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- Freshman Isaiah Brand runs the hurdles during Tuesday’s meet against Weymouth.
by Ryan Condon
Boys’ track, 6-0-1, experienced a frustrating 68-68 tie against Weymouth at home Tuesday, according to coach Jim Blackburn. Blackburn said that it was the first tied meet he has seen in his coaching career at this school.
“Their guy leaned for the tape and just beat us by half an inch,” Blackburn saidabout the 4×400 relay that the meet came down to.
“We were two evenly-matched teams, but in the end, we feel like we should have won,” Blackburn said.
Senior Young Guang, a captain with senior Swardiq Mayanja, said, “We did not perform up to par in this meet.”
“Throwing is our strength, and it played a huge role in this meet,” said Guang. “Shot put and discus have performed exceptionally well the entire season.”
In the meet, shot put, discus and javelin combined for 26 out of a possible 27 points, according to Blackburn. He said that while the throwing events performed exceptionally, “if we had just gotten that one point, we would have won, which is frustrating.”
The distance runners have also become one of the team’s strengths in the past weeks, according to Guang. “Some distance runners stepped up to get points we weren’t expecting,” he said.
Some exceptional performers were junior Ryan Lucken, who won both the 100 and 400-meter sprints, sophomore Adrian Butterton, who scored a personal best in the 800-meter while placing second and sophomore Jack Boucher, who placed second in the javelin, according to Guang.
“Jack came through for us by picking up an important second when we were not expecting him to,” Guang said.
Next up are the State meets, according to Blackburn. Guang said the team is gearing up for the postseason by increasing its intensity to prepare for the State meets.
