RYAN'S HEROICS HELP LIFT THE MINUTEMEN TO A RUNNER-UP FINISH AT D1 CHAMPS

Meet Information
MIAA Division 1 Championships
February 15, 2023
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA.
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - Last spring, when The Minutemen won the MIAA Division 1 State Championship, the team was led by a truly elite group of seniors and a superstar freshman. Fast-forward to February. LHS's Class of 2023 has seven athletes who have competed in the NCAA, and now-sophomore Amari Mow is starring on LHS's Basketball team. Despite this, The Minutemen's goal from the beginning of the year was to finish on the podium at this meet Divisionals. Projected fourth coming in, behind the likes of Brockton, Brookline, and Haverhill, with Acton-Boxborough looming, LHS knew it would have to be at its best to compete for some hardware. Last year, the team scored more than half of its points in field events, and only five came in the middle and long distance events. This year, Mid-D and the Distance Squad were simply tremendous, and carried The Minutemen to 39 points and a runner-up finish behind Acton-Boxborough's 51 points. The Lex Girls managed a 10th place finish on the backs of fantastic performances by their underclassmen, paired with the steady leadership of their seniors. In the end, LHS managed 19 points in an incredibly deep field. The girls from Central Catholic won going away with 64 points.
The story of the meet for The Minutemen was the effort of senior captain Joey Ryan. Undefeated and unchallenged in the Middlesex League, The Candyman came to Divisionals with the Mile-2 Mile double on his schedule. In the Mile, Ryan sat and watched B.C. High's Chris Larnard run a 4:18.46 solo effort from the unseeded heat before he had his chance to race. When the gun was fired in the seeded section, Ryan got out well, but the pack came through the 800m mark in 2:13, well behind Larnard's pace. After some jostling, the race began to pickup with a pack of four runners pulling away. With a lap to go Ryan found himself in a battle for second in the race with B.C. High's Greg McGrath and St. John's Prep's Daniel Padley. He dug deep, and with a 30-second final 200m crossed the line just tenths-of-a-second ahead of McGrath and Padley with a time of 4:23.14. That time was a PR and good enough for a bronze medal and six much needed points for his team. Later in the meet, in his signature event, Ryan was out hard through the first half of the race. A 4:40 opening mile had strung out the race, and left Ryan to chase Lowell's Jack Courtney - who was fresh - over the latter half of the 2 Mile. With the weight of his One Mile effort on his legs, Ryan grinded his way through the final eight laps of the 2 Mile as the pack behind him disintegrated. In addition to chasing points, The Candyman was also chasing history as he was on pace to take down Ted Fitzpatrick's (LHS '91) school record of 9:24 in the event. With a lap to go the clock read "8:45" and Ryan made the final charge for home. He crossed the line in silver medal position, and smashed Fitzpatrick's record with a time of 9:19.05. That time also qualified him for the New Balance Indoor Nationals. After he had scored 14 points for his team, Ryan's day appeared to be over, but with The Minutemen still in the hunt for a shot at the team title, the LHS's coaches had to make a decision on who to can run the 4x800m Relay. In moments like these, the cream does rise to the top. And when it came to decision time on who can deliver, the coaches knew "the candyman can." So Ryan toed the line for the 4x8 along with senior Nayan Das, and juniors Zach Barry and Max Zhang. Das got things going with a 2:00.2 split, and then Barry delivered a 2:06.5 split of his own before Ryan got the baton. The senior captain having already run 24 laps around the 200m Reggie Lewis oval, gave everything he had left for his team. That came in the form of a 2:02.7 split that had The Minutemen sitting in third place going into the anchor leg. There, Zhang - who had delivered big points in the 1000m earlier - gutted his way through the first three laps as a hard charging Newton North team was bearing down on him. Newton North's Gabe Grove had pulled even with Zhang, and with just 50m to go appeared to have the edge. But, Zhang found it in his legs to fight back and nip Grove at the line by two-hundredths-of-a-second to earn bronze and another six points for his team. Acton-Boxborough won the event, and with that sealed the Division 1 Championship for their team. However, the fight for second was still very much alive for The Minutemen as the meet headed to the 4x400m Relay.
