THE CANDYMAN CAN! RYAN WINS INDIVIDUAL ML-12 TITLE; BOYS & GIRLS PLACE 2ND
Meet Information
Middlesex League Championships
October 30, 2023
Woburn Country Club - Woburn, MA
RESULTS
WOBURN, MA - The 53rd installment of the Middlesex League Championships might go down as the best on in history. While no historians were on site to verify it, the competition in the Boys and Girls Championship Races were simply incredible. In the Bill O'Connor Varsity Girls Race, Arlington's highly ranked squad turned in the second lowest score in meet history. With just 21 points, the Spy Ponders won the title and earned a three-peat at the League Championships. While they kept the Lex Girls at an arm's length throughout the race, all seven of LHS's girls ran PRs and earned second place with 51 points. The John DiComandrea Varsity Boys Race turned out to be a rematch between The Minutemen and the last two teams who dealt them losses: Winchester and Reading. In a highly competitive race that saw 11 runners break the elusive 16-minute barrier, Winchester prevailed by a score of 53 to 57 over LHS to win its first Middlesex League Championship since 2010. The Rockets finished a strong third on the day with 71 points.
Highlights from the Bill O'Connor Varsity Girls Race
When the Spy Ponders and The Minutemen faced off in September, Arlington handed LHS its worst loss in recent memory as they swept the top six places en route to a 15-48 dismantling of the Lex Girls. However, when Lexington came to Woburn Country Club, they vowed that if they were going down, they were going down fighting. And fight they did. Freshman sensation Callie Glenn set the tone for her team. She broke up Arlington's top-five, and placed sixth overall. Glenn not only broke the 20-minute barrier for the first time, she skipped right over the 19s and crossed the line in 18:58.21. After she had struggled through most of October, senior Samara McVey found her form when her team need her most. McVey ran a massive PR of 19:04.59 to place eighth. Sophomore Meghan Caldera was next across the line for the Lex Girls with a PR of 19:16.09 to place 10th overall. Fellow classmate Nadia Abdinoor turned in the best performance of her LHS career with an 11th place finish in a time of 19:39.00. And, it was sophomore Sophie "Snacks" Johnson who rounded out the top-five for The Minutemen with a PR of 19:55.84. She was followed closely behind by senior captain Dora Liao (19:58.74) and freshman Erin Ehmann (19:59.99). To put into perspective their performance in this race, the last time LHS won the League Championship was 2019. That team's top-five averaged 19:54 for 5k. Charging through the rain soaked golf course in Woburn on Monday, this team averaged 19:22. Simply incredible.
Final Girls Team Scores
1. Arlington - 21
2. Lexington - 51
3. Wakefield - 80
4. Winchester - 145
5. Belmont - 159
6. Wilmington - 159
7. Melrose - 180
8. Woburn - 204
9. Reading - 222
10. Stoneham - 278
11. Watertown - 278
12. Burlington - NS
Highlights from the John DiComandrea Varsity Boys Race
Coming into the day, the race was expected to be a dual between The Minutemen's senior captain Joey "The Candyman" Ryan, LHS's freshman phenom Patrick Noonan, Belmont junior Jared Rife, and Melrose junior Caleb Barnes. That played out pretty much exactly to script over the first half of the race, until Ryan and Rife broke away from Barnes and Noonan. The two came through the two-mile mark in a blistering 9:55, and continued to press on over the final mile. With just about 1k to go, Ryan made his attack on the hill in the center of the Woburn Country Club Course and began to pull away from Rife. That moved proved to be decisive as The Candyman poured it on over the final stretch of the race to win going away with a new PR of 15:07.10. In addition to taking home the first individual title for the LHS boys since 2015, his time was the second fastest 5k run all-time at Woburn Country Club behind former High School National Champion Ryan Oosting (AHS '19). While Noonan did not have his best stuff on Monday, he was still able to manage fourth place overall with a PR of 15:33.70. Next across the line for The Minutemen was the freshmen duo of Caleb Ford and Trevor Stevens. As they have all year, the two were stride-for-stride over the majority of the race. It was not until the final straightaway that Ford was able to move ahead of his teammate, and cross the line in 15th place overall with a new PR of 16:04.42. Not to be outdone, Stevens also turned in a big PR of 16:06.96 to place 17th. The Minutemen's all important fifth runner came in the form of Nathan Cunningham. The junior harrier had the breakout performance of all breakout performances, as he ran a personal best by over 40-seconds to place 20th with a time of 16:14.40. Another huge race was turned in by senior Owen Lawler. He smashed the 17-minute barrier with a time of 16:20.59 to finish 25th overall. Junior Max Zhang was the final finisher for The Minutemen, as he came across the line in 16:36.78 to finish 36th.
