LYNN — For the first time since 2019, track teams from all five Lynn high schools gathered on the track at Manning Field for the Lynn All-City Track Championship. In a thrilling pair of meets that came down to the very last minutes and seconds, the St. Mary’s boys team and Lynn Tech girls team were able to pull out the citywide titles.
In terms of scores, on the boys side St. Mary’s led with 188 points, followed by Tech’s 183 points, Lynn Classical’s 68 points, Lynn English’s 61 points and KIPP’s six points. For the girls, Tech led with a stellar 208 points and was followed by St. Mary’s 161 points, English’s 83 points, Classical’s 56 points and KIPP’s five points.
City Councilor Fred Hogan kicked things off with some remarks prior to the start of the meet, while former Lynn English quarterback Jermaine Kelly provided color commentary and shouted out sponsors throughout the event. Kelly also interviewed the coaches — all of whom mentioned how great the event was for the youth of the city.
The championship trophies for each team were named the Joe Abelon Trophy, whose namesake was honored for his many years of service to Lynn’s running scene.
The boys meet came down to the final event — the 4×400 relay. In a battle between St. Mary’s and Tech, it was the Spartans squad of Cody Huynh, Matheus Menezes-Avendanha, Brett O’Brien and Jesse Moriello that ran a time of 3:50.9 to earn enough points to win the meet outright. The Tech team of Bryton Osgood, Brandon Zarate, Gregory Krochmal, and Remy Chiep ran a time of 4:02.2 to finish in second place.
The Spartans also saw a huge day from Anthony D’Itria, who took home three wins in the high jump (6-0), the triple jump (39-10) and the 400 (54.7) to lead the way. Kyle Kwiatek won both the one-mile (5:01.4) and the two-mile (11:32.1), while the Spartans also got wins from O’Brien in the javelin (121-6), Moriello in the 400 hurdles (1:03.3), Dylan Moroney in the long jump (20-10) and Preston Archer in the 200 (23.9).
Tech had a trio of winners on the boys side, with Jephthah Onyighichi taking the 110 hurdles (17.6), Franklin Rodriguez winning the 800 (2:19.6) and Cesar Reyes tied for first in the high jump (6-0). The 4×800 relay team of Diego Castro, Elmer Duran, Anthony Gonzalez and Edwin Gomez also took first with a time of 10:09.9.
Rounding out the winners in the boys meet were a pair of English athletes, as Stephen Srey won both the shot put (47-6) and the discus (96-1) and Ernest Panias won the 100 (10.9).
Lynn Classical stayed in it on the boys side with some tough second- and third- place finishes, including from Kymani Phipps in the 110 hurdles (18.2), Robert Faessler in the 100 (11.4) and Jieren Mireles in the 200 (24.6).
On the girls side, Tech was led by double-winner Miyoka Johnson — who took first in both the long jump (14-5) and the 200 (27.5). Other individual winners for Tech were Skyla McGough in the 100 high hurdles (18.8) and Kassandra Pena in the 400 (1:05.8). The Tigers also won all three relay events, with the team of Johnson, McGough, Nyari Lane-Benjamin and Amaya Williams winning the 4×100 (54.5), the team of Pena, Maria Groscos, Amabar Rodriguez and Faith Akinbami winning the 4×400 (4:42.0) and the team of Angelina Castillo, Addyson Brown, Diane Pheun and Melody Veliz winning the 4×800 (12:41.3).
Kelsey Kwiatek was a double-winner for the Spartans, taking first in the one-mile (6:06.7) and the two-mile (13:49.7). St. Mary’s was also able to get wins from Makayla Kokonezis in the high jump (4-8), Kaelyn Jennings in the javelin (77-7), Aaliah Tejada Lara in the 400 hurdles (1:18.3), Juliana Taborda in the 800 (2:41.7) and Ellie Fox in the discus (78-9).
English had a pair of winners on the day, with Diamond Bogues taking first in the shot put (27-6) and Kendra Malcolm grabbing the top spot in the 100 (12.2).
The lone winner on the girls side for Classical was Mia Kebreau, who took first place in the triple jump (29-2).
