LEX GIRLS MAKE IT A 5th STRAIGHT MIAA DIVISION 1 TITLE; BOYS SETTLE FOR SILVER
Meet Information
MIAA Division 1 Championship Day 2
May 31, 2026
Alumni Field - Westfield, MA
Photo cred (right): EVAN WALSH/BOSTON GLOBE
RESULTS
WESTFIELD, MA - After a spectacular Day 1, The Minutemen returned to Westfield for Day 2 of the MIAA Division 1 Championship on Sunday. For the seniors, Day 2 presented an added level of planning and preparation, as Lexington High School held graduation in Lowell earlier in the day. That meant, after they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, the student-athletes had to make the 100-mile drive out to Western Mass in time to compete. Sure enough, they all made it on time, and were able to deliver everything they had for their team. In the end, the Lex girls proved to what everyone already knew they were. One of the finest high school track & field teams to ever grace the sport in Massachusetts history. With 118 points, they dominated their way to a 43-point victory over Newton North, and completed the triple crown of winning the Division 1 Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track & Field titles in the same academic year. Going back to last year, this is now the fifth straight season Lexington's girls have earned the state's highest team championship. As sweet as the victory was for the girls, that is how bitter the defeat was for the boys. The Minutemen fought their hearts out on Sunday, but fell short of the team's goal of becoming just the third Division 1 program in the last 20 years to take home both team titles. St. John's Prep won the championship with 98 points to Lexington's 85.
The meet got off to a great start for the Lex girls. With cap and gown, and a newly minted diploma in her hands, Ainsley Cuthbertson walked into Alumni Field with one more job to do for her team, win the shot put. After two solid attempts, the team's captain came through like the champion she is. The University of Alabama commit exploded through the circle, and launched the 4kg metal ball 41'2" into the sector. That throw was over four feet clear of her competitors, and simply put the gold out of reach for the rest of the field. In the end, Cuthbertson's final attempt was her best, as it landed at 41'5".
Just after the shot put wrapped up, Lexington's distance squad toed the line in the final section of the mile. The race proved to be a fantastic clash of two of the best runners in the Bay State. Sophomore Amelia Whorton, fresh off her victory in the 800m on Friday, versus Needham senior Greta Hammer, who took the 2 mile crown two days ago. When the gun fired Hammer found herself in a place she clearly did not want to be, the front. The Needham senior was running in lane two for the first 300m, hoping for someone to take the pace, but to no avail. As the pack came around to the homestretch Hammer slowed the pace so drastically, that girls tripped over each other as things bunched up tightly. It was then that Whorton made the decision to go to the lead, and keep the pace honest over the next two laps. The superstar sophomore brought the race through the halfway point in a casual 2:33.31, but it was not until the third lap that things heated up. Around the turn approaching the homestretch Hammer made a strong charge to go by Whorton, and tried to break the LHS sophomore. Whorton didn't flinch. She latched right on to Hammer's shoulder, and when they came to the backstretch for the final time, unleashed a furious kick that Hammer was helpless to match. After closing the final 800m in 2:19.35, Whorton flew through the finish line victorious with a new personal best of 4:52.66. While there were fireworks at the front, the depth of the Lex girls was on full display as junior Callie Glenn ran a big personal best of 5:01.51 to place fourth. Sophomores Janie Conrad (5:04.13) and Ella Tyson (5:06.34) contributed points as well, as they placed sixth and eighth respectively.
Next up for the Lex girls was the team's freshman phenom, Abbey Kohut. After a disappointing showing in the triple jump on Friday, Kohut was the only freshman who qualified for the finals of the 100m hurdles. She was uncharacteristically slow out of the blocks, in those finals, but grinded her way through the latter half of the race to nip Newton North's Blake MacNeal at the line by four-hundredths-of-a-second. Kohut's time of 15.24 seconds earned her the bronze medal. Right after she finished up, senior captain Aubrey Deardorf took to the track in the finals of the 100m. She managed a fourth place finish with a time of 12.47 seconds. Then walked back over to the long jump where she took over the lead with her last leap of the competition. However, the 18'11" was not enough, as MacNeal responded with a 19'3.75" In the end, Deardorf settled for silver to finish off a meet where she delivered 23 points for her team.
