THE MINUTEMEN COMPLETE HISTORIC ML-12 SEASON; TAKE HOME THE TITLES AT LEAGUE
Meet Information
Middlesex League Championships
May 17, 2023
Burlington High School - Burlington, MA
RESULTS
BURLINGTON, MA - After a Regular Season that saw the Boys' and Girls' Teams both go undefeated in dual meet action for the first time in school history, The Minutemen validated that success on Wednesday. The Boys' Team shattered the previous Championship Meet Scoring Record, putting up 202.50 points - more than double second place Reading - and bested the previous record total by over 30 points held by the 2019 LHS Squad. While the Lex Girls did not break any records, they had all they could handle from the Woburn Tanners. In the end, LHS simply had too much depth across all 18 events and won by scoring 138 points to Woburn's 116.50. While the MIAA Division 1 Championships are still ahead of them, 2023 squad has made a strong case that they are in fact the greatest team in LHS's storied history of Track & Field.
The Minutemen were led by the incomparable performance of the Bomb Squad. After breaking the Championship Record at the Indoor League Meet back in February, senior Allen Jiang had every intention of doing the same in the Outdoor Shot Put. On his third throw of the competition, Jiang unleashed a throw of the 12-pound steel ball that landed 52'2.50" into the sector. That throw broke the record previously held by Reading's Peter Fodera. With that - and the victory - Jiang can now lay claim to the title of the best Shot Putter in League History. And, in a night full of strong competition, Jiang was the only athlete in the Boys' Meet to take down a Meet Record. Next up for the Bomb Squad was the Discus. The three-headed monster that is the senior trio of Kaden "The Sundance Kid" Cassidy, "The Captain" Jack Ngo, and Jiang came into the meet as three of the top four seeds - Arlington junior Alexander Fitzsimmons was seeded second - but had every intention of sweeping the podium in their final League Championship Meet. Cassidy wasted no time, uncorking his first throw 146'5", which would end up being enough to take home gold. His best throw came on his first throw of finals, and flew 155'0". Ngo came through with the silver medal, as his best throw went a personal record distance of 144'0". Jiang (139'0") used his final throw of the competition to blast past his own PR, and picked up the bronze medal. Along with the seniors, junior Christian Arrington (120'8") earned a fifth place medal as well. With that the Bomb Squad earned their team 28 points in the Discus alone, which bested the total points of four other teams on Wednesday. Back on the track, no one did more than senior Jake Wheaton. The star sprinter ran blistering times in the prelims of the 100m and 200m. Then in the finals of the 200m, he flew away from the field to a PR of 22.61 seconds to earn his first individual League Crown. Wheaton was then back in the finals of the 100m Dash, where the senior won by daylight to earn his team another 10 points, and himself a second gold medal performance. His time of 11.03 seconds from the prelims was a huge PR in the event. Other than the Discus, perhaps the best event of the meet for The Minutemen was the 110m Hurdles. As they did Indoors in the 55m Hurdles, senior captains Jayden Bai and Michael Gerfen took the top two spots on the podium. Bai (14.91) and Gerfen (15.03) both ran big PRs on their way to scoring 18 points for their team. Also scoring for The Minutemen was junior Jacob Pan, who was seventh overall, and freshman Simon Tandeih, who was eighth to bring the total points in the event up to 21. In getting to the finals, Tandeih (15.78) and Pan (15.84) both ran big PRs in the prelims.
The story for the Lex Girls cannot be told without highlighting the tremendous individual efforts of two of their captains. Senior Ava Criniti was simply phenomenal for her team. She began the day by defending her crown in the 2 Mile with a time of 10:58.43. She then doubled back shortly their after against a talented field in the Mile to grab the victory with a time of 5:16.39. At that point her day was supposed to be done, but as is the case in championship meets, crazy things happened that required her to get called upon to anchor the 4x800m Relay. A trio of underclassmen - freshman Meghan Caldera, sophomore Claire Cunningham, and freshman Sophie Johnson - did the work to get the team into striking distance. Then Criniti hammered it home with a 2:28.9 split to earn her team the silver medal and eight much needed points with a season best time of 10:13.66. All totaled, LHS's distance queen was responsible for 28 points. Then there was junior Katie Atkins who competed in the Pole Vault, 100m Hurdles, and the Javelin. To paint a picture of her day... Atkins was warming up for the Pole Vault, then had to run a quarter mile over to the area where the Javelin was being competed. Her first throw flew 94'1" - just off her PR - and while that competition was going on she was on the phone waiting to hear the call for her preliminary heat of the 100m Hurdles because she had to run back over to the track for that race. Atkins gutted through the prelims of the Hurdles to make it to finals. She then ran back over to finish off the Javelin, earning a bronze medal, before going back over to the Pole Vault runway where she cleared 10'0" to earn the silver medal. After that was done, it was back over to the straightaway for the finals of the Hurdles where she ran a PR of 16.80 seconds to place fifth. To put this all into perspective, many high school athletes struggle to prepare themselves for one competition on race day. Not only did Atkins prepare herself to compete, but she was just about at her best in four competitions, in three completely different events, in three separate locations, at the same time! She has been the embodiment of what it means to be a leader for her team all year long, and her poise and performance under immense pressure on Wednesday was just the next chapter of an incredible career for this young athlete.
