THE MINUTEMEN SOAR OVER BELMONT TO OPEN THE OUTDOOR SEASON
Meet Information
Belmont Dual Meet
May 6, 2021
Lexington High School - Lexington, MA
RESULTS
LEXINGTON, MA - Thursday afternoon The Minutemen were back on the track for their first meet of the official Outdoor season. The meet featured LHS going up against Belmont High School. While the two teams competed virtually during the "Indoor" season, this was the first time Lexington and Belmont competed face-to-face since the Middlesex League Championships in February of 2020.
For the 2021 season a controversial change was approved by a majority of coaches in the Middlesex League to the order of events in dual meets. The hope was to make things move quicker and more smoothly for the athletes. While in previous seasons the meet was run with both genders competing in both running and throwing events simultaneously (as they would in championship meets), the format was changed so that while girls were on the track, boys were competing on the field. When each were completed the genders switched. This created a bit of chaos for the two teams who were running their first Outdoor meets since 2019, and in the end the meet took significantly longer than it had in years prior. Regardless of the format, the meet came out as The Minutemen hoped, as the boys took the W by a score of 97-39. The girls came through with an 84-52 victory of their own.
The girls meet was highlighted by a trio of sprinter/jumpers. Senior captain Aleia Gisolfi-McCready started off the meet by running her first 400 Intermediate Hurdles of her career. She won the event in a time of 1:08.4h before doubling back in the 400m Dash with a time of 58.8h to take the tape there as well. Both of her times eclipsed the qualifying standards for the most recent Outdoor Divisional Championships. Along with Gisolfi-McCready, fellow captain Mari McBride set a new personal best in the High Jump. The junior leaped over the bar at 5'3" to win the event by nearly half a foot. Her mark also was a would-be Divisional qualifier. While McBride owned the High Jump, it was fellow classmate Anna Yang who was the queen of the runway. Yang leaped to a new PR of 17'0" in the Long Jump to win the event with another would-be Divisional qualifying mark on the day for The Minutemen.
In the boys meet, the top performance of the day came from senior captain Jarret Dlugy. The leader of LHS's "Bomb Squad" stepped into the Discus circle for the first time since he placed eighth at the the 2019 Divisional Championships in the event. Dlugy debuted with a new personal best throw of 137'0" to win the event by over 25 feet, and surpassed the would-be Divisional mark by nearly 17 feet as well. Sophomore Jayden Bai finally broke through in the High Jump. Having been stuck on 5'4" throughout the "Indoor" season, Bai exploded on Thursday by clearing 5'6" on his first jump, and then 5'8" on his third and final attempt. The new PR landed him second in the event on jumps, but was a huge breakthrough for him. Speaking of huge breakthroughs, after picking up the Javelin for the first time only a few days prior, Jerry Gong won the event by nearly 30 feet with a throw of 120'5". The sophomore also turned in a PR (19'3") in his primary event the Long Jump to pick up second place.
Other Highlights for the Girls
Other Highlights for the Boys
Up Next
The Minutemen travel to Arlington next Thursday to take on the Spy Ponders. The meet - at W.A. Peirce Field behind Arlington High School - is set to begin at 4:15pm.
Belmont Dual Meet
May 6, 2021
Lexington High School - Lexington, MA
RESULTS
LEXINGTON, MA - Thursday afternoon The Minutemen were back on the track for their first meet of the official Outdoor season. The meet featured LHS going up against Belmont High School. While the two teams competed virtually during the "Indoor" season, this was the first time Lexington and Belmont competed face-to-face since the Middlesex League Championships in February of 2020.
For the 2021 season a controversial change was approved by a majority of coaches in the Middlesex League to the order of events in dual meets. The hope was to make things move quicker and more smoothly for the athletes. While in previous seasons the meet was run with both genders competing in both running and throwing events simultaneously (as they would in championship meets), the format was changed so that while girls were on the track, boys were competing on the field. When each were completed the genders switched. This created a bit of chaos for the two teams who were running their first Outdoor meets since 2019, and in the end the meet took significantly longer than it had in years prior. Regardless of the format, the meet came out as The Minutemen hoped, as the boys took the W by a score of 97-39. The girls came through with an 84-52 victory of their own.