Final Boys Team Scores
1. Winchester - 53
2. Lexington - 57
3. Reading - 71
4. Wakefield - 102
5. Arlington - 127
6. Melrose - 173
7. Belmont - 173
8. Burlington - 198
9. Woburn - 225
10. Wilmington - 260
11. Stoneham - 360
12. Watertown - NS
Highlights from the JV Race
The Girls Race was won by sophomore Thayer DiCerbo in a time of 20:35.41. Her performance makes her the second person in her household to take home the JV title at the League Championships. Her oldest brother Lucas DiCerbo (LHS '19) won the Boys JV Race back in 2018. Thayer led a podium sweep by the Lex Girls as juniors Leontine Meunier (20:40.58) and Claire Cunningham (20:44.86) both turned in big PRs to place second and third overall. After Arlington placed a runner in fourth, junior Lucy Kontos (21:11.56) and sophomore Prachi Aggarwal (21:21.52) finished off a 17 point victory for the Lex Girls. The two placed fifth and sixth respectfully.
In the Boys JV Race, it was nearly the same story for The Minutemen. Sophomore Sam Finch absolutely destroyed the JV Race record - previously held by DiCerbo - with a massive PR of 16:31.76 to win the race. He was followed by fellow classmate Owen Kuder who turned in a huge PR of his own to place second overall in 16:40.21. Reading's Rory O'Neill and Arlington's Jack Moir came across the line next, but then it was six straight LHS athletes who crossed the line to put a stamp on a 21 point victory. Junior Will Fletcher was fifth in a time of 16:50.44. Fellow classmates Zach Barry (16:57.75), James Joseph (16:57.90), and Daniel Ryans (16:58.82) all broke the elusive 17-minute barrier for the first time to place sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively. Sophomores Will Parker (17:04.66) and Henry Finch (17:07.98) rounded out the top-10 overall in the race.
Highlights from the Co-Ed Freshmen Race
The freshmen competed in a 3k co-ed race. The school with the lowest combined score of its top-five boys and girls took home the title. There was absolutely zero drama in this race as The Minutemen took the top-three places, and eight of the top-10 on the boys' side. While the Lex Girls put their first five athletes in the top-12 to seal the victory. For the boys it was Alden Hall (9:29.44) who blew past the 3k course record set by Melrose's Adam Caldwell last year. He was followed by Eric House (9:30.10) and Owen Ross (9:41.32) who both dipped under the previous record. After he took a fall just over 1k in, Holden Cassity recovered quickly to place fifth overall with a time of 10:01.53. Alessandro Mare was the final scorer for The Minutemen with a time of 10:09.26. Not to be outdone by her male counterpart, Alycia Charest took care of business and was the first girl across the line in a time of 11:22.07. Josie Bettencourt (11:52.93) was next for the Lex Girls as she placed fourth overall. In perhaps her best performance of the season Maite Striuli placed seventh in a time of 12:27.49. Renata Uribe-Salas was next for LHS - 10th overall - in a time of 12:43.78. Allie Galloway was the fifth finisher for LHS in a time of 13:01.14.
Up Next
The Minutemen now turn their eyes towards the MIAA Division 1A Championships. The meet will feature the largest school from around the Bay State all competing for the opportunity to advance to the Division 1 All-State Championships. Action will get underway at 11:00am on Saturday, November 11th at the Gardner Municipal Golf Course in Gardner.
