THE MINUTEMEN AND SPY PONDERS CLASH IN ARLINGTON
Meet Information
Arlington Dual Meet
September 26, 2023
McClennan Park - Arlington, MA
RESULTS
ARLINGTON, MA - The Minutemen versus the Arlington Spy Ponders has quickly become a meet that gets circled on the calendar each fall. Arlington's boys and girls are both the two-time defending Middlesex League Liberty Division Champions, and their girls team boasts one of the best and deepest squads in Massachusetts. After strong performances by the Lex Girls at the Ocean State Invite this past weekend, they looked to raise their level yet again against Arlington. Despite what was undoubtedly their best performance as a team to date, the Spy Ponders simply had too much firepower. They took the top six places en route to a 15-45 defeat of The Minutemen. On the boys' side, the meet was a different story as LHS came through with a nail-biting victory by a score of 27-29.
The Lex Girls are 0-2 against Arlington in the last two dual meets in which they have competed. After Tuesday's meet, that record moved to 0-3. However, this year was different. While The Minutemen were certainly outgunned from a talent standpoint, they did not back down from the Spy Ponders. They took their shot at one of the Bay State's best, and while they came up short, they showed the kind of grit and toughness that has been the hallmark of all great Lex Girls XC teams over the past decade. Arlington went out to the lead early with their tight pack of six runners led by Elise Kempf. The senior led her girls wire-to-wire and crossed the line first in 19:21. Sophomore Meghan Caldera led the way for LHS in a time of 20:12, which was a season best. Senior captain Dora Liao turned in a PR of 20:21 to finish second for her team, and eighth overall. Next across the line for the Lex Girls was freshman Callie Glenn. After a stellar run in the Freshman Division at Ocean State, Glenn (20:24) followed it up with a PR by over a minute to place ninth. Sophomore Sophie "Snacks" Johnson continued her upward trend this season. She lowered her personal best to 20:29 on Tuesday to place 10th. LHS's fifth runner was sophomore Nadia Abdinoor, who appears to be finding her form after she placed 11th with a season best time of 20:39. Senior Samara McVey was 12th with a time of 21:00. She was followed by freshman Erin Ehmann who blew past her previous PR by nearly 90 seconds when she crossed the line in 21:08. Fellow classmate Alycia Charest also had a big day with a PR of 21:28. Juniors Claire Cunningham (21:54) and Leontine Meunier (22:23) rounded out the top-10 for LHS on the day.
Lexington's boys were led by senior captain Joey "The Candy Man" Ryan. Coming off the first sub 16-minute effort of his career on Saturday, Ryan was confident he could control the race and allow for his teammate, junior Max Zhang, to tag along for the ride. The two were stride for stride during the early part of the race. While Ryan and Zhang controlled the pace, freshman Caleb Ford found himself tasked with breaking up the Spy Ponders' top pack. As the race unfolded, Ryan broke away over the final 1k of the race, and went on to cruise to victory in 16:43. To the crowd's surprise, Ford was the next LHS athlete barreling down the homestretch. He crossed the line in second place after a massive personal best time of 16:48. With less than 100m to go Zhang was in a battle with Arlington senior John Power for third place, which would have given LHS the automatic victory in the dual meet format. However, Power was able to outlast Zhang (16:58) for third place. After Zhang, it was a quartet of Arlington runners who crossed the line in a row and put the meet in serious jeopardy. Luckily for The Minutemen, senior Owen Lawler (17:23) and junior James Joseph (17:28) came through with the best performances of their careers. The two placed ninth and 11th respectively to seal the victory for their team. Not to be overlooked, sophomore Will Parker (17:40), junior Will Fletcher (17:42), freshman Alden Hall (17:45), and freshman Eric House (17:49) all came through with PRs in what was clearly the best team performance this group has had all season. Sophomore Colin Smith was LHS's final varsity finisher after he battled through the race for his team to finish in a time of 17:58.
Up Next
The Minutemen will return to Lexington next Tuesday, October 3rd for their final home meet of the season. The team's final home meet of the year is set to begin at 4:15pm at Lincoln Field. This year's Senior Day will feature LHS going up against the Woburn Tanners. These two schools have had a number of classic duels throughout their longstanding rivalry. Most recently on the boys' side, the 2018 meet saw Tanner great Anshel Isles (WHS '19) break the LHS home course record, while Eli Gappelberg (LHS '19) and Nick Porter (LHS '21) posted the then #2 and #3 all-time marks. And no talk of this rivalry is complete without mention of Woburn's girls besting the LHS team that would go on to win the State Title, just days after the passing of their legendary Head Coach Bill O'Connor in 2016. Both the Lex Girls and Boys are riding five year win streaks over the Tanners, but anything can happen during rivalry week.