There were a number of permutations of what could happen between Lexington, Brockton, Brookline, and St. John's Prep, but the bottom line for LHS was score as many points as they could and hope things broke their way. The team of senior Khai Uda-Thach, junior James Joseph, Das, and senior McKenna O'Hare Gibson was called on to get the job done for The Minutemen. Uda-Thach got things off to a strong start with a 52.5 split. Joseph was just a strong, as he gave his team a 52.8 split to keep them in the mix. From there, Das - who earlier earned bronze in the 600m - showed no signs of fatigue on this third race of the night. He roared around the track to the tune of 50.9 seconds and had LHS in second place at the handoff. O'Hare Gibson then poured it on for two laps, and with a 50.4 split crossed the line in a season best time of 3:26.78. That effort was enough for a silver medal, but more importantly, eight points for their team. Which meant The Minutemen, with 39 points bested Brockton's 38.33, Brookline's 37, and Prep's 35.83 for their runner-up finish.
The Lex Girls showed glimpses of what Massachusetts can expect from The Minutemen over the next few years, as a number of athletes turned in great performances. However, no one shined brighter than Aubrey "Bubbles" Deardorf. The star sophomore got off to a blazing start in the 55m Dash. She qualified fifth out of the prelims with a time of 7.38 seconds. As she has done all season, she raised the bar for herself in the finals. Deardorf crossed the line with a new PR of 7.32 seconds, which placed her fifth overall. In her second event of the day, the Long Jump, Deardorf was even better. After an average first jump, the sophomore unleashed a 17'3" leap on her second attempt to vault herself up into fourth place in the event. On her next attempt, she improved yet again with a leap of 17'4.50". At that point she was sitting in bronze medal position when the 4x200m Relay came calling. The sophomore left the event - which should would finish third in - to compete with her relay. There, Deardorf teamed up with fellow classmates Bruguers Sagues and Felice Haverly, along with senior captain Jada Solomon. From the fourth of six sections, the quartet put on a 4x200m clinic. Sagues got things going with a 27.1 split, before Deardorf flashed a 26.8. A smooth handoff and a great leg of 27.6 by Solomon had The Minutemen well in the lead when Haverly got the baton. She cruised around the track, and crossed the line with a 25.8 split that gave her team a huge season best of 1:47.46. That time would hold up to place sixth overall. Along with her big anchor on the 4x2, Haverly also matched her PR of 42.00 seconds in the 300m, which earned her a seventh place finish.
Other Highlights for the Boys
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Acton-Boxborough - 51
2. Lexington - 39
3. Brockton - 38.33
4. Brookline - 37
5. St. John's Prep - 35.83
6. Andover - 29
7. B.C. High - 26.50
8. Haverhill - 25
8. Xaverian Brothers - 25
10. Cambridge Rindge & Latin - 23
Other Highlights for the Girls
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Central Catholic - 64
2. Framingham - 48
3. Franklin - 44
4. Newton North - 39
5. Westford Academy - 37
6. Wachusett - 36
7. Brookline - 30
7. Haverhill - 30
9. Cambridge Rindge & Latin - 26
10. Lexington - 19
Up Next
The Girls Shuttle Hurdle team will head to the campus of Wheaton College in Norton, MA to compete for a chance to race the event at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. The meet - at Beard Field House - is set to begin at 10am.
MIAA Division 1 Championships
February 15, 2023
Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center - Boston, MA.
RESULTS
BOSTON, MA - Last spring, when The Minutemen won the MIAA Division 1 State Championship, the team was led by a truly elite group of seniors and a superstar freshman. Fast-forward to February. LHS's Class of 2023 has seven athletes who have competed in the NCAA, and now-sophomore Amari Mow is starring on LHS's Basketball team. Despite this, The Minutemen's goal from the beginning of the year was to finish on the podium at this meet Divisionals. Projected fourth coming in, behind the likes of Brockton, Brookline, and Haverhill, with Acton-Boxborough looming, LHS knew it would have to be at its best to compete for some hardware. Last year, the team scored more than half of its points in field events, and only five came in the middle and long distance events. This year, Mid-D and the Distance Squad were simply tremendous, and carried The Minutemen to 39 points and a runner-up finish behind Acton-Boxborough's 51 points. The Lex Girls managed a 10th place finish on the backs of fantastic performances by their underclassmen, paired with the steady leadership of their seniors. In the end, LHS managed 19 points in an incredibly deep field. The girls from Central Catholic won going away with 64 points.