Middlesex League Championships
October 30, 2023
Woburn Country Club - Woburn, MA
RESULTS
WOBURN, MA - The 53rd installment of the Middlesex League Championships might go down as the best on in history. While no historians were on site to verify it, the competition in the Boys and Girls Championship Races were simply incredible. In the Bill O'Connor Varsity Girls Race, Arlington's highly ranked squad turned in the second lowest score in meet history. With just 21 points, the Spy Ponders won the title and earned a three-peat at the League Championships. While they kept the Lex Girls at an arm's length throughout the race, all seven of LHS's girls ran PRs and earned second place with 51 points. The John DiComandrea Varsity Boys Race turned out to be a rematch between The Minutemen and the last two teams who dealt them losses: Winchester and Reading. In a highly competitive race that saw 11 runners break the elusive 16-minute barrier, Winchester prevailed by a score of 53 to 57 over LHS to win its first Middlesex League Championship since 2010. The Rockets finished a strong third on the day with 71 points.
Highlights from the Bill O'Connor Varsity Girls Race
When the Spy Ponders and The Minutemen faced off in September, Arlington handed LHS its worst loss in recent memory as they swept the top six places en route to a 15-48 dismantling of the Lex Girls. However, when Lexington came to Woburn Country Club, they vowed that if they were going down, they were going down fighting. And fight they did. Freshman sensation Callie Glenn set the tone for her team. She broke up Arlington's top-five, and placed sixth overall. Glenn not only broke the 20-minute barrier for the first time, she skipped right over the 19s and crossed the line in 18:58.21. After she had struggled through most of October, senior Samara McVey found her form when her team need her most. McVey ran a massive PR of 19:04.59 to place eighth. Sophomore Meghan Caldera was next across the line for the Lex Girls with a PR of 19:16.09 to place 10th overall. Fellow classmate Nadia Abdinoor turned in the best performance of her LHS career with an 11th place finish in a time of 19:39.00. And, it was sophomore Sophie "Snacks" Johnson who rounded out the top-five for The Minutemen with a PR of 19:55.84. She was followed closely behind by senior captain Dora Liao (19:58.74) and freshman Erin Ehmann (19:59.99). To put into perspective their performance in this race, the last time LHS won the League Championship was 2019. That team's top-five averaged 19:54 for 5k. Charging through the rain soaked golf course in Woburn on Monday, this team averaged 19:22. Simply incredible.
Final Girls Team Scores
1. Arlington - 21
2. Lexington - 51
3. Wakefield - 80
4. Winchester - 145
5. Belmont - 159
6. Wilmington - 159
7. Melrose - 180
8. Woburn - 204
9. Reading - 222
10. Stoneham - 278
11. Watertown - 278
12. Burlington - NS
Highlights from the John DiComandrea Varsity Boys Race
Coming into the day, the race was expected to be a dual between The Minutemen's senior captain Joey "The Candyman" Ryan, LHS's freshman phenom Patrick Noonan, Belmont junior Jared Rife, and Melrose junior Caleb Barnes. That played out pretty much exactly to script over the first half of the race, until Ryan and Rife broke away from Barnes and Noonan. The two came through the two-mile mark in a blistering 9:55, and continued to press on over the final mile. With just about 1k to go, Ryan made his attack on the hill in the center of the Woburn Country Club Course and began to pull away from Rife. That moved proved to be decisive as The Candyman poured it on over the final stretch of the race to win going away with a new PR of 15:07.10. In addition to taking home the first individual title for the LHS boys since 2015, his time was the second fastest 5k run all-time at Woburn Country Club behind former High School National Champion Ryan Oosting (AHS '19). While Noonan did not have his best stuff on Monday, he was still able to manage fourth place overall with a PR of 15:33.70. Next across the line for The Minutemen was the freshmen duo of Caleb Ford and Trevor Stevens. As they have all year, the two were stride-for-stride over the majority of the race. It was not until the final straightaway that Ford was able to move ahead of his teammate, and cross the line in 15th place overall with a new PR of 16:04.42. Not to be outdone, Stevens also turned in a big PR of 16:06.96 to place 17th. The Minutemen's all important fifth runner came in the form of Nathan Cunningham. The junior harrier had the breakout performance of all breakout performances, as he ran a personal best by over 40-seconds to place 20th with a time of 16:14.40. Another huge race was turned in by senior Owen Lawler. He smashed the 17-minute barrier with a time of 16:20.59 to finish 25th overall. Junior Max Zhang was the final finisher for The Minutemen, as he came across the line in 16:36.78 to finish 36th.
