MEDFORD — The Lexington girls outdoor track and field team walked into Tufts University for the final day of the MIAA D-I outdoor track and field state championships holding a 20-point lead over the second place team.
The intermittent drizzle didn’t seem to affect them.
Similar to their efforts on Thursday, the Lexington squad came into Tufts on Saturday and dominated, leaving Ellis Oval with 108 total points and a state championship.
“They have just been a force from the beginning,” Lexington coach Rebecca Trachsel said. “Their strength is numbers.”
In fact, Lexington only had two first place finishes — the first in the shot put event, with Ainsley Cuthbertson barely edging out Haverhill’s Madeline Goncalves, and the second in the 4×800-meter relay.
“They’re a huge cohesive unit and they all work together,” Trachsel said. “They are all about team. Pushing each other as one big group is what makes us so powerful.”
While Lexington didn’t have as many first place finishers as their score would point to, Trachsel saw multiple players perform well. Aubrey Deardorft highlighted the strong all-around Lexington performances with second place finishes in the 100-meter dash and long jump competitions.
“The girls have never won a state title in outdoor track,” Trachsel said. “We talked about that this week that we wanted to prove that this is where we belong.”
Lowell boys scrape by competition for D-I title
The Lowell boys outdoor track and field team celebrates their 2025 D-I state championship on Saturday, May 31.Brett Abrams
Similar to Lexington, it took a team effort for the Lowell boys track and field team to leave Tufts with the D-I championship.
Ethan Thevenin was the only Lowell runner to win first in any of the events on Saturday, winning the boys 400-meter race with a time of 49.50. Thevenin also finished fifth in the long jump, one spot ahead of teammate Kelvin Amankwaah.
However, Lowell had strong performances in each of the relays, bolstering their point totals in the later stages of the meet. Lowell finished second in the 4×800-meter relay and third in both the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays.
“This was a hard-fought one,” Lowell coach Nick McArdle said. “We battled all season long with injuries, overcoming a lot of things. It was a grind. That whole thing was a grind.”
McArdle also saw certain members of his team unexpectedly step up to the occasion: Emanuel Trinidad, who finished third in shot put, and Paris Mbeca placed fourth in high jump.
“(Mbeca) got fourth when he wasn’t even supposed to place and Emmanuel was supposed to be tenth and got third,” McArdle said. “We had a lot of guys step up and it was a great team effort all around.”
Altamo Aschkenasy leads Brookline boys to bronze
Despite entering the day with a seven-point lead over Lexington and a 11-point lead over Lowell, the Brookline boys outdoor track and field team finished the meet in third place.
“Today didn’t quite go as well as we would have liked,” Brookline coach Michael Glennon said. “But I’m very happy with how they did.”
The Brookline squad had solid outings from multiple racers, but none more impressive than senior Altamo Aschkenasy. Aschkenasy followed up his strong showing on Thursday with an even stronger showing on Saturday.
Aschkenasy set a new personal record in the mile with a time of 4:17.18 while also taking home first place in the event. He also helped his squad win first in the 4×800-meter relay.
“I think he’s got one of the best ranges of anybody in the state,” Glennon said. “He’s a very confident athlete and I think he showed that today in both the mile and the 4×800. He’s a great kid and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does in college.”
