RIVALRY RENEWED: THE MINUTEMEN LEAVE WOBURN WITH A PAIR OF VICTORIES
Meet Information
Woburn Dual Meet
October 15, 2019
Horn Pond - Woburn, MA
RESULTS
JV
WOBURN, MA - As the head coach of the Tanners James Fletcher tweeted prior to the meet, "It's always a huge meet when Woburn and Lexington collide. Regardless of implications it's always filled with personal bests, renewed rivalries, and most importantly - unmatched sportsmanship." Despite the fact that the League Title was not at stake in this year's installment of the rivalry, both teams came to Horn Pond looking to make their mark on what has become one of the classic battles in the Middlesex Cross Country Season.
In the girls race The Lady Minutemen were competing with a depleted squad due to injuries, but the girls who toed the line were not going to be denied. LHS's one-two punch of senior captains Danna Ofek (18:41) and Pauline Steines (18:54) took the top two spots to lead the team to a hard fought 24-31 victory. On the boys side, a furious first mile made for a blistering pace throughout race. That only benefit The Minutemen as their top-five scoring runners finished within 20 seconds of each other, and only allowed one Tanner to break up the potential sweep. The final score had LHS take the victory 19-42.
Last year's Lexington-Woburn boys meet saw LHS's course record broken by former Tanner great Anshel Isles. While Woburn's course record was not seriously challenged on Tuesday afternoon, this was one of the fastest varsity fields in the long history of the 3 mile loop at Horn Pond. LHS's senior captain Micah Benson led the way by winning the race in 15:34; he was followed by Tanner senior Alex Cravens (15:46). At that point the rest of The Minutemen's captains put their stamp on the rivalry; Matt McAlarney (15:46), Adam Bernstein (15:52), Max DiCerbo (15:52), and Selvin Backert (15:54) took the three though six spots. Sophomore Daniel Ramsey ran a tremendous race and was LHS's next finisher coming through the line in 16:13. Running in his first race since last January, junior Nick Porter (16:16) turned in a fine performance of his own. Senior Seth Cutler ran tough to finish in 16:19. The Minutemen's final two varsity runners were sophomore Traver Smith III (16:36) and junior Nate Croke (16:49), both of whom improved on their season bests. It should be noted that in addition to Lexington's top 10 - who all came in before Woburn's sixth runner - another nine runners in the JV race would have finished before the Tanners sixth man crossed the line; Jack Stevens (16:39), Nick Lam (16:39), Noah Quadri (16:41), Thomas Lane (16:43), Reed Solomon (16:46), Jerry Xia (17:14), Josh Backert (17:17), Alasdair Fletcher (17:20), and Ollie DiCerbo (17:27). If this meet is any indication of things to come for this very deep Lexington squad, this could be a special Championship Season for The Minutemen.
"Runner on the Course" by Izzy Jakimczyk:
History was made today when every single one of Lexington's girls cross country runners finished “The Wu’s” 3 mile course in under 2 hours. But in all seriousness, conditions were perfect and the course was even perfecter. Unlike Lexington’s home course with one giant hill after another, The Wu’s course was mostly flat, save the one little incline we runners in Lexington like to call “a molehill.” Due to the flatter terrain, the Lexington girls managed some extremely fast times. Showing “no human is limited,'' Danna Ofek finished first (18:41), followed by “Saltine” Steines (18:54) who ran a whole minute faster than her last appearance on Woburn turf. Sealing the deal by placing sixth, seventh and eighth respectively was Lexington’s Zoe Gu (20:00), Maude Hajjaj (20:13), and captain Summer Spencer (20:24). But the real show was when freshman Ashley Taylor (20:23) seemed to sprout wings on her feet. She burst away from the rest of the JV field winning in a time that would have placed her in The Lady Minutemen’s top five! Congrats Ashley! Just when things were starting to wrap up, it was time for Danna Ofek to look for a buddy to join her for her second cool down run of the night. None other than yours truly stepped up to the plate and joined Captain Ofek for her “faster than my 5k” paced cool down. We started towards the woods when all of a sudden we saw two coyotes! So, we turned back. The end.
Congratulations to everyone who raced! And Isabel SZ who did a workout. Make sure to give her kudos on Strava everyone! See you next Tuesday back at the lovely Lex!
Up Next
Saturday morning The Minutemen will travel to storied Franklin Park in Boston for the 59th Annual Catholic Memorial Invitational. Both the boys and girls squads will be sending their freshmen and varsity teams to compete. The first race of the day is set to begin at 9:30.