The story of the meet for The Minutemen was the effort of senior captain Joey Ryan. Undefeated and unchallenged in the Middlesex League, The Candyman came to Divisionals with the Mile-2 Mile double on his schedule. In the Mile, Ryan sat and watched B.C. High's Chris Larnard run a 4:18.46 solo effort from the unseeded heat before he had his chance to race. When the gun was fired in the seeded section, Ryan got out well, but the pack came through the 800m mark in 2:13, well behind Larnard's pace. After some jostling, the race began to pickup with a pack of four runners pulling away. With a lap to go Ryan found himself in a battle for second in the race with B.C. High's Greg McGrath and St. John's Prep's Daniel Padley. He dug deep, and with a 30-second final 200m crossed the line just tenths-of-a-second ahead of McGrath and Padley with a time of 4:23.14. That time was a PR and good enough for a bronze medal and six much needed points for his team. Later in the meet, in his signature event, Ryan was out hard through the first half of the race. A 4:40 opening mile had strung out the race, and left Ryan to chase Lowell's Jack Courtney - who was fresh - over the latter half of the 2 Mile. With the weight of his One Mile effort on his legs, Ryan grinded his way through the final eight laps of the 2 Mile as the pack behind him disintegrated. In addition to chasing points, The Candyman was also chasing history as he was on pace to take down Ted Fitzpatrick's (LHS '91) school record of 9:24 in the event. With a lap to go the clock read "8:45" and Ryan made the final charge for home. He crossed the line in silver medal position, and smashed Fitzpatrick's record with a time of 9:19.05. That time also qualified him for the New Balance Indoor Nationals. After he had scored 14 points for his team, Ryan's day appeared to be over, but with The Minutemen still in the hunt for a shot at the team title, the LHS's coaches had to make a decision on who to can run the 4x800m Relay. In moments like these, the cream does rise to the top. And when it came to decision time on who can deliver, the coaches knew "the candyman can." So Ryan toed the line for the 4x8 along with senior Nayan Das, and juniors Zach Barry and Max Zhang. Das got things going with a 2:00.2 split, and then Barry delivered a 2:06.5 split of his own before Ryan got the baton. The senior captain having already run 24 laps around the 200m Reggie Lewis oval, gave everything he had left for his team. That came in the form of a 2:02.7 split that had The Minutemen sitting in third place going into the anchor leg. There, Zhang - who had delivered big points in the 1000m earlier - gutted his way through the first three laps as a hard charging Newton North team was bearing down on him. Newton North's Gabe Grove had pulled even with Zhang, and with just 50m to go appeared to have the edge. But, Zhang found it in his legs to fight back and nip Grove at the line by two-hundredths-of-a-second to earn bronze and another six points for his team. Acton-Boxborough won the event, and with that sealed the Division 1 Championship for their team. However, the fight for second was still very much alive for The Minutemen as the meet headed to the 4x400m Relay.
There were a number of permutations of what could happen between Lexington, Brockton, Brookline, and St. John's Prep, but the bottom line for LHS was score as many points as they could and hope things broke their way. The team of senior Khai Uda-Thach, junior James Joseph, Das, and senior McKenna O'Hare Gibson was called on to get the job done for The Minutemen. Uda-Thach got things off to a strong start with a 52.5 split. Joseph was just a strong, as he gave his team a 52.8 split to keep them in the mix. From there, Das - who earlier earned bronze in the 600m - showed no signs of fatigue on this third race of the night. He roared around the track to the tune of 50.9 seconds and had LHS in second place at the handoff. O'Hare Gibson then poured it on for two laps, and with a 50.4 split crossed the line in a season best time of 3:26.78. That effort was enough for a silver medal, but more importantly, eight points for their team. Which meant The Minutemen, with 39 points bested Brockton's 38.33, Brookline's 37, and Prep's 35.83 for their runner-up finish.
The Lex Girls showed glimpses of what Massachusetts can expect from The Minutemen over the next few years, as a number of athletes turned in great performances. However, no one shined brighter than Aubrey "Bubbles" Deardorf. The star sophomore got off to a blazing start in the 55m Dash. She qualified fifth out of the prelims with a time of 7.38 seconds. As she has done all season, she raised the bar for herself in the finals. Deardorf crossed the line with a new PR of 7.32 seconds, which placed her fifth overall. In her second event of the day, the Long Jump, Deardorf was even better. After an average first jump, the sophomore unleashed a 17'3" leap on her second attempt to vault herself up into fourth place in the event. On her next attempt, she improved yet again with a leap of 17'4.50". At that point she was sitting in bronze medal position when the 4x200m Relay came calling. The sophomore left the event - which should would finish third in - to compete with her relay. There, Deardorf teamed up with fellow classmates Bruguers Sagues and Felice Haverly, along with senior captain Jada Solomon. From the fourth of six sections, the quartet put on a 4x200m clinic. Sagues got things going with a 27.1 split, before Deardorf flashed a 26.8. A smooth handoff and a great leg of 27.6 by Solomon had The Minutemen well in the lead when Haverly got the baton. She cruised around the track, and crossed the line with a 25.8 split that gave her team a huge season best of 1:47.46. That time would hold up to place sixth overall. Along with her big anchor on the 4x2, Haverly also matched her PR of 42.00 seconds in the 300m, which earned her a seventh place finish.