The final victory of the meet for Lexington did not come easily, as Glenn, sophomore Natalie Bielat, Conrad, and Whorton had to earn everything they got as they chased down Needham in the 4x800m relay. Needham's first two legs gave them a huge lead, and the Lex girls sat back in fourth place when Conrad got the baton. The sophomore ran a strong leg to bring the team back into contention, with Whorton looming on the anchor leg. When Whorton got the baton, her team was still nearly three seconds back of Needham, who had Madison Roach to close things out. On Friday, Whorton and Roche dueled in the 800m, and while Whorton got the win, Roach ran a huge PR to finish just two seconds back of Lexington's superstar. However, history proved to repeat itself as the LHS sophomore was not to be denied on Sunday. With a 2:09.56 split, Whorton ran her team to victory in an MA #1 time of 9:17.26.
Perhaps it was fitting that on the day Lexington High School's Class of 2026 completed their commencement, it was a member of that senior class who secured the final point for her team. In order to try to score the most points possible, LHS's A-team 4x1 was split up to compete their open events. That meant senior captain Monjola Finnih was called upon to anchor the relay made up of juniors Marissa Hao, Valesca Ellerman, and Natalie Seed. Sure enough, the quartet executed three clean exchanges of the baton, and managed to place eighth overall by just two-hundredths-of-a-second. That one point, brought the team's total up to the final count of 118, and was the perfect cap on an all-time year for the girls.
All season Lexington's boys have been anchored by seniors Simon Tandeih, Amari Mow, and Cleavon Manor Jr. On Sunday, each member of the trio battled through adversity, and left their hearts on the field at Westfield State. Perhaps nowhere was this more evident than in the long jump. Tandeih, who was battling a toe injury, managed a leap of 22'10.75" on his first attempt, which had him in the lead early. In the second round, Mow came through with a personal best jump of 23'6" to put Lexington in first and second on the leaderboard. That is where things sat as the final round began. Unfortunately, Manor Jr had fouled his first two attempts, and faced the very real possibility of missing the finals as the #3 seed in the event. On his last jump, with his team cheering him down the runway, he hit a legal mark, but when he crashed down in the sand he dislocated his shoulder, and was lying in pain. However, because of the gravity of the situation, he needed to get himself out of the pit under his own power for officials to be able to measure the jump. After a few minutes passed, and with trainers on site, Manor Jr was able to pop his shoulder back in place, and crawled out of the sand. Despite the herculean effort to make his mark count, in a devastating twist, the jump was just 21'5.25", which was not enough to make it to finals. To add insult to injury, in the last round of the finals, Andover's Rodrigo Siqueira jumped nearly a foot farther than his lifetime best, which knocked Tandeih down to third, and forced The Minutemen to settle for just 16 of a projected 24 points in the event.
While all this was going on, the high jump was already well underway. Manor Jr was tied for the #1 seed in the event entering the day, and as the bar continued to go up, he decided he could not just sit on the sideline and watch his team go on without him. The senior walked over to the apron, laced up his spikes, and prepared to try to salvage some points. After a rough first jump, Manor Jr dug deep, and delivered two very strong attempts, but simply could not get himself over the bar that was at 6'2". Despite the disappointing finish, the courage that he showed to literally crawl himself back into the meet to try to help his team achieve the ultimate goal was something that is hard to put into words.
As things came to a close on the apron, Tandeih loaded into the blocks for the 110m hurdles. Projected to score 10 points, The Minutemen had the breakthrough performance they needed in the prelims from fellow senior Panos Kokkinias. He ran a huge personal best of 15.01 seconds to punch his ticket to finals. In those finals, Tandeih gutted his way to victory to secure the 10 points. Kokkinias managed a fifth place finish of his own, which gave Lexington an extra fourth points for the cause. Over in the shot put circle, senior Franz Schroeder eked his way into the finals with a throw of 50'6.50". With some of the top throwers faltering, the door was open for anyone to charge through to grab victory. LHS's senior, fresh off his heroics in the discus on Friday, took his best shot in the finals. Unfortunately, he fouled what was his farthest throw of the day, which could have moved him up in the rankings. In the end, Schroeder settled for the eighth place he was projected.