Woburn Dual Meet
October 15, 2019
Horn Pond - Woburn, MA
RESULTS
JV
WOBURN, MA - As the head coach of the Tanners James Fletcher tweeted prior to the meet, "It's always a huge meet when Woburn and Lexington collide. Regardless of implications it's always filled with personal bests, renewed rivalries, and most importantly - unmatched sportsmanship." Despite the fact that the League Title was not at stake in this year's installment of the rivalry, both teams came to Horn Pond looking to make their mark on what has become one of the classic battles in the Middlesex Cross Country Season.
In the girls race The Lady Minutemen were competing with a depleted squad due to injuries, but the girls who toed the line were not going to be denied. LHS's one-two punch of senior captains Danna Ofek (18:41) and Pauline Steines (18:54) took the top two spots to lead the team to a hard fought 24-31 victory. On the boys side, a furious first mile made for a blistering pace throughout race. That only benefit The Minutemen as their top-five scoring runners finished within 20 seconds of each other, and only allowed one Tanner to break up the potential sweep. The final score had LHS take the victory 19-42.
Last year's Lexington-Woburn boys meet saw LHS's course record broken by former Tanner great Anshel Isles. While Woburn's course record was not seriously challenged on Tuesday afternoon, this was one of the fastest varsity fields in the long history of the 3 mile loop at Horn Pond. LHS's senior captain Micah Benson led the way by winning the race in 15:34; he was followed by Tanner senior Alex Cravens (15:46). At that point the rest of The Minutemen's captains put their stamp on the rivalry; Matt McAlarney (15:46), Adam Bernstein (15:52), Max DiCerbo (15:52), and Selvin Backert (15:54) took the three though six spots. Sophomore Daniel Ramsey ran a tremendous race and was LHS's next finisher coming through the line in 16:13. Running in his first race since last January, junior Nick Porter (16:16) turned in a fine performance of his own. Senior Seth Cutler ran tough to finish in 16:19. The Minutemen's final two varsity runners were sophomore Traver Smith III (16:36) and junior Nate Croke (16:49), both of whom improved on their season bests. It should be noted that in addition to Lexington's top 10 - who all came in before Woburn's sixth runner - another nine runners in the JV race would have finished before the Tanners sixth man crossed the line; Jack Stevens (16:39), Nick Lam (16:39), Noah Quadri (16:41), Thomas Lane (16:43), Reed Solomon (16:46), Jerry Xia (17:14), Josh Backert (17:17), Alasdair Fletcher (17:20), and Ollie DiCerbo (17:27). If this meet is any indication of things to come for this very deep Lexington squad, this could be a special Championship Season for The Minutemen.
"Runner on the Course" by Izzy Jakimczyk:
History was made today when every single one of Lexington's girls cross country runners finished “The Wu’s” 3 mile course in under 2 hours. But in all seriousness, conditions were perfect and the course was even perfecter. Unlike Lexington’s home course with one giant hill after another, The Wu’s course was mostly flat, save the one little incline we runners in Lexington like to call “a molehill.” Due to the flatter terrain, the Lexington girls managed some extremely fast times. Showing “no human is limited,'' Danna Ofek finished first (18:41), followed by “Saltine” Steines (18:54) who ran a whole minute faster than her last appearance on Woburn turf. Sealing the deal by placing sixth, seventh and eighth respectively was Lexington’s Zoe Gu (20:00), Maude Hajjaj (20:13), and captain Summer Spencer (20:24). But the real show was when freshman Ashley Taylor (20:23) seemed to sprout wings on her feet. She burst away from the rest of the JV field winning in a time that would have placed her in The Lady Minutemen’s top five! Congrats Ashley! Just when things were starting to wrap up, it was time for Danna Ofek to look for a buddy to join her for her second cool down run of the night. None other than yours truly stepped up to the plate and joined Captain Ofek for her “faster than my 5k” paced cool down. We started towards the woods when all of a sudden we saw two coyotes! So, we turned back. The end.
Congratulations to everyone who raced! And Isabel SZ who did a workout. Make sure to give her kudos on Strava everyone! See you next Tuesday back at the lovely Lex!
Up Next
Saturday morning The Minutemen will travel to storied Franklin Park in Boston for the 59th Annual Catholic Memorial Invitational. Both the boys and girls squads will be sending their freshmen and varsity teams to compete. The first race of the day is set to begin at 9:30.