GIRLS OUT TO AN EARLY LEAD; BOYS SIT 2ND AFTER DAY 1 OF DIVISION 1 CHAMPIONSHIP
Meet Information
MIAA Division 1 Championship Day 1
May 29, 2025
Ellis Oval - Medford, MA
Photo cred (right): MATTHEW J. LEE/BOSTON GLOBE STAFF
RESULTS
MEDFORD, MA - For the first time in recent memory, the campus of Tufts University serves as host for the MIAA Division 1 Championships. With the meet being just a short distance from Lexington, the atmosphere felt like a home meet as The Minutemen's alumni and fans were out in force cheering on their team. And, after a day's worth of competition, LHS outperformed expectations across nearly every event to find themselves leading the girls' meet with 44 points - Westford Academy is the closest challenger with 24. On the boys' side The Minutemen are chasing Brookline who also scored 44 points to lead the team competition. Lexington currently sits second with 37 points of their own.
Just 11 days ago, star junior Simon Tandeih went down with an injury that looked like it could derail his season and his team's hopes of competing for a state title. However, rest, rehab, and a little bit of luck brought the captain to the starting line of the first event of the Pentathlon, the 110m Hurdles. There, Tandeih dominated the event running a personal best of 14.61 seconds to show his team and competitors that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with at this meet. After a disappointing High Jump saw him only clearly 1.77m (5'9.75"), Tandeih came back to win the Shot Put with a personal best throw of 12.70m (41'8") and then the Long Jump, where his final attempt landed him 6.78m (22'3") into the pit. With that, the LHS junior had built a huge lead in the Pent going into the grueling final event, the 1500m. With the weight of four events weighing him down, Tandeih found it in himself to deliver a time of 5:13.20. That mark brought his point total up to a new personal best and LHS record of 3396, which won the event by 90 points over St. John's Prep's Lincoln Massaro, and gave his team 10 much needed points. While Tandeih was incredible, the story of Day 1 for the Lexington boys was how the team constantly picked each other up. Seeded 5th in the Triple Jump, junior Cleavon Manor Jr. was dealing with injury and illness, and only managed 11th in the event. However, junior captain Amari Mow turned in a big personal best of 44'1.50" to earn 4th place and 5 points for his team. In the Pole Vault, junior Aidan Raney was seeded 1st, but was bested by Acton-Boxborough senior Diego Harris for the victory. But just minutes after Raney missed his final jump at 13'6", seniors James Joseph and Zach Barry delivered a major momentum swing in the meet. The unseeded section of the 800m was won in by Brookline's Altamo Aschkensay in an MA #1 time of 1:52.76, which put the seeded section on notice. In that top section, Joseph and Barry were in the front pack as the race came through the 400m mark in 56 seconds. As the race came down the backstretch, Joseph swung wide, moved into second place, and began to gap the rest of the field. His bold charge appeared to be enough, but with 50m to go a group of 4 runners, including Barry gave one final dash towards the line. When the dust settled, the scoreboard at the Ellis Oval showed Joseph had finished in a PR of 1:55.76 to secure 2nd in the heat, 3rd overall, and Barry had grabbed the next spot with a PR of 1:55.88. With that, LHS had secured 11 more points to vault up the leaderboard. The last of The Minutemen's points on the day were delivered by junior Nick Roell, who managed 7th in the Discus with a throw of 141'0", and sophomore Patrick Noonan (9:31.49), who ran a gutsy race to place 8th in a loaded 2 Mile.
