The first day of the Division I Outdoor Track & Field state championships took place at Tufts University on Thursday.
Here are the highlights.
Tandeih, Chandler collect first batch of medals in Pentathlon
Lexington’s Simon Tandeih blazed a trail and took home the boys pentathlon state championship in dominant fashion.
He won three out of the five events, earning the top step in the 110m hurdles, shot put and long jump. The first of these categories also marked a personal record for Tandeih, who crossed the finish line after 14.61 seconds, almost a second ahead of his rivals.
The long jump ended a lot closer than that, with the margin being just four inches between the winner and second place finisher, Central Catholic’s Suuna Kalemera.
Shot put also came down to the wire, as Tandeih and Massaro went at it. Prep’s athlete came the closest to Lexington’s front man, but Tandeih wouldn’t be denied. He finished with about a foot in difference, as his 41′08″ reigned supreme.
Switching gears to the girls, Sydni Chandler is finishing off her high school career in the best way imaginable. Following a great indoor season, she set a school record for the event during the 2025 MSTCA State Pentathlon Championships back in February.
On Thursday, Natick’s captain further improved on that previous score of 3045. Winning two events in the process, Chandler scored 3114 points, finding success in the 800m race and with a season-high 5′01″ in the high jump. The Wesleyan commit placed no lower than fourth in any event.
Pair of Central Catholic teammates highlight multi-event winners
Central Catholic ran well in the pentathlon, with a particular duo enjoying themselves. Carlos Quintana was the only athlete to clear 1.82m on high jump, as his top height of 1.92m left behind four players tied for second place. Quintana also won the 1500m race, but with a much closer margin. Prep’s Massaro was once again the main threat to the leader, but as they crossed the line, Central Catholic runner was roughly three tenths of a second faster.
Arianna DiPietro also found herself as the best performer a few times on Thursday. In the 110m hurdles, she dashed across the field just ahead of Natick’s Sydni Chandler, with a final time of 14.83 seconds. Her second victory of the day was too close for comfort. In fact, it was just two inches better than Ainsley Weber’s best long jump. But once again, though the pressure was applied on DiPietro, she came through and emerged victorious.
Girls 400m Hurdles, Boys 200m dash come down to wire
Needham’s Sofi Galan and Newton North’s Reese Connors ended the meet as the beneficiaries of two close races.
In the girls 400m hurdles dash, the two-three finishers crossed the line within a second of each other. But just as Westford Academy’s Ashley Vinith was only half a second behind third-place finisher and Lincoln-Sudbury runner Anna Lucchese, she was also just as close to the winner, Galan. As things turned out, she needed every single piece of her newest personal record, which was clocked at 1:06:11.
Connors also saved the best of his efforts for his last high school divisional championship race. 21.46 seconds broke the previous personal fastest time for Connors, who had both Lawrence’s Cristian Reinoso and Xaverian’s Alex Todorov breathing down his neck. But ultimately, their efforts came up short, as Newton North’s pride completed the event sweep (first in both prelims and finals).
