Indoor track teams earn 2nd place in conference, send dozens to state championship
The indoor track teams at Dartmouth High School have a lot to be proud of already — and a lot to look forward to in the coming week.
Both the boys and girls teams finished 2nd in the Southeast Conference Championships on Feb. 6, and a number of student-athletes from both teams will head to the state divisional championships on Saturday, Feb. 17 in Boston.
“I was very proud of the effort they put in,” said boys head coach John Breault. “And a lot of personal bests from top to bottom, which at that point in the season is all we can ask for … it shows that the work they put in has really been worthwhile.”
Qualifying athletes on the boys side include Maddox Dupre for the 55 meter dash, Trent Farnsworth and Nicholas Silva for the 600m run, Tyler Medeiros and Jacob Anuszczyk for the 1000m run, Luke Bloom-Glover and Tiago Lameiro for the mile run, Jared Mendonca for the two mile run, Will Fairfax for the 55 meter hurdles and Andrew Capataz and Owen Shurtleff for shot put. Dartmouth will also send three separate relay teams to state, for the 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 races.
Despite qualifying for the mile run as well, Medeiros will focus his attention on the 1000 meter run, where he carries the fastest time in the division. Medeiros recently broke Dartmouth’s school record for the 1000 meter race.
“Tyler Medeiros has had arguably one of the best seasons of indoor track in our school history,” Breault said. “He’s kind of really rewriting our history board.”
On the girls side, Sydney Almeida will compete in the 55 meter dash, Haley Zexter will run both the 600 meter dash and 55 meter hurdles, and Makai Vincent will join Zexter in the 600 meter dash. Audrey Kertscher and Reyana Boyard will compete in the shot put competition.
The girls team will also send three relay teams to state, one at every distance.
“We had a bunch of girls have really significant [personal records],” said girls head coach Caitlin McCarron-Deely.
Saturday will mark the end of the season for most Dartmouth students, but extremely high-achieving athletes, such as Medeiros, may still qualify for the “Meet of Champions” on Feb. 24, which pits the best runners from each division against each other. Success at that meet would then set up athletes to run in the New England championship, which folds other states into the mix.