetime best for her as well.
- LHS's Bomb Squad had a good showing in the Shot Put as freshman Ainsley Cuthbertson (30'5.50") and Quin Tandeih (30'3") finish 15th and 16th overall.
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Brookline - 63
2. Newton North - 51
3. Wachusett - 43
4. Central Catholic - 36
5. Lowell - 33
5. Franklin - 33
7. Andover - 29
8. Cambridge Rindge & Latin - 28
9. Westford Academy - 26
10. Framingham - 24
11. Lexington - 21
Up Next
LHS's Bomb Squad will compete in its signature Indoor Track & Field event - the Weight Throw - this Wednesday at the USATF NE Youth Indoor Meet. With the MIAA not sanctioning the event in standard Track & Field meets, this meet hosted by the New England chapter of the USATF will serve as the 12th annual scholastic Weight Throw Championships for Massachusetts.