While the boys were scratching for every point they could muster, the Lex girls were delivering blow after blow to the wildly talented field of competitors assembled in Medford. The tone was set by LHS's Bomb Squad as star junior Ainsley Cuthbertson and freshman sensation Evelyn Radcliffe sent a message with their first round throws. Cuthbertson launched the discus 126'0" into the sector, which ended up being nearly 6 feet farther than her closest competitor. Her closest competitor ended up being Radcliffe, as the freshman bested her PR by over 5 feet with a throw of 120'6". That mark earned Radcliffe the silver medal, but in the final round Cuthbertson found a new gear. With the title already clinched, the LHS junior stepped into the circle, her teammates and competitors all clapping in unison as she wound up for one final throw. Cuthbertson's final attempt crashed down 130'8" into the sector to cap off an incredible performance that saw her and Radcliffe earn 18 points for their team. Back on the track, freshman Sarojini Nath lined up in the unseeded section of the 400m Hurdles. Lanes 1 and 2 were still a bit damp from rain earlier in the day, so meet organizers decided to only run the event in lanes 3 through 8. That meant Nath was placed out in lane 8, where she would be unable to see any of her competitors early in the race. Perhaps running blind contributed to her breakout performance, but the fact of the matter is that the freshman delivered a huge personal best of 1:08.59. That time won her heat by a wide margin and held up through the seeded section to place 5th overall. The next event for the Lex girls was the 800m where freshman Amelia Whorton lined up in one of the deepest Divisional fields in recent memory. Seeded 4th with a personal best of 2:13.93, Whorton found herself boxed in as the race came down the homestretch for the first time. However, the freshman found an opening and burst up to the front of the chase pack with only Westford Academy's Abigail Hennessy in front of her. Whorton charged after Hennessy, but as the race came around the final turn it was clear she was too far gone. Despite this, the LHS freshman remained composed and held off a late run by Newton South's Emily Frawley to cross the line 2nd in 2:10.16. That performance broke the school record set by Lucy Lang (LHS '15), but more importantly delivered a big 8 points for the team. Fast-forward to the finals of the 200m, where junior Felice Haverly (26.38) picked up 2 more points for the team with a 7th place finish. The Lex girls picked up another point after junior Monjola Finnih managed to place 8th in the Pentathlon. Finnih's first Pent, saw the Lex girls score their first point in the event since Rachel Caldwell-Glixon won the event back in 2019. The final event of the day, the 2 Mile, presented a big opportunity for The Minutemen as they had 9 athletes entered. As she lined up for the unseeded section, sophomore Callie Glenn knew she had one job. Win the race in a time that gave her a chance to score points. She did just that. Glenn pulled away from the field in the second mile and crossed the line with a new personal best of 11:13.11, which held up to place 6th overall after the seeded heat was complete. In that seeded heat, freshman Janie Conrad found herself in a familiar position as she was tasked with taking on Needham's Greta Hammer, Westford Academy's Emily Wedlake, and the Cambridge duo of Aoife Shovlin and Sophia Juanes Seto. Back in November Conrad faced this group at the Divisional and All-State Cross Country Championships, and was simply not ready to compete with these elite racers who had years of experience on her. Thursday was a different story. From the moment the gun fired, Conrad stuck herself in the pack of five that quickly separated from the field. The fast early pace left her unphased as she came through the mile in a sizzling 5:13. Over the next four laps, the freshman moved past the Cambridge girls and Wedlake, before she took aim at the Indoor 2 Mile Champ, Hammer. In the end, Hammer had too much and won the race. However, Conrad, who held off a furious finish by the Westford Academy junior, finished just 2 seconds behind the Needham junior in 2nd place with a massive personal best of 10:38.62. Along with Glenn's performance, the pair picked up 11 points to put a stamp on a great Day 1 for LHS.
Other Highlights for the Boys
Boys Team Scores After Day 1 (Top 5)
1. Brookline - 44
2. Lexington - 37
3. Lowell - 33
4. Acton-Boxborough - 28
5. Newton North - 24
Other Highlights for the Girls
Girls Team Scores After Day 1 (Top 5)
1. Lexington - 44
2. Westford Academy - 24
3. Natick - 20
3. Needham - 20
5. Newton North - 19
Up Next
After a great Day 1, The Minutemen will have a lot of work cut out for them as Day 2 looms. Action begins at the Ellis Oval for Day 2 of the MIAA Division 1 Championship on Saturday, May 31st at 2:30pm. Live results can be found HERE.
MIAA Division 1 Championship Day 1
May 29, 2025
Ellis Oval - Medford, MA
Photo cred (right): MATTHEW J. LEE/BOSTON GLOBE STAFF
RESULTS
MEDFORD, MA - For the first time in recent memory, the campus of Tufts University serves as host for the MIAA Division 1 Championships. With the meet being just a short distance from Lexington, the atmosphere felt like a home meet as The Minutemen's alumni and fans were out in force cheering on their team. And, after a day's worth of competition, LHS outperformed expectations across nearly every event to find themselves leading the girls' meet with 44 points - Westford Academy is the closest challenger with 24. On the boys' side The Minutemen are chasing Brookline who also scored 44 points to lead the team competition. Lexington currently sits second with 37 points of their own.
