THE MINUTEMEN MUSTER A NUMBER OF STELLAR PERFORMANCES AT DIVISION 1 RELAYS
Meet Information
MSTCA Division 1 Relays
April 28, 2019
Braintree High School - Braintree, MA
RESULTS
BRAINTREE, MA - On Sunday The Minutemen traveled down to Braintree for the annual Division 1 Relay Meet. As has been the case for Lexington's squads all season, they were able to compete at a surprisingly high level despite missing key members. In the team competition, the girls finished 14th out of 25 schools with their 10 points all coming from a tremendous victory by the 4x800m team - Natick won with 54 points. While on the boys side Lowell took the team title with 55 points, The Minutemen were all over the scoreboard, putting up points in seven of eight running events and two of three throwing events. All totaled they finished in fifth place with 40 points.
The 4x800m relay was truly the highlight of the day for the girls. Junior Pauline Steines got things off to a fast start running a huge personal best split of 2:22.2. While the girls from Natick High School had a good lead on the field, Steines' leg put LHS in the front of the chase pack along with 2019 Indoor State Champions in the event Boston Latin. Lina Jafaar, the youngest member of the relay team, then took the baton and ran a big PR of her own (2:25.5) that helped close the gap on Natick before handing off to junior Danna Ofek. Cruising through the first quarter mile in a crisp 70 seconds, the 2 Mile specialist was able to hunt down the lead and hand off the baton with a lead of a few meter after running a personal best 2:23.5 split. At that point it was up to junior captain Lily Sheth to try to anchor the team to victory. After taking the hand-off, Sheth burst out to a very fast start and blazed through the first lap in 64 seconds. She then powered around the final turn and was able to hold off a final charge from Boston Latin star Annie Jackson to take the victory in a state best time of 9:35.84. Sheth's 2:23.4 split made it a clean sweep of PRs for the team, and hopefully is a sign of things to come as the calendar turns to May and championships season approaches.
For the boys, the highlight of their meet came in the first event of the morning the 4x1600m relay. With the return of junior Matt McAlarney to The Minutemen for the Outdoor season the depth of distance talent was there for LHS to make a run at the title in this event, but to say that this was a one man effort would be far from factual. Senior Eli Gappelberg got things off to a good start with an opening leg of 4:33 that put LHS in a chase pack behind Newton North and Needham. Then junior Adam Bernstein used a personal best 4:34 leg to begin to reel-in the leaders. McAlarney blasted his first quarter in 64 seconds, but then was able to settle into a solid pace which put The Minutemen in the lead going into the final hand-off. At that point it was up to junior Micah Benson to bring it home. Benson too road the adrenaline of the moment to a fast first quarter - 63 seconds - before settling into a more manageable pace through the next two laps. As he came to the bell Needham had fallen back but Newton North's Ian Horsburgh was right on his shoulder. Benson, who is not known for his kick, found a gear he never has had before Sunday and simply left Horsburgh with 250m to go. When all was said and done the Lexington harrier used a personal best 4:25 to win the race by over four seconds in a time of 18:19.58.
Other Highlights for the Girls
Other Highlights for the Boys
Up Next
The Minutemen have a short turnaround for their next meet on Tuesday afternoon. This will be the final home meet of the season and it will feature the archrival Tanners of Woburn coming to Town. The meet - at Lexington's Center Track - is set to begin at 4pm weather permitting.
MSTCA Division 1 Relays
April 28, 2019
Braintree High School - Braintree, MA
RESULTS
BRAINTREE, MA - On Sunday The Minutemen traveled down to Braintree for the annual Division 1 Relay Meet. As has been the case for Lexington's squads all season, they were able to compete at a surprisingly high level despite missing key members. In the team competition, the girls finished 14th out of 25 schools with their 10 points all coming from a tremendous victory by the 4x800m team - Natick won with 54 points. While on the boys side Lowell took the team title with 55 points, The Minutemen were all over the scoreboard, putting up points in seven of eight running events and two of three throwing events. All totaled they finished in fifth place with 40 points.
The 4x800m relay was truly the highlight of the day for the girls. Junior Pauline Steines got things off to a fast start running a huge personal best split of 2:22.2. While the girls from Natick High School had a good lead on the field, Steines' leg put LHS in the front of the chase pack along with 2019 Indoor State Champions in the event Boston Latin. Lina Jafaar, the youngest member of the relay team, then took the baton and ran a big PR of her own (2:25.5) that helped close the gap on Natick before handing off to junior Danna Ofek. Cruising through the first quarter mile in a crisp 70 seconds, the 2 Mile specialist was able to hunt down the lead and hand off the baton with a lead of a few meter after running a personal best 2:23.5 split. At that point it was up to junior captain Lily Sheth to try to anchor the team to victory. After taking the hand-off, Sheth burst out to a very fast start and blazed through the first lap in 64 seconds. She then powered around the final turn and was able to hold off a final charge from Boston Latin star Annie Jackson to take the victory in a state best time of 9:35.84. Sheth's 2:23.4 split made it a clean sweep of PRs for the team, and hopefully is a sign of things to come as the calendar turns to May and championships season approaches.