Final Boys Team Scores
1. Winchester - 53
2. Lexington - 57
3. Reading - 71
4. Wakefield - 102
5. Arlington - 127
6. Melrose - 173
7. Belmont - 173
8. Burlington - 198
9. Woburn - 225
10. Wilmington - 260
11. Stoneham - 360
12. Watertown - NS
Highlights from the JV Race
The Girls Race was won by sophomore Thayer DiCerbo in a time of 20:35.41. Her performance makes her the second person in her household to take home the JV title at the League Championships. Her oldest brother Lucas DiCerbo (LHS '19) won the Boys JV Race back in 2018. Thayer led a podium sweep by the Lex Girls as juniors Leontine Meunier (20:40.58) and Claire Cunningham (20:44.86) both turned in big PRs to place second and third overall. After Arlington placed a runner in fourth, junior Lucy Kontos (21:11.56) and sophomore Prachi Aggarwal (21:21.52) finished off a 17 point victory for the Lex Girls. The two placed fifth and sixth respectfully.
In the Boys JV Race, it was nearly the same story for The Minutemen. Sophomore Sam Finch absolutely destroyed the JV Race record - previously held by DiCerbo - with a massive PR of 16:31.76 to win the race. He was followed by fellow classmate Owen Kuder who turned in a huge PR of his own to place second overall in 16:40.21. Reading's Rory O'Neill and Arlington's Jack Moir came across the line next, but then it was six straight LHS athletes who crossed the line to put a stamp on a 21 point victory. Junior Will Fletcher was fifth in a time of 16:50.44. Fellow classmates Zach Barry (16:57.75), James Joseph (16:57.90), and Daniel Ryans (16:58.82) all broke the elusive 17-minute barrier for the first time to place sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively. Sophomores Will Parker (17:04.66) and Henry Finch (17:07.98) rounded out the top-10 overall in the race.
Highlights from the Co-Ed Freshmen Race
The freshmen competed in a 3k co-ed race. The school with the lowest combined score of its top-five boys and girls took home the title. There was absolutely zero drama in this race as The Minutemen took the top-three places, and eight of the top-10 on the boys' side. While the Lex Girls put their first five athletes in the top-12 to seal the victory. For the boys it was Alden Hall (9:29.44) who blew past the 3k course record set by Melrose's Adam Caldwell last year. He was followed by Eric House (9:30.10) and Owen Ross (9:41.32) who both dipped under the previous record. After he took a fall just over 1k in, Holden Cassity recovered quickly to place fifth overall with a time of 10:01.53. Alessandro Mare was the final scorer for The Minutemen with a time of 10:09.26. Not to be outdone by her male counterpart, Alycia Charest took care of business and was the first girl across the line in a time of 11:22.07. Josie Bettencourt (11:52.93) was next for the Lex Girls as she placed fourth overall. In perhaps her best performance of the season Maite Striuli placed seventh in a time of 12:27.49. Renata Uribe-Salas was next for LHS - 10th overall - in a time of 12:43.78. Allie Galloway was the fifth finisher for LHS in a time of 13:01.14.
Up Next
The Minutemen now turn their eyes towards the MIAA Division 1A Championships. The meet will feature the largest school from around the Bay State all competing for the opportunity to advance to the Division 1 All-State Championships. Action will get underway at 11:00am on Saturday, November 11th at the Gardner Municipal Golf Course in Gardner.