Just 11 days ago, star junior Simon Tandeih went down with an injury that looked like it could derail his season and his team's hopes of competing for a state title. However, rest, rehab, and a little bit of luck brought the captain to the starting line of the first event of the Pentathlon, the 110m Hurdles. There, Tandeih dominated the event running a personal best of 14.61 seconds to show his team and competitors that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with at this meet. After a disappointing High Jump saw him only clearly 1.77m (5'9.75"), Tandeih came back to win the Shot Put with a personal best throw of 12.70m (41'8") and then the Long Jump, where his final attempt landed him 6.78m (22'3") into the pit. With that, the LHS junior had built a huge lead in the Pent going into the grueling final event, the 1500m. With the weight of four events weighing him down, Tandeih found it in himself to deliver a time of 5:13.20. That mark brought his point total up to a new personal best and LHS record of 3396, which won the event by 90 points over St. John's Prep's Lincoln Massaro, and gave his team 10 much needed points. While Tandeih was incredible, the story of Day 1 for the Lexington boys was how the team constantly picked each other up. Seeded 5th in the Triple Jump, junior Cleavon Manor Jr. was dealing with injury and illness, and only managed 11th in the event. However, junior captain Amari Mow turned in a big personal best of 44'1.50" to earn 4th place and 5 points for his team. In the Pole Vault, junior Aidan Raney was seeded 1st, but was bested by Acton-Boxborough senior Diego Harris for the victory. But just minutes after Raney missed his final jump at 13'6", seniors James Joseph and Zach Barry delivered a major momentum swing in the meet. The unseeded section of the 800m was won in by Brookline's Altamo Aschkensay in an MA #1 time of 1:52.76, which put the seeded section on notice. In that top section, Joseph and Barry were in the front pack as the race came through the 400m mark in 56 seconds. As the race came down the backstretch, Joseph swung wide, moved into second place, and began to gap the rest of the field. His bold charge appeared to be enough, but with 50m to go a group of 4 runners, including Barry gave one final dash towards the line. When the dust settled, the scoreboard at the Ellis Oval showed Joseph had finished in a PR of 1:55.76 to secure 2nd in the heat, 3rd overall, and Barry had grabbed the next spot with a PR of 1:55.88. With that, LHS had secured 11 more points to vault up the leaderboard. The last of The Minutemen's points on the day were delivered by junior Nick Roell, who managed 7th in the Discus with a throw of 141'0", and sophomore Patrick Noonan (9:31.49), who ran a gutsy race to place 8th in a loaded 2 Mile.
While the boys were scratching for every point they could muster, the Lex girls were delivering blow after blow to the wildly talented field of competitors assembled in Medford. The tone was set by LHS's Bomb Squad as star junior Ainsley Cuthbertson and freshman sensation Evelyn Radcliffe sent a message with their first round throws. Cuthbertson launched the discus 126'0" into the sector, which ended up being nearly 6 feet farther than her closest competitor. Her closest competitor ended up being Radcliffe, as the freshman bested her PR by over 5 feet with a throw of 120'6". That mark earned Radcliffe the silver medal, but in the final round Cuthbertson found a new gear. With the title already clinched, the LHS junior stepped into the circle, her teammates and competitors all clapping in unison as she wound up for one final throw. Cuthbertson's final attempt crashed down 130'8" into the sector to cap off an incredible performance that saw her and Radcliffe earn 18 points for their team. Back on the track, freshman Sarojini Nath lined up in the unseeded section of the 400m Hurdles. Lanes 1 and 2 were still a bit damp from rain earlier in the day, so meet organizers decided to only run the event in lanes 3 through 8. That meant Nath was placed out in lane 8, where she would be unable to see any of her competitors early in the race. Perhaps running blind contributed to her breakout performance, but the fact of the matter is that the freshman delivered a huge personal best of 1:08.59. That time won her heat by a wide margin and held up through the seeded section to place 5th overall. The next event for the Lex girls was the 800m where freshman Amelia Whorton lined up in one of the deepest Divisional fields in recent memory. Seeded 4th with a personal best of 2:13.93, Whorton found herself boxed in as the race came down the homestretch for the first time. However, the freshman found an opening and burst up to the front of the chase pack