by Bryant Wang
The Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School boys and girls track team competed in a three-way meet with Bedford and Newton South. The meet would be crucial in deciding who would win the DCL championship. At the end of the day, the girls team prevailed over both teams, while the boys dropped a close decision to Newton South.
For the girls, they finished the regular season tied with both Newton South and Westford Academy as DCL regular season champions. The boys finished third in the DCL during the regular season, but indisputably had the best tan. The meet was full of personal records and breakthrough performances by L-S athletes.
The first event on the track was the 300 meter hurdles. On the boys side, Bryant Wang ran a 41.7 second race. Chris Halsted also ran the 300 meter hurdles for the first time in his career with a time of 44.3. For the girls, Emily Schneider ran 49.60 seconds en route to a first place finish in the 300 meter hurdles.
The next event was the one mile run. The boys were represented by Alex Linden, Jimmy Tyrrell, Pat Hebble and Mike Ravesi. All four ran the race in under five minutes. Alex Linden led the way with a 4:34.47, winning the race. For the girls, Andrea Keklak won with a time of 5:13.8, running a perfectly executed race.
In the 800 meter run, Ben Cutting ran a time of 2:02.1 minutes to win the race. For the girls, the 800 meter was a huge event in which they finished first and second, with Ellie Hylton and Claire Arthur taking care of business.
Next was the 200 meter run, which was won by Sean Kleeman. For the girls, L-S was represented by Caeleigh Georges and Leah Sax. Both ran tremendous races with Caeleigh finishing in 26.8 and Sax finishing in 27.7.
Then came the 110 meter and 100 meter hurdles. The 110 meter hurdles was a battle between two runners, Bryant Wang and Yong-Hyun Cho. Wang dominated, winning in 14 seconds flat. Cho took the lead from the gun until the seventh hurdle when Wang kicked it up a notch to pass Cho and win the race. Halsted followed in 15.9 seconds. On the girls side of things, Maggie Fleming and Bridget Hunter-Jones ran the 100 meter hurdles. Fleming stormed through the finishing line with a time of 15.7, while Hunter-Jones improved to a time of 17.6.
The L-S male competitors stood no chance in the 400 against the juggernaut that is Gerald Arneaud. Gerald destroyed the competition. The females’ 400 was a different story with Emily Mepham winning in 60.4 seconds.
The last event was the two mile run where L-S was represented by Alec Barnes and Jake Shoemaker for the boys and Andrea Keklak and Rachael Potter for the girls. Barnes and Shoemaker came in third and fourth respectively. Keklak completed an unbelievable double victory, winning the two mile race along with the one mile race earlier in the day. Rachael Potter was close behind in second place for the two mile run.
L-S was strong in the field events as usual. In the high jump, Sam Wuest cleared 6 feet for the first time, jumping 6’1” to win the event. Fleming won the high jump for the girls, leaping a season best of 5’3”. Her jump marked tremendous progress as she returned to her prior form, achieving what she had reached during the winter season. In the pole vault, Scott Ehrmann vaulted 9’6” to come in second. For the girls, Amanda Nash and Becca Earle finished first and second in the pole vault.
For the girls, Lauren Ready launched a 16 foot jump in the long jump. Her progress was remarkable this season. In the triple jump, Wang won on his first jump, passing on his next two. Maggie led the way for the girls with Ready and Igwe-Kalu finishing behind her in the same event. Standout performances in the throws included Brandon Huntowski’s 156’ throw in the javelin and Colin Kleeman’s 108’ throw in the discus. Keklak won the javelin with a 91’ throw, while Sara Forino and Abby Wyant both threw more than 64 feet in the discus.
The relays proved to be the difference maker for both the boys and girls. The boys lost both relays and therefore lost the meet while the girls won the 4x4 and won the meet. The 4x1 team also performed well running in 50 seconds flat, one of the best times in the state this year. The 4x4 team was brilliant as Ellie Hylton took the lead in the leadoff leg, and never looked back.
Both teams performed brilliantly and were proud of another successful season for L-S.
