DEPLETED LEX GIRLS FIGHT HARD BUT FALL TO RIVAL WOBURN; BOYS WIN 87-13
Meet Information
Woburn Dual Meet
December 22, 2022
The Track at New Balance - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - Regardless of record or PRs, anytime The Minutemen and the Woburn Tanners get together it is a fight. The year's installment was no different for the Lex Girls. Coming into the meet without three of their top athletes, due to non-COVID related illness, the Lex Girls were fighting an uphill battle all night that ended in Woburn getting the victory by a score of 60-40. On the Boys' side it was a different store. The Minutemen won 11 of 12 events on their way to a 87-13 route of the Tanners.
Early in the meet it seemed as though the Lex Girls were going to be able to make a charge at the Tanners despite missing key people. Junior Amandine Mangon ran a huge PR in the 55m High Hurdles of 9.66 seconds to grab second place in the event. That time qualified her for the Middlesex League Championships and earned a big three points for her team. Her effort was followed up by sophomore sprinter Laya Barghuthi in the 55m Dash. The young sprinter ran her way to a PR of 8.11 seconds besting Woburn's Kayleigh Curll by one-hundredth of a second to pick up a point by placing third. Barghuthi would come up big for her team again later in the meet as she leapt her way to a second place finish in the Long Jump with her best mark of 15'0". Another huge performance was turned in by senior captain Uma Sanker. Running in her first 1000m race of the season, Sanker went up against the best Woburn had to offer with the goal of making a statement. She did just that. After cruising through the 600 in a cool 2:00.69, she blasted away from Woburn's Riley Anderson with 400 to go, and poured it on over the final two laps. Closing out the race in 70 seconds she won the race by a wide margin with a new PR and MIAA Division 1 qualifying time of 3:11.40. Not to be outdone, freshman Meghan Caldera was The Minutemen's best hope to earn a victory in the Two Mile against Woburn sophomore Emilia Rivera. Caldera laid off the early pace, at points being as much as eight seconds back from Rivera. But in the second mile Caldera began to close the gap, finally attaching herself to Rivera with 800m to go. Caldera patiently waited there for two laps before making a move with 400 to go that broke Rivera and earned her the victory in a new PR of 12:37.94.
The story of the Boys' Meet was undoubtedly the breakout performance by the Sprint Squad. On the straightaway the Boys broke out the golden broom in the Dash with senior captain Branndon Uda-Thach (6.82) qualifying for Divisionals, fellow classmate and captain Mike Gerfen (6.90) getting the League standard, and junior McKenna O'Hare Gibson (6.97) dipping under the League standard as well to sweep the event. Along with Jake Wheaton's 6.93 performance last week, this marks the first time The Minutemen has had four boys under seven seconds in the Dash in recent memory. But the sprint squad was just getting started. In the 300m, Wheaton took it to the next level by winning the race in a Divisional qualifying time of 36.60. Senior captain Alexios Kontothanassis also qualified for Divisionals with a time of 37.40. And, junior Khai Uda-Thach broke out the golden broom again with a League qualifying time of 37.98. Perhaps the team's best performance on the day came in the 4x200m where Kontothanassis, Gerfen, senior captain Jayden Bai, and Khai Udaa-Thach combined to run 1:32.54, which is the best time in the League by nearly two seconds. That time qualified the Boys for Divisionals, and was just .54 seconds off of the qualifying standard for the National Championships. There is a long was to go, and a lot of work still to be done, but the fact of the matter is that the Sprint Squad took every point that was available to them against Woburn in the 55m, 300m, 4x200m, and with Branndon Uda-Thach, senior Sam Simon, sophomore Max Zhang, and O'Hare Gibson cruising to victory in the 4x400m (3:34.31) things are on the right track for a big season.
Other Highlights for the Girls
Other Highlights for the Boys
Up Next
The Minutemen are back in action for the first time this season at Reggie Lewis in Roxbury on Tuesday, December 27th for the MSTCA Boston Holiday Challenge. A select group of athletes will be competing in this non-scored regional meet. The meet will begin at 8:15am.
Woburn Dual Meet
December 22, 2022
The Track at New Balance - Boston, MA
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - Regardless of record or PRs, anytime The Minutemen and the Woburn Tanners get together it is a fight. The year's installment was no different for the Lex Girls. Coming into the meet without three of their top athletes, due to non-COVID related illness, the Lex Girls were fighting an uphill battle all night that ended in Woburn getting the victory by a score of 60-40. On the Boys' side it was a different store. The Minutemen won 11 of 12 events on their way to a 87-13 route of the Tanners.
