CRINITI AND BOYS 4X200 GO FOR GOLD AT STATE MEET; BOYS TAKE DOWN LHS RECORD
Meet Information
MIAA Meet of Champions
February 25, 2023
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - The Minutemen returned to Reggie Lewis on Saturday for the MIAA Meet of Champions. Formerly the All-State Championships, the meet has lost some of its luster in the last two years as the decision was made to no longer score the meet. While athletes were still competing for individual glory, the "team" aspect of the meet has been removed entirely. Had the meet been scored, the Boys' Title would have gone home with the Newton North Tigers, who's athletes turned in 36 would be points. The Minutemen would have finished in the runner-up position with 29 points. On the Girls' side of things, the teams from Brookline and Concord-Carlisle would have shared the Title. Both teams turned in 33 would be points during the meet. The Lex Girls had a very strong showing with 15 points, that would have landed them in a tie of 10th place with Pembroke's Girls.
If there was a crown for athlete of the meet, senior captain Jayden Bai would have had as strong as case as nearly anyone in the field house on Saturday. The defending Division 1 Champion in the 55m Hurdles ran a solid 7.84 seconds to make it into the finals of the event. He then battled his way to a silver medal in the finals with a time of 7.79 seconds, which was tremendous after finishing 12th in the event last winter. Bai was just getting started however. After posting the MA #2 time in the 4x200m Relay earlier this season, the captain got things off to a hot start in Saturday's Championship race. His 22.9 split gave his team the lead going into the second leg where fellow classmate Jake Wheaton was patiently waiting. Wheaton turned in a 22.8 split to expand the lead over second place Catholic Memorial. Next up was senior Branndon Uda-Thach. After his heroics on the 4x400m anchor leg last week, the team knew they could expect something special from him, and he delivered with a 21.9 split before handing off to captain Alexios Kontothanassis. The senior tore around the 200m oval at Reggie Lewis, slamming the door shut on the field and winning the meet in a new LHS record of 1:30.03. That time broke the record set at The Armory in New York City back in 2016 by Noah Shute, Thomas O'Donoghue, Toby Foelix, and Zaeem Adamjee. The way this season has gone for The Minutemen, no meet would be complete without some fireworks from the Bomb Squad, and as he has done all season senior Allen Jiang delivered. Jiang's toss in the second round of the prelims landed 49'2", and had him in fourth place. He dropped back to fifth when North Attleborough senior Mark Etienvre passed him with a throw of 51'9.25" in the final round of the prelims. Jiang fired back with a 51'10.25" throw to kickoff the finals and moved back into fourth position, where he would stay - behind Peabody sophomore Alex Jackson who had thrown 52'9.25" in the prelims - going into his sixth and final throw. There he entered the two-plus meter circle one final time, and violently uncorked the 12lb. ball a whopping 53'2.50". That throw was the farthest since school record holder William Stewart (LHS '76) made his mark during the Ford Administration. When the dust settled, Jiang's throw held up for the first top three finish at an All-State Meet by an LHS thrower in not-so-recent memory. Parker Charter Essential's Theo Puterbaugh (54'8.50") won silver, while Bishop Stang senior - and US #1 in the event - Jacob Cookinham owned the event with all six of his throws eclipsing 62 feet, and his best landing 66'0.25".
As she has done all season, senior Ava Criniti led her team with a stellar performance. She began the day in her signature event, the 2 Mile, where she dueled with Billerica senior Anna McElhinney for a full 16 laps. When the gun fired Criniti went immediately to the lead, and stretched things out over the first mile. The senior harrier led a group of four runners, which included McElhinney, Division 1 XC State Champ Aoife Shovlin from Cambridge Rindge & Latin, and Andover's Molly Kiley through the mile split in 5:30. From there Criniti began to turn the screw, slowly winding the pace up over the next four laps. Then with 600 to go McElhinney made a move and took over the lead. The two would exchange the lead every one hundred meters until finally Criniti made the move at the bell lap that seemingly won the day, but, McElhinney had one more strong surge left in her and pulled even with the LHS senior at the top of the final turn. As the two turned for home it was an all out stride-for-stride race to the finish. An identical dip at the line by both girls left only for the crowd to watch the scoreboard to wait for the final result. In the end a roar went up from the Lexington section as their captain had come through winning by one-hundredth of a second with a personal best time of 10:51.22. That time is the fastest run in Massachusetts this winter, and US #16. Criniti was back shortly thereafter in the 4x800m Relay with fellow classmates and captains Uma Sanker and Serena Caira, as well as junior Samara McVey. Sanker got things going for The Minutemen with a split of 2:29. Caira then took over and ran a very strong leg to move her team up into ninth place with another 2:29 split, before getting the baton into the hands of her training partner McVey. The junior still had work to do to get into position for Criniti to get the girls on the podium. She did just that with a 2:29 split of her own that had her team in medal position - eighth place - as Criniti took the baton. From there the senior charged after Holliston's Maggie Kuchman, and in the final lap of the race would overtake her to seal a seventh place finish for her team in a season best time of 9:52.44.
Other Highlights from the Track
Up Next
From their performances at the Meet of Champions, Bai, Gerfen, Jiang, the Boys 4x2, and Sanker will return to Roxbury for one last race at Reggie this year. The New England Championships is set to begin this Saturday, March 4th at 10:30am.
