Photo credit to John Hale
Freshmen and Sophomores on the M-A track team participated in the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Frosh-Soph Finals this past Saturday, which marked the end of a very successful season.
Sophomore Alex Petry said, “We have all been working very hard throughout the season and are bringing our best to the meets.”
In the boys’ 100-meter dash, sophomore Anthony van der Meer hit a personal record with an impressive 11.56-second run, earning third place out of 38 runners. Petry and fellow sophomore Joshua Pfistner also participated, finishing 15th and 27th, respectively. In the girls’ 100-meter dash, freshman Alessandra Hartwig placed second with a 13.24-second run, one of the top ten fastest times in PAL this year.
Van der Meer said, “The meet itself was very interesting because it was the first time there were no juniors or seniors present, it was just different having only the underclassmen energy to feed off of.”
Van der Meer set another personal record, earning second place out of 42 runners with a time of 23.87 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Not far behind were sophomores Max Weitzman and Alex Leonardo, placing 21st and 30th, respectively. Hartwig placed third in the girls’ 200, hitting a 27.61-second personal record.
Van der Meer continued, “I should’ve won both of my individual races because I was leading up until the final moments of both races.”
Freshman Sailor Cowart won first place out of 29 runners in the 400, hitting a 1:04-minute personal record. For the boys, Leonardo took fourth place out of 35 runners, hitting a personal record of 55.75 seconds. Freshman Axel Pilette earned sixth place, finishing less than a second later than Leonardo with a time of 55.88 seconds. Sophomore Akhil Sunkara placed 10th.
For distance, sophomore John Cutler earned second place in the 800-meters with a time of 2:09.11. In the 1600, sophomore Lucas Selvik and freshman Aidan Sharp placed second and third respectively with 4:44 and 4:47 runs. For the girls, freshmen Riya Mehta and Paige McGaraghan also placed third and fourth, with 5:37 and 5:40 runs.
The girls dominated in the 3200-meters, out of 11 runners, Mehta and McGaraghan placed first and second respectively, and Sophomore Sophia Chi won fourth place. Mehta’s 12:02.54 run was the third fastest PAL time this year.
In the 800-meter relay, the boys’ team won second place with a time of 9:06. In the long jump event, Pfistner placed third, and freshman Mia Sanchez won second in the 300-meter hurdle for girls.
Both teams placed very well, the girls finished second overall, and the boys finished fifth. With the season now finished, our future varsity runners have not disappointed.