The girls meet was highlighted by a trio of sprinter/jumpers. Senior captain Aleia Gisolfi-McCready started off the meet by running her first 400 Intermediate Hurdles of her career. She won the event in a time of 1:08.4h before doubling back in the 400m Dash with a time of 58.8h to take the tape there as well. Both of her times eclipsed the qualifying standards for the most recent Outdoor Divisional Championships. Along with Gisolfi-McCready, fellow captain Mari McBride set a new personal best in the High Jump. The junior leaped over the bar at 5'3" to win the event by nearly half a foot. Her mark also was a would-be Divisional qualifier. While McBride owned the High Jump, it was fellow classmate Anna Yang who was the queen of the runway. Yang leaped to a new PR of 17'0" in the Long Jump to win the event with another would-be Divisional qualifying mark on the day for The Minutemen.
In the boys meet, the top performance of the day came from senior captain Jarret Dlugy. The leader of LHS's "Bomb Squad" stepped into the Discus circle for the first time since he placed eighth at the the 2019 Divisional Championships in the event. Dlugy debuted with a new personal best throw of 137'0" to win the event by over 25 feet, and surpassed the would-be Divisional mark by nearly 17 feet as well. Sophomore Jayden Bai finally broke through in the High Jump. Having been stuck on 5'4" throughout the "Indoor" season, Bai exploded on Thursday by clearing 5'6" on his first jump, and then 5'8" on his third and final attempt. The new PR landed him second in the event on jumps, but was a huge breakthrough for him. Speaking of huge breakthroughs, after picking up the Javelin for the first time only a few days prior, Jerry Gong won the event by nearly 30 feet with a throw of 120'5". The sophomore also turned in a PR (19'3") in his primary event the Long Jump to pick up second place.
Other Highlights for the Girls
- Sophomore Karin Minemoto (who also picked up the Javelin for the first time this week) launched the farthest throw (97'5") by an LHS girl in recent memory to win the event; sophomore Rose O'Neil (72'1.25") and freshman Katie Atkins (67'10") helped break out the golden broom by sweeping the event.
- Another golden broom was out in the Discus as junior Raquel Batista-Vieira (89'5"), freshman Quin Tandeih (77'6.50"), and senior captain Lina Jaafar (66'6") went 1-2-3.
- Finishing a perfect afternoon for the girls' "Bomb Squad" Tandeih (29'0.50"), Batista-Vieira (27'0.75"), and freshman Cleo McBride (25'7.25") swept the Shot.
- Junior Haley Creighton (16'7") broke her PR by over a foot and a half in the Long Jump to place second overall.
- In the 800m freshman Gabby Fanielli battled to the finish to win the event with a PR of 2:29.1h.
- The 4x400m Relay of senior captain Aylin Bruce and the freshman trio of Adia Singh, Samara McVey, and Fanielli won a close race in a time of 4:22.4h.
Other Highlights for the Boys
- Senior captain Alex Murphy (23.2h) and junior Josh Lee (23.8h) went 1-2 in the 200m Dash.
- The golden broom was out in the 400m as senior captain Reed Solomon (54.4h), sophomore Brandon Uda-Thach (55.1h), and sophomore Aviv Spitz (55.9h) swept the event.
- Captain and junior Evan Eberle won the Mile with a PR of 4:39.4h.
- In the 110m High Hurdles sophomore Michael Gerfen earned his first career victory with a time of 16.3h; Bai was third in 18.2h.
- LHS's "Bomb Squad" broke out the gold broom in the Shot Put as sophomore Matt Jacob (42'6.25"), Dlugy (42'1"), and sophomore Jack Ngo (41'1") finished 1-2-3.
- The 4x400m Relay of Spitz, Solomon, Traver Smith III, and Eberle narrowly won the event in a time of 3:38.6h.
Up Next
The Minutemen travel to Arlington next Thursday to take on the Spy Ponders. The meet - at W.A. Peirce Field behind Arlington High School - is set to begin at 4:15pm.