MIAA Meet of Champions
February 25, 2023
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - The Minutemen returned to Reggie Lewis on Saturday for the MIAA Meet of Champions. Formerly the All-State Championships, the meet has lost some of its luster in the last two years as the decision was made to no longer score the meet. While athletes were still competing for individual glory, the "team" aspect of the meet has been removed entirely. Had the meet been scored, the Boys' Title would have gone home with the Newton North Tigers, who's athletes turned in 36 would be points. The Minutemen would have finished in the runner-up position with 29 points. On the Girls' side of things, the teams from Brookline and Concord-Carlisle would have shared the Title. Both teams turned in 33 would be points during the meet. The Lex Girls had a very strong showing with 15 points, that would have landed them in a tie of 10th place with Pembroke's Girls.
If there was a crown for athlete of the meet, senior captain Jayden Bai would have had as strong as case as nearly anyone in the field house on Saturday. The defending Division 1 Champion in the 55m Hurdles ran a solid 7.84 seconds to make it into the finals of the event. He then battled his way to a silver medal in the finals with a time of 7.79 seconds, which was tremendous after finishing 12th in the event last winter. Bai was just getting started however. After posting the MA #2 time in the 4x200m Relay earlier this season, the captain got things off to a hot start in Saturday's Championship race. His 22.9 split gave his team the lead going into the second leg where fellow classmate Jake Wheaton was patiently waiting. Wheaton turned in a 22.8 split to expand the lead over second place Catholic Memorial. Next up was senior Branndon Uda-Thach. After his heroics on the 4x400m anchor leg last week, the team knew they could expect something special from him, and he delivered with a 21.9 split before handing off to captain Alexios Kontothanassis. The senior tore around the 200m oval at Reggie Lewis, slamming the door shut on the field and winning the meet in a new LHS record of 1:30.03. That time broke the record set at The Armory in New York City back in 2016 by Noah Shute, Thomas O'Donoghue, Toby Foelix, and Zaeem Adamjee. The way this season has gone for The Minutemen, no meet would be complete without some fireworks from the Bomb Squad, and as he has done all season senior Allen Jiang delivered. Jiang's toss in the second round of the prelims landed 49'2", and had him in fourth place. He dropped back to fifth when North Attleborough senior Mark Etienvre passed him with a throw of 51'9.25" in the final round of the prelims. Jiang fired back with a 51'10.25" throw to kickoff the finals and moved back into fourth position, where he would stay - behind Peabody sophomore Alex Jackson who had thrown 52'9.25" in the prelims - going into his sixth and final throw. There he entered the two-plus meter circle one final time, and violently uncorked the 12lb. ball a whopping 53'2.50". That throw was the farthest since school record holder William Stewart (LHS '76) made his mark during the Ford Administration. When the dust settled, Jiang's throw held up for the first top three finish at an All-State Meet by an LHS thrower in not-so-recent memory. Parker Charter Essential's Theo Puterbaugh (54'8.50") won silver, while Bishop Stang senior - and US #1 in the event - Jacob Cookinham owned the event with all six of his throws eclipsing 62 feet, and his best landing 66'0.25".
As she has done all season, senior Ava Criniti led her team with a stellar performance. She began the day in her signature event, the 2 Mile, where she dueled with Billerica senior Anna McElhinney for a full 16 laps. When the gun fired Criniti went immediately to the lead, and stretched things out over the first mile. The senior harrier led a group of four runners, which included McElhinney, Division 1 XC State Champ Aoife Shovlin from Cambridge Rindge & Latin, and Andover's Molly Kiley through the mile split in 5:30. From there Criniti began to turn the screw, slowly winding the pace up over the next four laps. Then with 600 to go McElhinney made a move and took over the lead. The two would exchange the lead every one hundred meters until finally Criniti made the move at the bell lap that seemingly won the day, but, McElhinney had one more strong surge left in her and pulled even with the LHS senior at the top of the final turn. As the two turned for home it was an all out stride-for-stride race to the finish. An identical dip at the line by both girls left only for the crowd to watch the scoreboard to wait for the final result. In the end a roar went up from the Lexington section as their captain had come through winning by one-hundredth of a second with a personal best time of 10:51.22. That time is the fastest run in Massachusetts this winter, and US #16. Criniti was back shortly thereafter in the 4x800m Relay with fellow classmates and captains Uma Sanker and Serena Caira, as well as junior Samara McVey. Sanker got things going for The Minutemen with a split of 2:29. Caira then took over and ran a very strong leg to move her team up into ninth place with another 2:29 split, before getting the baton into the hands of her training partner McVey. The junior still had work to do to get into position for Criniti to get the girls on the podium. She did just that with a 2:29 split of her own that had her team in medal position - eighth place - as Criniti took the baton. From there the senior charged after Holliston's Maggie Kuchman, and in the final lap of the race would overtake her to seal a seventh place finish for her team in a season best time of 9:52.44.
Other Highlights from the Track
- Sanker made her way through a physical race to place sixth in the 1000m with a PR of 3:01.00.
- Uda-Thach started his day with a strong run in the 300m Dash, and placed sixth in 35.32; Konothanassis was 14th with a PR of 35.83.
- Senior captain Michael Gerfen placed seventh in the 55m Hurdles with a time of 7.99 seconds.
- Along with Jiang's performance, senior captain Jack Ngo finished ninth in the Shot Put with a throw of 47'7".
- An unfortunate mishap led to an 18th place finish for the 4x400m team of Wheaton, Kontothanassis, Uda-Thach, and junior McKenna O'Hare Gibson.
- The 4x800m Relay of freshman Colin Smith, sophomores Zach Barry and Nathan Cunningham, and Antonio Lopez ran a solid race to finish 19th in 8:29.37.
Up Next
From their performances at the Meet of Champions, Bai, Gerfen, Jiang, the Boys 4x2, and Sanker will return to Roxbury for one last race at Reggie this year. The New England Championships is set to begin this Saturday, March 4th at 10:30am.