Other Highlights for the Boys
- Das turned in a dramatic third place finish with a PR of 1:22.22 in the 600m; Joseph (1:28.11) was 21st; junior Kabir Gokarn (1:29.41) was 25th overall.
- The 1000m saw Zhang (2:36.64) score an unexpected four points with a fifth place finish; Barry (2:38.05) was 10th from the unseeded section; Eric House (2:43.58) ran a PR and US #16 time among freshman to finish 23rd.
- After he ran 4:31.55 to finish 15th in the Mile, freshman phenom Patrick Noonan ran a PR of 9:42.63 to place eighth and earn one point in the 2 Mile; LHS finished 25th as well in the 2 Mile as sophomore Sam Finch ran 10:44.30.
- The 4x200m Relay of senior Victor Yu, junior Tim George, Uda-Thach, and freshman Cayden Chambers finished ninth in 1:33.49.
- O'Hare Gibson was 11th in the 300m with a time of 36.04.
- In the 55m Hurdles junior Ryan Zhang (7.97), sophomore Simon Tandeih (7.99), and senior Jacob Pan (8.02) finished 12th, 13th, and 14th respectively.
- Senior Sean Crogan landed in 15th place with a throw of 42'10.50" in the Shot Put.
- Pan (18'10.25") and Tandeih (18'6.25") were 16th and 18th respectively in the Long Jump.
- Yu (6.78) finished 27th in the 55m Dash.
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Acton-Boxborough - 51
2. Lexington - 39
3. Brockton - 38.33
4. Brookline - 37
5. St. John's Prep - 35.83
6. Andover - 29
7. B.C. High - 26.50
8. Haverhill - 25
8. Xaverian Brothers - 25
10. Cambridge Rindge & Latin - 23
Other Highlights for the Girls
- Senior Samara McVey, junior Lucy Kontos, sophomore Nadia Abdinoor, and freshman Callie Glenn ran 9:58.03 to place fifth overall in the 4x800m Relay.
- The Mile saw Glenn (5:17.27) and Kontos (5:19.02) both turn in personal bests on their ways to finishing ninth and tenth respectively.
- In the 55m Hurdles senior Amandine Mangon ran 8.99 seconds to finish ninth; senior captain Katie Atkins (9.39) was 17th; Emily Hoefkens ran a big PR of 9.57 seconds to finish 23rd, and ranks her MA #4 among freshman.
- It was sophomore Meghan Caldera who finished 11th with a PR of 12:08.43 in the 2 Mile; freshman Erin Ehmann (12:18.73) ran a big PR of her own to finish 13th; fellow classmate Josie Bettencourt (12:42.59) was 20th.
- In the Shot Put, sophomore Ainsley Cuthbertson (32'4.25") finished 12th; senior Quin Tandeih (29'8.75) was 20th.
- The 4x400m Relay of senior Carson Cheng, Haverly, Solomon, and sophomore Anika Steinbrecher finished 13th with a season best time of 4:15.60.
- Abdinoor in the 1000m finished in 15th place with a PR time of 3:12.60; McVey (3:15.20) was 18th; sophomore Prachi Aggarwal (3:20.46) was 25th.
- Sagues matched her PR of 7.71 seconds in the 55m Dash to finish 24th.
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Central Catholic - 64
2. Framingham - 48
3. Franklin - 44
4. Newton North - 39
5. Westford Academy - 37
6. Wachusett - 36
7. Brookline - 30
7. Haverhill - 30
9. Cambridge Rindge & Latin - 26
10. Lexington - 19
Up Next
The Girls Shuttle Hurdle team will head to the campus of Wheaton College in Norton, MA to compete for a chance to race the event at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. The meet - at Beard Field House - is set to begin at 10am.