The last gasp for The Minutemen came in the relays. Junior Arjun Raha (1:58.45), senior Stefanos Kontothanassis (2:07.16), junior Owen Ross (2:00.58), and sophomore Matteo Sanchez de Rojas (1:57.98) were tapped to race the 4x8. The quartet did everything they could, and ran a season best of 8:04.17. In the end, though, they were only able to pick up two points with a seventh place finish. Next was the 4x1 of junior Sheryas Hanchinamani, sophomore Bennett Siino, junior Luis Linares Gutierrez, and junior Cayden Chambers. They too managed a season best time. Their run of 42.38 seconds placed them fourth overall, but when Prep crossed the line first they put the team title out of reach for Lexington.
Other Highlights for the Girls
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Lexington - 118
2. Newton North - 75
3. Wachusett - 61.50
4. Andover - 48.50
5. Needham - 46
6. Lowell - 41
7. Central Catholic - 37
8. Acton-Boxborough - 31.50
9. Natick - 29
10. Franklin - 26.50
Other Highlights for the Boys
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. St. John's Prep - 98
2. Lexington - 85
3. Xaverian - 62
4. Brookline - 51
5. Lowell - 50.50
6. B.C. High - 47.50
7. Newton North - 47
8. Attleboro - 39.50
9. Central Catholic - 37
10. Needham - 25
Up Next
The Minutemen have a quick turnaround as they will be back in action this Thursday, June 4th for Day 1 of the MIAA Meet of Champions. With no team title on the line, the meet serves as a bit of a glorified invitational to cap off season of competition in Massachusetts. Action begins on Thursday at Duane Stadium on the campus of Merrimack College at 3:00pm.
MIAA Division 1 Championship Day 2
May 31, 2026
Alumni Field - Westfield, MA
Photo cred (right): EVAN WALSH/BOSTON GLOBE
RESULTS
WESTFIELD, MA - After a spectacular Day 1, The Minutemen returned to Westfield for Day 2 of the MIAA Division 1 Championship on Sunday. For the seniors, Day 2 presented an added level of planning and preparation, as Lexington High School held graduation in Lowell earlier in the day. That meant, after they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, the student-athletes had to make the 100-mile drive out to Western Mass in time to compete. Sure enough, they all made it on time, and were able to deliver everything they had for their team. In the end, the Lex girls proved to what everyone already knew they were. One of the finest high school track & field teams to ever grace the sport in Massachusetts history. With 118 points, they dominated their way to a 43-point victory over Newton North, and completed the triple crown of winning the Division 1 Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track & Field titles in the same academic year. Going back to last year, this is now the fifth straight season Lexington's girls have earned the state's highest team championship. As sweet as the victory was for the girls, that is how bitter the defeat was for the boys. The Minutemen fought their hearts out on Sunday, but fell short of the team's goal of becoming just the third Division 1 program in the last 20 years to take home both team titles. St. John's Prep won the championship with 98 points to Lexington's 85.
The meet got off to a great start for the Lex girls. With cap and gown, and a newly minted diploma in her hands, Ainsley Cuthbertson walked into Alumni Field with one more job to do for her team, win the shot put. After two solid attempts, the team's captain came through like the champion she is. The University of Alabama commit exploded through the circle, and launched the 4kg metal ball 41'2" into the sector. That throw was over four feet clear of her competitors, and simply put the gold out of reach for the rest of the field. In the end, Cuthbertson's final attempt was her best, as it landed at 41'5".
Just after the shot put wrapped up, Lexington's distance squad toed the line in the final section of the mile. The race proved to be a fantastic clash of two of the best runners in the Bay State. Sophomore Amelia Whorton, fresh off her victory in the 800m on Friday, versus Needham senior Greta Hammer, who took the 2 mile crown two days ago. When the gun fired Hammer found herself in a place she clearly did not want to be, the front. The Needham senior was running in lane two for the first 300m, hoping for someone to take the pace, but to no avail. As the pack came around to the homestretch Hammer slowed the pace so drastically, that girls tripped over each other as things bunched up tightly. It was then that Whorton made the decision to go to the lead, and keep the pace honest over the next two laps. The superstar sophomore brought the race through the halfway point in a casual 2:33.31, but it was not until the third lap that things heated up. Around the turn approaching the homestretch Hammer made a strong charge to go by Whorton, and tried to break the LHS sophomore. Whorton didn't flinch. She latched right on to Hammer's shoulder, and when they came to the backstretch for the final time, unleashed a furious kick that Hammer was helpless to match. After closing the final 800m in 2:19.35, Whorton flew through the finish line victorious with a new personal best of 4:52.66. While there were fireworks at the front, the depth of the Lex girls was on full display as junior Callie Glenn ran a big personal best of 5:01.51 to place fourth. Sophomores Janie Conrad (5:04.13) and Ella Tyson (5:06.34) contributed points as well, as they placed sixth and eighth respectively.