For the boys, the highlight of their meet came in the first event of the morning the 4x1600m relay. With the return of junior Matt McAlarney to The Minutemen for the Outdoor season the depth of distance talent was there for LHS to make a run at the title in this event, but to say that this was a one man effort would be far from factual. Senior Eli Gappelberg got things off to a good start with an opening leg of 4:33 that put LHS in a chase pack behind Newton North and Needham. Then junior Adam Bernstein used a personal best 4:34 leg to begin to reel-in the leaders. McAlarney blasted his first quarter in 64 seconds, but then was able to settle into a solid pace which put The Minutemen in the lead going into the final hand-off. At that point it was up to junior Micah Benson to bring it home. Benson too road the adrenaline of the moment to a fast first quarter - 63 seconds - before settling into a more manageable pace through the next two laps. As he came to the bell Needham had fallen back but Newton North's Ian Horsburgh was right on his shoulder. Benson, who is not known for his kick, found a gear he never has had before Sunday and simply left Horsburgh with 250m to go. When all was said and done the Lexington harrier used a personal best 4:25 to win the race by over four seconds in a time of 18:19.58.
Other Highlights for the Girls
- The 4x1600m relay of Lauren Sterne, Izzy Jakimczyk, Anna Nelson, and Clara Fu ran solid times en route to a 23:48.92 time and seventh place finish.
- Junior Rachel Caldwell-Glixon took a huge leap in the Long Jump (16'10.25") to lead freshmen Anna Yang (15'4.5") and sophomore Hannah Jiang (14'3.5") to a seventh place finish of their own.
- Along with the Long Jump, "RCG" and Jiang teamed up with senior captain Sydney Porter to finish 10th in the High Jump with a combined height of 13'8".
- Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas, Aylin Bruce, Yuna Cho, and senior captain Kesinia Sortor finished 10th in the DMR (1200,400,800,1600) in 13:28.28.
- 30 minutes after their 4x800m victory Steines, Jafaar, and Sheth were joined by sophomore Catherine Movsessian to finish 10th in a season best 4:15.50 in the 4x400m relay.
Other Highlights for the Boys
- The Shuttle Hurdle group of Liam Cotter, Ian Richter, Ryan Atkins, and Shymon Samsel placed third in the event in 1:06.05.
- In the 1600m Sprint Medley Relay (800,200,200,400) Selvin Backert split 1:59.3 to get The Minutemen going; senior captain Riley Walsh and fellow classmates Alex Hiser and Kazu Uda-Thach then brought it home for another third place finish in a time of 3:36.73.
- Selvin's twin brother Josh anchored the 4x800m relay with a 2:00.3 split en route to another bronze medal. Along with Evan Eberle, Jack Stevens, and Maxim Slobodchikov the team ran 8:21.94 and qualified for the Division 1 Championships.
- The 4x200m relay of Walsh, fellow captain Matt Pusatere, junior Sal Jaramillo and sophomore Colin Breen placed fifth in 1:33.52.
- LHS's DMR was book ended the DiCerbo brothers. The older, Lucas, opened up in 3:24.4 while younger brother Max brought it home with a personal best time of 4:36.5. Juno Daciuk (53.9) and Traver Smith III (2:09.1) covered the middle legs for the relay which placed sixth by less than a second.
- The 4x400m saw the return of star junior Andrew McGovern to the track for The Minutemen. His split of 51.2 combined with solid legs by Uda-Thach and the Backert brothers propelled the team to yet another third place finish (3:27.93) in the final event on the track.
- Jarret Dlugy, Micahel Gupta, and Beau Vernet combined to finish fifth in the Discus Relay with a combined distance of 327'4".
- Picking up a point in the Javelin Relay was Carter Franciskovich, Max Seidel, and Pusatere with a sixth place finish (358'5").
Up Next
The Minutemen have a short turnaround for their next meet on Tuesday afternoon. This will be the final home meet of the season and it will feature the archrival Tanners of Woburn coming to Town. The meet - at Lexington's Center Track - is set to begin at 4pm weather permitting.