Early in the meet it seemed as though the Lex Girls were going to be able to make a charge at the Tanners despite missing key people. Junior Amandine Mangon ran a huge PR in the 55m High Hurdles of 9.66 seconds to grab second place in the event. That time qualified her for the Middlesex League Championships and earned a big three points for her team. Her effort was followed up by sophomore sprinter Laya Barghuthi in the 55m Dash. The young sprinter ran her way to a PR of 8.11 seconds besting Woburn's Kayleigh Curll by one-hundredth of a second to pick up a point by placing third. Barghuthi would come up big for her team again later in the meet as she leapt her way to a second place finish in the Long Jump with her best mark of 15'0". Another huge performance was turned in by senior captain Uma Sanker. Running in her first 1000m race of the season, Sanker went up against the best Woburn had to offer with the goal of making a statement. She did just that. After cruising through the 600 in a cool 2:00.69, she blasted away from Woburn's Riley Anderson with 400 to go, and poured it on over the final two laps. Closing out the race in 70 seconds she won the race by a wide margin with a new PR and MIAA Division 1 qualifying time of 3:11.40. Not to be outdone, freshman Meghan Caldera was The Minutemen's best hope to earn a victory in the Two Mile against Woburn sophomore Emilia Rivera. Caldera laid off the early pace, at points being as much as eight seconds back from Rivera. But in the second mile Caldera began to close the gap, finally attaching herself to Rivera with 800m to go. Caldera patiently waited there for two laps before making a move with 400 to go that broke Rivera and earned her the victory in a new PR of 12:37.94.
The story of the Boys' Meet was undoubtedly the breakout performance by the Sprint Squad. On the straightaway the Boys broke out the golden broom in the Dash with senior captain Branndon Uda-Thach (6.82) qualifying for Divisionals, fellow classmate and captain Mike Gerfen (6.90) getting the League standard, and junior McKenna O'Hare Gibson (6.97) dipping under the League standard as well to sweep the event. Along with Jake Wheaton's 6.93 performance last week, this marks the first time The Minutemen has had four boys under seven seconds in the Dash in recent memory. But the sprint squad was just getting started. In the 300m, Wheaton took it to the next level by winning the race in a Divisional qualifying time of 36.60. Senior captain Alexios Kontothanassis also qualified for Divisionals with a time of 37.40. And, junior Khai Uda-Thach broke out the golden broom again with a League qualifying time of 37.98. Perhaps the team's best performance on the day came in the 4x200m where Kontothanassis, Gerfen, senior captain Jayden Bai, and Khai Udaa-Thach combined to run 1:32.54, which is the best time in the League by nearly two seconds. That time qualified the Boys for Divisionals, and was just .54 seconds off of the qualifying standard for the National Championships. There is a long was to go, and a lot of work still to be done, but the fact of the matter is that the Sprint Squad took every point that was available to them against Woburn in the 55m, 300m, 4x200m, and with Branndon Uda-Thach, senior Sam Simon, sophomore Max Zhang, and O'Hare Gibson cruising to victory in the 4x400m (3:34.31) things are on the right track for a big season.
Other Highlights for the Girls
- In the Pole Vault, junior Katie Atkins bested her own Indoor school record by one foot with a leap of 9'0".
- Freshman Felice Haverly debuted in the 300m with a PR and Division 1 qualifying time of 45.17 seconds.
- In the 600m, junior Gabby Fainelli (1:45.40) ran a season best time; fellow junior Maya Dubrovsky (1:49.16) qualified for League as well.
- Along with Sanker's efforts, senior captain Serena Caira ran a PR of 3:20.96; sophomore Claire Cunningham turned in a season best and Divisional qualifying time of 3:24.14.
- Senior Jasmine Sun ran a strong race in the Mile, turning in and Divisional qualifier of 5:37.89.
Other Highlights for the Boys
- At the close of the meet senior Allen Jiang unleashed what will hopefully be the first of many National qualifying marks for The Minutemen this season; after his first two throws of the 25lb Weight flew 55 feet, his final throw landed at 59'9".
- In addition to his run in the 4x2, Bai qualified for Divisionals in the 55m Hurdles with a time of 8.35; junior Jacob Pan (9.05) ran a PR and League qualifying time as well.
- Junior Glenn Burcsu debuted this Indoor Season with a Divisional qualifying time of 1:28.28 in the 600m.
- Running his first 1000m of the year, Zhang turned qualified for the Division 1 Meet in 2:43.81.
- The Mile saw junior Nayan Das (4:40.39) qualify for Divisionals; fellow classmate Joey "Candy Man" Ryan ran a PR of 4:46.22 to qualify for the League Championship Meet.
- In the High Jump, O'Hare Gibson soared to a height of 5'8" to qualify for League.
- Both Jiang and senior captain Jack Ngo achieved the Division 1 standard in the Shot Put with throws of 48'5.75" and 47'3" respectively.
Up Next
The Minutemen are back in action for the first time this season at Reggie Lewis in Roxbury on Tuesday, December 27th for the MSTCA Boston Holiday Challenge. A select group of athletes will be competing in this non-scored regional meet. The meet will begin at 8:15am.