Next up for the Lex girls was the team's freshman phenom, Abbey Kohut. After a disappointing showing in the triple jump on Friday, Kohut was the only freshman who qualified for the finals of the 100m hurdles. She was uncharacteristically slow out of the blocks, in those finals, but grinded her way through the latter half of the race to nip Newton North's Blake MacNeal at the line by four-hundredths-of-a-second. Kohut's time of 15.24 seconds earned her the bronze medal. Right after she finished up, senior captain Aubrey Deardorf took to the track in the finals of the 100m. She managed a fourth place finish with a time of 12.47 seconds. Then walked back over to the long jump where she took over the lead with her last leap of the competition. However, the 18'11" was not enough, as MacNeal responded with a 19'3.75" In the end, Deardorf settled for silver to finish off a meet where she delivered 23 points for her team.
The final victory of the meet for Lexington did not come easily, as Glenn, sophomore Natalie Bielat, Conrad, and Whorton had to earn everything they got as they chased down Needham in the 4x800m relay. Needham's first two legs gave them a huge lead, and the Lex girls sat back in fourth place when Conrad got the baton. The sophomore ran a strong leg to bring the team back into contention, with Whorton looming on the anchor leg. When Whorton got the baton, her team was still nearly three seconds back of Needham, who had Madison Roach to close things out. On Friday, Whorton and Roche dueled in the 800m, and while Whorton got the win, Roach ran a huge PR to finish just two seconds back of Lexington's superstar. However, history proved to repeat itself as the LHS sophomore was not to be denied on Sunday. With a 2:09.56 split, Whorton ran her team to victory in an MA #1 time of 9:17.26.
Perhaps it was fitting that on the day Lexington High School's Class of 2026 completed their commencement, it was a member of that senior class who secured the final point for her team. In order to try to score the most points possible, LHS's A-team 4x1 was split up to compete their open events. That meant senior captain Monjola Finnih was called upon to anchor the relay made up of juniors Marissa Hao, Valesca Ellerman, and Natalie Seed. Sure enough, the quartet executed three clean exchanges of the baton, and managed to place eighth overall by just two-hundredths-of-a-second. That one point, brought the team's total up to the final count of 118, and was the perfect cap on an all-time year for the girls.
All season Lexington's boys have been anchored by seniors Simon Tandeih, Amari Mow, and Cleavon Manor Jr. On Sunday, each member of the trio battled through adversity, and left their hearts on the field at Westfield State. Perhaps nowhere was this more evident than in the long jump. Tandeih, who was battling a toe injury, managed a leap of 22'10.75" on his first attempt, which had him in the lead early. In the second round, Mow came through with a personal best jump of 23'6" to put Lexington in first and second on the leaderboard. That is where things sat as the final round began. Unfortunately, Manor Jr had fouled his first two attempts, and faced the very real possibility of missing the finals as the #3 seed in the event. On his last jump, with his team cheering him down the runway, he hit a legal mark, but when he crashed down in the sand he dislocated his shoulder, and was lying in pain. However, because of the gravity of the situation, he needed to get himself out of the pit under his own power for officials to be able to measure the jump. After a few minutes passed, and with trainers on site, Manor Jr was able to pop his shoulder back in place, and crawled out of the sand. Despite the herculean effort to make his mark count, in a devastating twist, the jump was just 21'5.25", which was not enough to make it to finals. To add insult to injury, in the last round of the finals, Andover's Rodrigo Siqueira jumped nearly a foot farther than his lifetime best, which knocked Tandeih down to third, and forced The Minutemen to settle for just 16 of a projected 24 points in the event.
While all this was going on, the high jump was already well underway. Manor Jr was tied for the #1 seed in the event entering the day, and as the bar continued to go up, he decided he could not just sit on the sideline and watch his team go on without him. The senior walked over to the apron, laced up his spikes, and prepared to try to salvage some points. After a rough first jump, Manor Jr dug deep, and delivered two very strong attempts, but simply could not get himself over the bar that was at 6'2". Despite the disappointing finish, the courage that he showed to literally crawl himself back into the meet to try to help his team achieve the ultimate goal was something that is hard to put into words.