Arlington Dual Meet
September 26, 2023
McClennan Park - Arlington, MA
RESULTS
ARLINGTON, MA - The Minutemen versus the Arlington Spy Ponders has quickly become a meet that gets circled on the calendar each fall. Arlington's boys and girls are both the two-time defending Middlesex League Liberty Division Champions, and their girls team boasts one of the best and deepest squads in Massachusetts. After strong performances by the Lex Girls at the Ocean State Invite this past weekend, they looked to raise their level yet again against Arlington. Despite what was undoubtedly their best performance as a team to date, the Spy Ponders simply had too much firepower. They took the top six places en route to a 15-45 defeat of The Minutemen. On the boys' side, the meet was a different story as LHS came through with a nail-biting victory by a score of 27-29.
The Lex Girls are 0-2 against Arlington in the last two dual meets in which they have competed. After Tuesday's meet, that record moved to 0-3. However, this year was different. While The Minutemen were certainly outgunned from a talent standpoint, they did not back down from the Spy Ponders. They took their shot at one of the Bay State's best, and while they came up short, they showed the kind of grit and toughness that has been the hallmark of all great Lex Girls XC teams over the past decade. Arlington went out to the lead early with their tight pack of six runners led by Elise Kempf. The senior led her girls wire-to-wire and crossed the line first in 19:21. Sophomore Meghan Caldera led the way for LHS in a time of 20:12, which was a season best. Senior captain Dora Liao turned in a PR of 20:21 to finish second for her team, and eighth overall. Next across the line for the Lex Girls was freshman Callie Glenn. After a stellar run in the Freshman Division at Ocean State, Glenn (20:24) followed it up with a PR by over a minute to place ninth. Sophomore Sophie "Snacks" Johnson continued her upward trend this season. She lowered her personal best to 20:29 on Tuesday to place 10th. LHS's fifth runner was sophomore Nadia Abdinoor, who appears to be finding her form after she placed 11th with a season best time of 20:39. Senior Samara McVey was 12th with a time of 21:00. She was followed by freshman Erin Ehmann who blew past her previous PR by nearly 90 seconds when she crossed the line in 21:08. Fellow classmate Alycia Charest also had a big day with a PR of 21:28. Juniors Claire Cunningham (21:54) and Leontine Meunier (22:23) rounded out the top-10 for LHS on the day.
Lexington's boys were led by senior captain Joey "The Candy Man" Ryan. Coming off the first sub 16-minute effort of his career on Saturday, Ryan was confident he could control the race and allow for his teammate, junior Max Zhang, to tag along for the ride. The two were stride for stride during the early part of the race. While Ryan and Zhang controlled the pace, freshman Caleb Ford found himself tasked with breaking up the Spy Ponders' top pack. As the race unfolded, Ryan broke away over the final 1k of the race, and went on to cruise to victory in 16:43. To the crowd's surprise, Ford was the next LHS athlete barreling down the homestretch. He crossed the line in second place after a massive personal best time of 16:48. With less than 100m to go Zhang was in a battle with Arlington senior John Power for third place, which would have given LHS the automatic victory in the dual meet format. However, Power was able to outlast Zhang (16:58) for third place. After Zhang, it was a quartet of Arlington runners who crossed the line in a row and put the meet in serious jeopardy. Luckily for The Minutemen, senior Owen Lawler (17:23) and junior James Joseph (17:28) came through with the best performances of their careers. The two placed ninth and 11th respectively to seal the victory for their team. Not to be overlooked, sophomore Will Parker (17:40), junior Will Fletcher (17:42), freshman Alden Hall (17:45), and freshman Eric House (17:49) all came through with PRs in what was clearly the best team performance this group has had all season. Sophomore Colin Smith was LHS's final varsity finisher after he battled through the race for his team to finish in a time of 17:58.
Up Next
The Minutemen will return to Lexington next Tuesday, October 3rd for their final home meet of the season. The team's final home meet of the year is set to begin at 4:15pm at Lincoln Field. This year's Senior Day will feature LHS going up against the Woburn Tanners. These two schools have had a number of classic duels throughout their longstanding rivalry. Most recently on the boys' side, the 2018 meet saw Tanner great Anshel Isles (WHS '19) break the LHS home course record, while Eli Gappelberg (LHS '19) and Nick Porter (LHS '21) posted the then #2 and #3 all-time marks. And no talk of this rivalry is complete without mention of Woburn's girls besting the LHS team that would go on to win the State Title, just days after the passing of their legendary Head Coach Bill O'Connor in 2016. Both the Lex Girls and Boys are riding five year win streaks over the Tanners, but anything can happen during rivalry week.