Point Scorers for the Boys
Final Boys Team Scores
1. Lexington - 204.50
2. Reading - 102
3. Burlington - 95
4. Winchester - 88
5. Woburn - 52
6. Melrose - 44
7. Wakefield - 40
8. Arlington - 35
9. Belmont - 14
9. Stoneham - 14
11. Wilmington - 12.50
Point Scorers for the Girls
Final Girls Team Scores
1. Lexington - 138
2. Woburn - 116.50
3. Arlington - 98
4. Reading - 85
5. Burlington - 75
6. Winchester - 49.50
7. Melrose - 40.50
8. Wakefield - 29
9. Wilmington - 26
10. Stoneham - 23.50
11. Belmont - 15
12. Watertown - 4
As the Middlesex League Season has now come to a close, a special thank you must go to Lexington Athletic Director, and League Commissioner Naomi Martin. It was Martin's vision to reformat the dual meet season to allow for all meets to be run with four teams at a time, to include varsity and junior varsity athletes, and to have fully automatic timing (FAT) at all meets. Despite enormous pushback, her hard work and relentless desire to serve the student-athletes of the Middlesex League created a format that has the rest of the Bay State's Track & Field world scrambling to copy her model for how to run meets. On behalf of the LHS coaches and student-athletes, we would like to say thank you to Naomi, and we look forward to her continued leadership in years to come.
Up Next
The Minutemen now turn their eyes toward the MIAA Division 1 Championships. The two day meet will begin on Thursday, May 25th on the campus of Merrimack College at Duane Stadium at 3pm. Day 2 will be at the same location beginning at 2:30pm on Saturday, May 27th. Full details on the schedule of events can be found HERE.
Middlesex League Championships
May 17, 2023
Burlington High School - Burlington, MA
RESULTS
BURLINGTON, MA - After a Regular Season that saw the Boys' and Girls' Teams both go undefeated in dual meet action for the first time in school history, The Minutemen validated that success on Wednesday. The Boys' Team shattered the previous Championship Meet Scoring Record, putting up 202.50 points - more than double second place Reading - and bested the previous record total by over 30 points held by the 2019 LHS Squad. While the Lex Girls did not break any records, they had all they could handle from the Woburn Tanners. In the end, LHS simply had too much depth across all 18 events and won by scoring 138 points to Woburn's 116.50. While the MIAA Division 1 Championships are still ahead of them, 2023 squad has made a strong case that they are in fact the greatest team in LHS's storied history of Track & Field.
The Minutemen were led by the incomparable performance of the Bomb Squad. After breaking the Championship Record at the Indoor League Meet back in February, senior Allen Jiang had every intention of doing the same in the Outdoor Shot Put. On his third throw of the competition, Jiang unleashed a throw of the 12-pound steel ball that landed 52'2.50" into the sector. That throw broke the record previously held by Reading's Peter Fodera. With that - and the victory - Jiang can now lay claim to the title of the best Shot Putter in League History. And, in a night full of strong competition, Jiang was the only athlete in the Boys' Meet to take down a Meet Record. Next up for the Bomb Squad was the Discus. The three-headed monster that is the senior trio of Kaden "The Sundance Kid" Cassidy, "The Captain" Jack Ngo, and Jiang came into the meet as three of the top four seeds - Arlington junior Alexander Fitzsimmons was seeded second - but had every intention of sweeping the podium in their final League Championship Meet. Cassidy wasted no time, uncorking his first throw 146'5", which would end up being enough to take home gold. His best throw came on his first throw of finals, and flew 155'0". Ngo came through with the silver medal, as his best throw went a personal record distance of 144'0". Jiang (139'0") used his final throw of the competition to blast past his own PR, and picked up the bronze medal. Along with the seniors, junior Christian Arrington (120'8") earned a fifth place medal as well. With that the Bomb Squad earned their team 28 points in the Discus alone, which bested the total points of four other teams on Wednesday. Back on the track, no one did more than senior Jake Wheaton. The star sprinter ran blistering times in the prelims of the 100m and 200m. Then in the finals of the 200m, he flew away from the field to a PR of 22.61 seconds to earn his first individual League Crown. Wheaton was then back in the finals of the 100m Dash, where the senior won by daylight to earn his team another 10 points, and himself a second gold medal performance. His time of 11.03 seconds from the prelims was a huge PR in the event. Other than the Discus, perhaps the best event of the meet for The Minutemen was the 110m Hurdles. As they did Indoors in the 55m Hurdles, senior captains Jayden Bai and Michael Gerfen took the top two spots on the podium. Bai (14.91) and Gerfen (15.03) both ran big PRs on their way to scoring 18 points for their team. Also scoring for The Minutemen was junior Jacob Pan, who was seventh overall, and freshman Simon Tandeih, who was eighth to bring the total points in the event up to 21. In getting to the finals, Tandeih (15.78) and Pan (15.84) both ran big PRs in the prelims.
