Middlesex League: Lexington Girls Dominate , Woburn Boys Edge Minutemen

 

Special Coverage by Amin Touri

 

In a meet filled with excellent performances across the board, the relay teams stole the spotlight at Tuesday’s Middlesex League Championships.

Woburn junior Katie Murray cruised to a convincing victory in the girls 2 Mile Run, winning in 11:42.30, taking control from the gun and never looking back. On the boys side, Lexington seniors Ethan Isaacson and Benjamin Jacobson took the top two places, running 9:50.17 and 9:50.34 respectively.

Helping the Lady Tanners complete a sweep of the distance events, senior Gina D’Addario ran away with the girls 1 Mile Run, leading wire to wire and crossing in 5:12.17, 12 seconds faster than runner up Shauntel Farland (5:24.25) of Burlington. Wakefield’s Aaron Lucci, on the heels of his impressive 2 Mile win (9:21.24) at the Weston Twilight Invitational, took home the boys Mile, finishing in 4:23.51.

In contrast to multiple crushing victories in the distance events, talented fields in the the middle-distance events provided for some fierce battles on the track.

The girls 800 meters produced several impressive times, with a whopping four girls clocking in under 2:20 (compared to none at last year’s championships). Lexington junior Olivia Manickas-Hill led the way, running 2:17.97 to take home first place, followed by Lexington teammate Paige Campbell (2:18.19). Watertown senior Lea Strangio was third to cross (2:19.29), narrowly missing her school record, while Wakefield junior Emily Hammond finished in 2:19.96, also just missing her school record. Woburn senior Josh Ercolini led the entire way in the boys 800, but it would be Melrose senior Christian Gentile, surging in the final 50 meters, who would take the victory in 1:58.19.

In an all-out battle for the girls 400 Meter crown, Stoneham senior Grace Macura rose above all, snatching the win in a time of 58.92, improving upon last year’s third place finish. Lexington’s Lucy Lang and Burlington’s Rebecca Salina also dipped under 60 seconds, running 59.13 and 59.86 respectively. The boys 400 Meters came down to a two horse race between Woburn’s Chris Jewitt and Watertown’s James Garbier. Garbier, last year’s 800 meter league champion, began to make up ground in the final 100 meters, but the Raider senior couldn’t catch the Tanner junior as Jewitt pulled away late, finishing in a time of 50.31, with Garbier a close second (51.02)

Lexington’s Melissa Solomon ran an impressive 25.66 to take the girls 200m, while Wakefield’s Anthony Lawson (22.62) took the title on the boys side of things. Elsewhere in the sprints, Belmont freshman Julia Cella dashed her way to the 100m title in 12.8 seconds, before Jimmy O’Brien of Stoneham broke the tape in 11.14 to take the boys 100m title.

Wilmington dominated the throws, with Eli Jennings winning the shot and discus with throws of 50’ 2” and 162’ 5”, while fellow Wilmington thrower Kate Cowden cleaned up the girls competitions, winning the shot and discus with throws of 35’ 3.5” and 108’”10.

Other notable performances from the field events came from Stoneham’s Dylan Owens (leaping 6’ 4” to take the boys high jump) and Annalisa DeBari of Melrose, with her 34’ 10” performance in the triple jump, her second win of the day after running away with the girls 100m hurdles (15.86). Woburn’s Kawai Marin would follow suit in the boys 110m hurdles, clocking in at 15.39, after a close battle with Reading’s Tyler Greco (15.64).

The three relays at the meet’s conclusion provided some entertaining track and field as well. The Belmont team of Nairi Krafian, Meggie MacAuley, Katelyn Messer, and Marley Williams got the stick around the track first in the girls 4 x 100 meter relay, narrowly edging Arlington for the win in 52.20, while the Reading boys blew away the field in a time of 44.15.

Gina D’Addario anchored the Woburn team to victory in the girls 4 x 800 (10:03.11). The boys race yielded what was likely the most impressive result of the day, as the talented tandem of Matt Ackerman (1.59.0), Eric Salina (1:59.6), Colin Raposo (2:02.2), and Paul Hogan (1:55.0) clocked in at a blazing 7:55 (MA #1) for the Burlington Red Devils, narrowly missing the qualifying standard for this year’s New Balance Outdoor Nationals.

Also narrowly missing the qualifying standard for New Balance Outdoor Nationals were the ladies from Lexington, as the quartet of Melissa Solomon, Olivia Manickas-Hill, Lucy Lang, and Paige Campbell combined to run a lightning 4:00.05 (Also a new MA #1) in the 4 x 400, just a second off of the 3:59.00 standard. Lea Strangio dipped under 60 seconds to anchor the Watertown girls to a second place finish (4:15.14), followed by the girls from Wilmington (4:16.03). Chris Jewitt anchored the Tanner 4 x 400 to an impressive win in the boys 4x400 (3:25.83), followed by Wakefield (3:27.56) and Watertown (3:30.04).

At the end of the day, the ladies from Lexington totaled 122.5 points to win the team title, as the Woburn boys came out on top in the team competition, snatching the title from the Lexington Minutemen, compiling 110 points to Lexington’s 108.

 

 

Middlesex League Championships