As things came to a close on the apron, Tandeih loaded into the blocks for the 110m hurdles. Projected to score 10 points, The Minutemen had the breakthrough performance they needed in the prelims from fellow senior Panos Kokkinias. He ran a huge personal best of 15.01 seconds to punch his ticket to finals. In those finals, Tandeih gutted his way to victory to secure the 10 points. Kokkinias managed a fifth place finish of his own, which gave Lexington an extra fourth points for the cause. Over in the shot put circle, senior Franz Schroeder eked his way into the finals with a throw of 50'6.50". With some of the top throwers faltering, the door was open for anyone to charge through to grab victory. LHS's senior, fresh off his heroics in the discus on Friday, took his best shot in the finals. Unfortunately, he fouled what was his farthest throw of the day, which could have moved him up in the rankings. In the end, Schroeder settled for the eighth place he was projected.
The last gasp for The Minutemen came in the relays. Junior Arjun Raha (1:58.45), senior Stefanos Kontothanassis (2:07.16), junior Owen Ross (2:00.58), and sophomore Matteo Sanchez de Rojas (1:57.98) were tapped to race the 4x8. The quartet did everything they could, and ran a season best of 8:04.17. In the end, though, they were only able to pick up two points with a seventh place finish. Next was the 4x1 of junior Sheryas Hanchinamani, sophomore Bennett Siino, junior Luis Linares Gutierrez, and junior Cayden Chambers. They too managed a season best time. Their run of 42.38 seconds placed them fourth overall, but when Prep crossed the line first they put the team title out of reach for Lexington.
Other Highlights for the Girls
- Junior Agnes Broderick threw a huge personal best of 92'3" in the javelin to finish 10th overall; sophomore Casey Wilkas (81'8") was 18th.
- Sophomore Sabina Green finished 11th in the 100m with a time of 12.88 seconds.
- In the 400m, freshman Zara Zaidi (1:00.02) was 11th.
- Kohut (17'5.75") finished 11th in the long jump.
- The 4x400m relay of Hao, sophomore Addie Haiar, Wilkas, and Zaidi finished 15th with a time of 4:14.44.
- Also competing in the mile was junior Alycia Charest, who finished 18th with a PR of 5:21.19.
- Finnih (18.25) was 30th in the 100m hurdles.
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Lexington - 118
2. Newton North - 75
3. Wachusett - 61.50
4. Andover - 48.50
5. Needham - 46
6. Lowell - 41
7. Central Catholic - 37
8. Acton-Boxborough - 31.50
9. Natick - 29
10. Franklin - 26.50
Other Highlights for the Boys
- LHS's pole vault squad managed seven points as senior Aidan Raney placed third with 13'0" and the only freshman in the field, Will Webster, placed eighth by clearing 11'0"; senior Brendan McVey (10'0") finished 12th.
- Mow placed seventh in the 100m dash finals with a time of 11.09; Chambers (11.24) was 15th in the prelims.
- Linares Gutierrez finished ninth in the long jump with a PR of 22'1.25".
- Siino finished 10th in the 400m with a PR of 50.36 seconds.
- Juniors Trevor Stevens (4:25.51) and Alden Hall (4:26.28) ran PRs in the mile to finish 12th and 14th respectively; fellow classmate Patrick Noonan (4:32.52) was 28th.
- Senior Christian Brown was 18th with a throw of 43'0.50" in the shot put.
- The 4x400m of Hanchinamani, Sanchez de Rojas, junior Lakshya Kesanakurti, and senior Will Parker finished 19th in 3:40.27.
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. St. John's Prep - 98
2. Lexington - 85
3. Xaverian - 62
4. Brookline - 51
5. Lowell - 50.50
6. B.C. High - 47.50
7. Newton North - 47
8. Attleboro - 39.50
9. Central Catholic - 37
10. Needham - 25
Up Next
The Minutemen have a quick turnaround as they will be back in action this Thursday, June 4th for Day 1 of the MIAA Meet of Champions. With no team title on the line, the meet serves as a bit of a glorified invitational to cap off season of competition in Massachusetts. Action begins on Thursday at Duane Stadium on the campus of Merrimack College at 3:00pm.