The story for the Lex Girls cannot be told without highlighting the tremendous individual efforts of two of their captains. Senior Ava Criniti was simply phenomenal for her team. She began the day by defending her crown in the 2 Mile with a time of 10:58.43. She then doubled back shortly their after against a talented field in the Mile to grab the victory with a time of 5:16.39. At that point her day was supposed to be done, but as is the case in championship meets, crazy things happened that required her to get called upon to anchor the 4x800m Relay. A trio of underclassmen - freshman Meghan Caldera, sophomore Claire Cunningham, and freshman Sophie Johnson - did the work to get the team into striking distance. Then Criniti hammered it home with a 2:28.9 split to earn her team the silver medal and eight much needed points with a season best time of 10:13.66. All totaled, LHS's distance queen was responsible for 28 points. Then there was junior Katie Atkins who competed in the Pole Vault, 100m Hurdles, and the Javelin. To paint a picture of her day... Atkins was warming up for the Pole Vault, then had to run a quarter mile over to the area where the Javelin was being competed. Her first throw flew 94'1" - just off her PR - and while that competition was going on she was on the phone waiting to hear the call for her preliminary heat of the 100m Hurdles because she had to run back over to the track for that race. Atkins gutted through the prelims of the Hurdles to make it to finals. She then ran back over to finish off the Javelin, earning a bronze medal, before going back over to the Pole Vault runway where she cleared 10'0" to earn the silver medal. After that was done, it was back over to the straightaway for the finals of the Hurdles where she ran a PR of 16.80 seconds to place fifth. To put this all into perspective, many high school athletes struggle to prepare themselves for one competition on race day. Not only did Atkins prepare herself to compete, but she was just about at her best in four competitions, in three completely different events, in three separate locations, at the same time! She has been the embodiment of what it means to be a leader for her team all year long, and her poise and performance under immense pressure on Wednesday was just the next chapter of an incredible career for this young athlete.
Point Scorers for the Boys
- In the 400m Hurdles, junior McKenna O'Hare Gibson (57.86) and Bai (58.46) gutted their way to a one-two finish.
- O'Hare Gibson was back to lead off the 4x400m Relay to victory along with senior Branndon Uda-Thach, junior Khai Uda-Thach, and senior Sam Simon; the quartet crossed the line in 3:33.94.
- The 800m featured the sophomore trio of Max Zhang (2:00.73), Nathan Cunningham (2:02.79), and Zach Barry (2:04.79) placing second, fourth, and eighth respectively in the event.
- Junior Joey "Candy Man" Ryan earned bronze in the 2 Mile with a personal best time of 9:39.19; he then doubled back in the Mile to earn his team another eight points in the Mile as he placed second with a time of 4:33.37.
- Senior captain Alexios Kontothanassis (43'1") had his best day of his career in the Triple Jump to qualify for the MIAA Meet of Champions and win the silver medal; Pan (41'7.25") came through with a PR of his own to earn bronze.
- In the 400m Dash, Branndon Uda-Thach earned silver with a time of 50.76 seconds.
- Kontothanassis led the 4x100m Relay along with junior Victor Yu, senior Miguel Jaramillo, and Gerfen to a silver medal in a time of 44.47 seconds.
- Along with Wheaton's victory, Kontothanassis (23.03) and Khai Uda-Thach (23.08) placed third and fourth in the 200m Finals.
