THE MINUTEMEN COMPETE AT HIGHLAND PARK INVITATIONAL
Meet Information
Highland Park Invitational
September 18, 2021
Highland Park - Attleboro, MA
RESULTS
ATTLEBORO, MA - Saturday The Minutemen traveled down to the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park for the 2nd Annual Highland Park Invitational. The deceptively challenging course combined soft ground and rolling hills with some muggy weather to give competitors a true measure of where they are at with their fitness at this early stage of the season. With that in mind, both the Lex Boys and Girls teams showed well with both placing fourth overall with 82 and 103 points respectively. On the boys side La Salle Academy, RI dominated the field scoring just 29 points. While the girls from East Greenwich, RI took the title with a score of 39 points.
"Runner on the Course" by Serena Caira, Uma Sanker & Ashley Taylor
Runner on the Course is back! And luckily this time around, one year later, we have ventured outside of our home course. Since we know you were all yearning for another recap, we are happy to be continuing the legacy after saying goodbye to the original runner on the course, author Izzy Jakimczyk.
The Minutemen left the hilly plains of Lexington High on Saturday, migrating south to Attleboro to compete in the 2nd Annual Highland Park Invitational. Up first, and running on the 3k course, our freshmen girls team set the bar quite high for the rest of us with all of them coming in the top 15. Special shout-outs go to our top three girls who all medaled on Saturday. Claire Cunningham (13:44.30) finished in fourth place, Brett Castro (13:45.00) in fifth place and the tiny but mighty Mirei Saneyoshi (14:08.40) placed 10th overall.
Next came the girls JV race where 17 of our runners were about to do their first highly anticipated 5K of the season. At the sound of the gun, junior Serena Caira quickly took the lead then soon realized she was in for a reality check after the first mile, and ended up battling through to earn a medal in 10th place with a time of 23:14.60. Following shortly after was junior Ashley Taylor (23:27.00) in 14th, which according to her was solely “thanks to Taylor Swift’s ‘Trouble’ on the speakers” during the second mile. Another strong performance was turned in by junior Sarah Lane, who finished 19th with a personal best time of 23:52.50.
In the varsity race, the Lex Girls were led by a special performance from Clara “Wake Up and Be Happy” Fu. The senior captain traversed the challenging course with ease to place fifth with a new PR of 19:49.30. Next came junior Mirra Payson who stayed tough throughout the race to finish in 11th place with a time of 20:39.70. Fellow classmate Uma Sanker was next for the Lex Girls with a time of 21:46.80 to place 22nd. Despite not being thrilled with the soft grass turf at Highland Park, senior captain Camelia Atassi (22:29.90) was able to turn in a PR and finish 32nd overall. She was followed immediately by junior Jasmine Sun, who rounded out the top five with a PR of her own - 22:29.90 - to finish 33rd overall. Other great performances came from sophomores Maya “I’m a Mid-D runner” Dubrovsky and Dora Liao who both pushed through their first varsity races with times of 22:54.00 and 23:32.50, respectively.
Onto the MinuteMEN...
Once again the Lexington freshmen proved themselves with the top four boys all medaling. Max Zhang led the way, placing fourth overall with a time of 11:43.50. Nathan Cunningham (11:53.00) was next for LHS, placing seventh. He was followed closely by Daniel Ryans (12:03.30) and Graham Schrodel (12:03.70) who placed ninth and 10th respectively. We always seem to have a surplus of fast freshmen!
Continuing the medal trend in the junior varsity race, Lexington’s top four boys all earned medals. The Minutemen were led by sophomore Joey Ryan’s tremendous PR of 18:19.20 to place second overall. Following Ryan’s lead was a trio of juniors. Ian Miller, who charged through the second half of the race to grab the bronze medal with a time of 18:26.70; Rob Badger (18:29.70) and Oliver Morris (18:51.10) rounded out the top 10 by placing fifth and 10th respectively. (Notice how we didn’t say junior junior varsity boys to help you out!)
The last race of the day was the Boys varsity, who also placed fourth overall with 82 points. With several runners out for the day, the rest of the boys had to pull through, especially our JV boys who had to step up and run varsity. And it’s safe to say the boys stepped up. The boys were led by senior captain Graham Bracken, who hung back over the first half of the race before surging up to medal position - 10th overall - with a personal best time of 17:04.20. Following a similar strategy was fellow classmate and captain Noah Quadri who was 16th in 17:34.70. Senior captain Ollie DiCerbo (17:37.70) and senior Thomas Lane (17:39.00) were 18th and 19th respectively. Running his first varsity XC race of his career, junior Aidan McPhee rounded out The Minutemen's top five in a time of 18:22.50 to place 29th. You won’t have to wait long to see our top boys race again as we have a meet coming up this week!
See you Tuesday for our first dual meet of the season, where for the first time this year, we will race the highly anticipated Loring!
Up Next
The Minutemen begin the Middlesex League's regular season this Tuesday, September 21st at home against Burlington. While this meet does not count in the regular season standings, as Burlington is in the Freedom Division, it will provide the first opportunity to race on the LHS home course from Lincoln Field since 2019. The meet is set to begin at 4:30pm.