with only Westford Academy's Abigail Hennessy in front of her. Whorton charged after Hennessy, but as the race came around the final turn it was clear she was too far gone. Despite this, the LHS freshman remained composed and held off a late run by Newton South's Emily Frawley to cross the line 2nd in 2:10.16. That performance broke the school record set by Lucy Lang (LHS '15), but more importantly delivered a big 8 points for the team. Fast-forward to the finals of the 200m, where junior Felice Haverly (26.38) picked up 2 more points for the team with a 7th place finish. The Lex girls picked up another point after junior Monjola Finnih managed to place 8th in the Pentathlon. Finnih's first Pent, saw the Lex girls score their first point in the event since Rachel Caldwell-Glixon won the event back in 2019. The final event of the day, the 2 Mile, presented a big opportunity for The Minutemen as they had 9 athletes entered. As she lined up for the unseeded section, sophomore Callie Glenn knew she had one job. Win the race in a time that gave her a chance to score points. She did just that. Glenn pulled away from the field in the second mile and crossed the line with a new personal best of 11:13.11, which held up to place 6th overall after the seeded heat was complete. In that seeded heat, freshman Janie Conrad found herself in a familiar position as she was tasked with taking on Needham's Greta Hammer, Westford Academy's Emily Wedlake, and the Cambridge duo of Aoife Shovlin and Sophia Juanes Seto. Back in November Conrad faced this group at the Divisional and All-State Cross Country Championships, and was simply not ready to compete with these elite racers who had years of experience on her. Thursday was a different story. From the moment the gun fired, Conrad stuck herself in the pack of five that quickly separated from the field. The fast early pace left her unphased as she came through the mile in a sizzling 5:13. Over the next four laps, the freshman moved past the Cambridge girls and Wedlake, before she took aim at the Indoor 2 Mile Champ, Hammer. In the end, Hammer had too much and won the race. However, Conrad, who held off a furious finish by the Westford Academy junior, finished just 2 seconds behind the Needham junior in 2nd place with a massive personal best of 10:38.62. Along with Glenn's performance, the pair picked up 11 points to put a stamp on a great Day 1 for LHS.
Other Highlights for the Boys
- Along with Roell, the Discus saw senior Adrian Boell throw of PR of 133'0" and finish 11th; senior Raphael LeDonne (128'8") finished 14th; junior Franz Schroeder (104'11") was 27th.
- Sophomore Cayden Chambers ran a personal best of 22.48 second in the 200m to finish 12th.
- In the 400m Hurdles, senior Kabir Gokarn finished 20th in 1:02.29.
- Sophomore Arjun Raha (2:02.27), senior Nathan Cunningham (2:02.63), and sophomore Eric House (2:02.66) finished 24th, 25th, and 26th respectively in the 800m.
Boys Team Scores After Day 1 (Top 5)
1. Brookline - 44
2. Lexington - 37
3. Lowell - 33
4. Acton-Boxborough - 28
5. Newton North - 24
Other Highlights for the Girls
- Finnih's 8th place Pentathlon featured a 17.54 in the 100m Hurdles, 7.37m (24'2.25") in the Shot Put, 4.92m (16'1.75") in the Long Jump, 1.20m (3'11.25") in the High Jump, and a time of 2:57.68 in the 800m.
- In the Discus, junior Ella Wolosoff qualified for the finals and finished 9th with a throw of 98'0".
- Sophomore Alycia Charest (11:29.10) finished 12th in the 2 Mile; sophomore Erin Ehmann (11:38.84) finished 18th; junior Meghan Caldera (11:41.11) was 20th; freshman Ella Tyson (11:49.14) finished 25th; junior captain Thayer DiCerbo (11:54.12) was 27th; freshman Daphne Warren finished 30th in 11:59.77; sophomore Josie Bettencourt (12:17.95) was 34th overall.
- In the 400m Hurdles, senior captain Caroline Kvaal ran a big season best of 1:10.54 to finish 13th overall in what will be the final high school intermediate hurdle race of her career; freshman Kashish Kumar (1:11.61) finished 20th overall.
- Senior Lucy Kontos (2:22.73), freshman Natalie Bielat (2:23.07), and senior captain Claire Cunningham (2:24.777) all ran season or personal bests as the trio finished 21st, 24th, and 26th respectively in the 800m.
- It was freshman Cynthia Gu (32'5.75") who finished 18th in the Triple Jump.
- Junior Julianna Mathurin (27.48) finished 29th in the 200m.
Girls Team Scores After Day 1 (Top 5)
1. Lexington - 44
2. Westford Academy - 24
3. Natick - 20
3. Needham - 20
5. Newton North - 19
Up Next
After a great Day 1, The Minutemen will have a lot of work cut out for them as Day 2 looms. Action begins at the Ellis Oval for Day 2 of the MIAA Division 1 Championship on Saturday, May 31st at 2:30pm. Live results can be found HERE.