- LHS's Pole Vaulters were at their best on Wednesday as freshman Aidan Raney (10'0") earned the silver medal, while senior Naresh Vytheswaran (8'6") picked up sixth place as the two both PRed by one-foot.
- The 4x800m Relay of sophomore Will Fletcher, Barry, Cunningham, and Zhang placed third with a time of 8:36.40.
- Ngo placed fourth in the Shot Put with a throw of 47'6".
- In the Long Jump, freshman Amari Mow (20'6.25") placed fourth; senior Jerry Gong (19'11") was eighth.
- O'Hare Gibson tied for seventh in the High Jump with a leap of 5'6".
Final Boys Team Scores
1. Lexington - 204.50
2. Reading - 102
3. Burlington - 95
4. Winchester - 88
5. Woburn - 52
6. Melrose - 44
7. Wakefield - 40
8. Arlington - 35
9. Belmont - 14
9. Stoneham - 14
11. Wilmington - 12.50
Point Scorers for the Girls
- After nearly breaking her own School Record in the prelims with a time of 15.26 seconds, junior Amandine Mangon took the title in the finals of the 100m Hurdles with a time of 15.36 seconds.
- In the 200m Dash, freshman Felice Haverly matched her PR of 26.50 seconds in the finals to earn the silver medal; fellow classmate Julianna Mathurin placed fifth with a time of 27.60 seconds.
- Junior Noa Helmbrecht and freshman Aubrey Deardorf both ran Division 1 qualifying times of 13.00 and 13.02 seconds in the prelims of the 100m Dash before placing third and seventh respectively in the finals.
- Helmbrecht and Deardorf were joined by junior captain Jada Solomon and sophomore Laya Barghuthi in the 4x100m Relay, as the quartet ran a time of 51.94 seconds to place second.
- The 4x400m Relay of freshman Anika Steinbrecher, senior captain Serena Caira, sophomore Caroline Kvaal, and Haverly ran 4:19.54 to earn themselves the silver medal.
- Junior Quin Tandeih placed third in the Discus with a throw of 92'3"; freshman Ella Wolosoff (87'4") was seventh.
- Caira ran a tactically sound 800m to place fourth overall in a time of 2:32.15; junior Samara McVey placed sixth in 2:34.11.
- In the Long Jump, Deardorf turned in a PR of 17'2.25" to place fifth in a very deep and talented field.
- Kvaal held down the 400m Hurdles for the Girls; she placed fifth in a time of 1:12.18.
- The Mile saw senior Uma Sanker (5:28.71), junior Dora Liao (5:39.42), and senior Jasmine Sun (5:41.84) place fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.
- Freshman Ainsley Cuthbertson placed sixth in the Shot Put with a throw of 30'8".
- Along with Atkins, freshman Bruguers Sagues (6'6") placed sixth in the Pole Vault.
- Competing in her first League Championship Meet, Steinbrecher placed sixth in the 400m Dash in a time of 1:03.64.
- Mangon placed seventh in the Triple Jump with a PR of 32'8.75".
- In the High Jump, Haverly tied for seventh by clearing 4'8".
- Sun (12:05.17) placed eighth in the 2 Mile.
Final Girls Team Scores
1. Lexington - 138
2. Woburn - 116.50
3. Arlington - 98
4. Reading - 85
5. Burlington - 75
6. Winchester - 49.50
7. Melrose - 40.50
8. Wakefield - 29
9. Wilmington - 26
10. Stoneham - 23.50
11. Belmont - 15
12. Watertown - 4
As the Middlesex League Season has now come to a close, a special thank you must go to Lexington Athletic Director, and League Commissioner Naomi Martin. It was Martin's vision to reformat the dual meet season to allow for all meets to be run with four teams at a time, to include varsity and junior varsity athletes, and to have fully automatic timing (FAT) at all meets. Despite enormous pushback, her hard work and relentless desire to serve the student-athletes of the Middlesex League created a format that has the rest of the Bay State's Track & Field world scrambling to copy her model for how to run meets. On behalf of the LHS coaches and student-athletes, we would like to say thank you to Naomi, and we look forward to her continued leadership in years to come.
Up Next
The Minutemen now turn their eyes toward the MIAA Division 1 Championships. The two day meet will begin on Thursday, May 25th on the campus of Merrimack College at Duane Stadium at 3pm. Day 2 will be at the same location beginning at 2:30pm on Saturday, May 27th. Full details on the schedule of events can be found HERE.