Boys’ Strong Performances Not Enough Against Burlington

David Schurter 4/3/21

In the first home meet of the season, the boys’ team fell to Burlington on a windy Saturday morning. Despite the near lopsided score, there were several great performances that unfortunately were not enough to carry the team to a win. Almost every event was packed with many personal records to which they almost took over the meet. Today we will take a closer look at each event’s scoring, highlight each personal best performance and prepare for Stoneham on Friday!

Starting with the field events, despite being swept, their were strong performances by junior Mardin Minasian (7.00) and sophomore Ryan Tracy (7.5) in the 55m dash as they both improved. Junior Josh Catino also got a pr in the 55m hurdles in 9.4. In the long jump, there were also a few personal bests as Minasian also jumped 13’9” and Alejandro Borda with a 13’8”. In the high jump, sophomore Will Riley cleared 5’2” for a new pr. In shot put, senior Logan Cosgrove picked up 5 points for the warriors throwing 46’10.5”. Vishal Punj (23’4”) and Andranik Melkonian (14’3”) also got new personal bests.

A big portion of the scoring came from the track events, starting with the mile. Junior Mike Roberto finished strong with a new best of 4:37.7, beating out Burlington’s James Johnson. Senior Jonathan D’Ambrosio finished third in 4:43.7. Coming in fifth, sophomore Leith Jones ran a new pr of 4:50.6. In the second and third heats, almost everyone ran a pr, showcasing the warriors’ depth. Freshman Mike Arria won in 5:16.4, followed by junior Mike Leary in 5:23. Sophomore David LoCoco ran 5:27 and in the third heat junior Brett McLellan ran a 5:25 to win. The rest of the prs belonged to freshman Robert Brown in 5:52, sophomore Marcus Conte in 6:06 and junior Declan Carney in 6:14. To the 600, junior Bradley Diaz and senior Zack Jellison worked together to finish first and second running 1:28 and 1:28.6. Everyone in the second heat finished with a pr starting with freshman Joe Patt in 1:38.5, freshman William Mezikofsky in 1:39.7 and Frankie Leone in 1:47.6.

In the 1000, sophomore Ben Stratton took a few seconds off and won in 2:43.7. Senior Colin Rudy finished third in a pr of 2:46.9 and fellow senior David Schurter also ran a new pr of 3:00.5. In the second heat, freshman Ollie Pollster ran a big pr of 3:07.9. In the two mile, arguably the best race of the day, there was a clean slate of personal bests. Junior Thomas Dowd finished first in 10:13.4, followed by fellow junior Ajay Haridasse in third at 10:15.6. Senior Guy Jacob also ran a new pr of 10:37.9. In the 300, Diaz followed up his strong race in the 600 with a win of 36.9. To the relays, the 4x200m team of Tracy, Catino, Borda and Riley finished with a time of 1:48.5 and in the 4x400, Jellison, Stratton, D’Ambrosio and Roberto combined to run a 3:43.7.

Up next, the boys will look to get back in the win column against the Stoneham Spartans at home on Friday. The team will be without six of their top distance runners as D’Ambrosio, Stratton, Roberto, Haridasse, Dowd and Jacob will be competing at the first annual MSTCA Indoor Outdoor Challenge on Saturday. This will allow for the warriors to showcase their depth and have the next group of guys step up to carry the team. Until next time, it’s a great day to be a warrior!