Highland Park Invitational
September 18, 2021
Highland Park - Attleboro, MA
RESULTS
ATTLEBORO, MA - Saturday The Minutemen traveled down to the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park for the 2nd Annual Highland Park Invitational. The deceptively challenging course combined soft ground and rolling hills with some muggy weather to give competitors a true measure of where they are at with their fitness at this early stage of the season. With that in mind, both the Lex Boys and Girls teams showed well with both placing fourth overall with 82 and 103 points respectively. On the boys side La Salle Academy, RI dominated the field scoring just 29 points. While the girls from East Greenwich, RI took the title with a score of 39 points.
"Runner on the Course" by Serena Caira, Uma Sanker & Ashley Taylor
Runner on the Course is back! And luckily this time around, one year later, we have ventured outside of our home course. Since we know you were all yearning for another recap, we are happy to be continuing the legacy after saying goodbye to the original runner on the course, author Izzy Jakimczyk.
The Minutemen left the hilly plains of Lexington High on Saturday, migrating south to Attleboro to compete in the 2nd Annual Highland Park Invitational. Up first, and running on the 3k course, our freshmen girls team set the bar quite high for the rest of us with all of them coming in the top 15. Special shout-outs go to our top three girls who all medaled on Saturday. Claire Cunningham (13:44.30) finished in fourth place, Brett Castro (13:45.00) in fifth place and the tiny but mighty Mirei Saneyoshi (14:08.40) placed 10th overall.
Next came the girls JV race where 17 of our runners were about to do their first highly anticipated 5K of the season. At the sound of the gun, junior Serena Caira quickly took the lead then soon realized she was in for a reality check after the first mile, and ended up battling through to earn a medal in 10th place with a time of 23:14.60. Following shortly after was junior Ashley Taylor (23:27.00) in 14th, which according to her was solely “thanks to Taylor Swift’s ‘Trouble’ on the speakers” during the second mile. Another strong performance was turned in by junior Sarah Lane, who finished 19th with a personal best time of 23:52.50.
In the varsity race, the Lex Girls were led by a special performance from Clara “Wake Up and Be Happy” Fu. The senior captain traversed the challenging course with ease to place fifth with a new PR of 19:49.30. Next came junior Mirra Payson who stayed tough throughout the race to finish in 11th place with a time of 20:39.70. Fellow classmate Uma Sanker was next for the Lex Girls with a time of 21:46.80 to place 22nd. Despite not being thrilled with the soft grass turf at Highland Park, senior captain Camelia Atassi (22:29.90) was able to turn in a PR and finish 32nd overall. She was followed immediately by junior Jasmine Sun, who rounded out the top five with a PR of her own - 22:29.90 - to finish 33rd overall. Other great performances came from sophomores Maya “I’m a Mid-D runner” Dubrovsky and Dora Liao who both pushed through their first varsity races with times of 22:54.00 and 23:32.50, respectively.
Onto the MinuteMEN...
Once again the Lexington freshmen proved themselves with the top four boys all medaling. Max Zhang led the way, placing fourth overall with a time of 11:43.50. Nathan Cunningham (11:53.00) was next for LHS, placing seventh. He was followed closely by Daniel Ryans (12:03.30) and Graham Schrodel (12:03.70) who placed ninth and 10th respectively. We always seem to have a surplus of fast freshmen!
Continuing the medal trend in the junior varsity race, Lexington’s top four boys all earned medals. The Minutemen were led by sophomore Joey Ryan’s tremendous PR of 18:19.20 to place second overall. Following Ryan’s lead was a trio of juniors. Ian Miller, who charged through the second half of the race to grab the bronze medal with a time of 18:26.70; Rob Badger (18:29.70) and Oliver Morris (18:51.10) rounded out the top 10 by placing fifth and 10th respectively. (Notice how we didn’t say junior junior varsity boys to help you out!)
The last race of the day was the Boys varsity, who also placed fourth overall with 82 points. With several runners out for the day, the rest of the boys had to pull through, especially our JV boys who had to step up and run varsity. And it’s safe to say the boys stepped up. The boys were led by senior captain Graham Bracken, who hung back over the first half of the race before surging up to medal position - 10th overall - with a personal best time of 17:04.20. Following a similar strategy was fellow classmate and captain Noah Quadri who was 16th in 17:34.70. Senior captain Ollie DiCerbo (17:37.70) and senior Thomas Lane (17:39.00) were 18th and 19th respectively. Running his first varsity XC race of his career, junior Aidan McPhee rounded out The Minutemen's top five in a time of 18:22.50 to place 29th. You won’t have to wait long to see our top boys race again as we have a meet coming up this week!
See you Tuesday for our first dual meet of the season, where for the first time this year, we will race the highly anticipated Loring!
Up Next
The Minutemen begin the Middlesex League's regular season this Tuesday, September 21st at home against Burlington. While this meet does not count in the regular season standings, as Burlington is in the Freedom Division, it will provide the first opportunity to race on the LHS home course from Lincoln Field since 2019. The meet is set to begin at 4:30pm.