Reaching back to the boys D1 meet (sorry, my time is not always my own!):
Well. Wow. 156 points, with 47 points making 2nd place. That *margin* of 109 wins championships.
This is what floors me: Champions in 9 of 11 events on the track. 100, 200, 800, 1600, 3200, 110HH, 300IH, 4×100, 4×400.
And I know, I hear it, too: “Pinkerton’s a big school, they’re supposed to win it.” And while yes, the size has a significant contribution to success, it doesn’t guarantee it, no way. No championships in the 1980s. One in the 1990s. None in the 2000-oughts. Look at the girls who have broken through now (more later!). We were a big school in every one of those years. It takes a program that attracts the best athletes. One of our champions was playing baseball, right? It takes a coaching cadre that can develop that talent. It takes some luck and timing to have high level performers at the same time. And healthy. It takes feeder programs and it takes family support. OOOOH it takes family support. I know that. You know that. A championship is still very, very special.
I hear the weather was a little inclement at the meet. OK, I could SEE that it was. YouTube streamed it. Maybe you see what I did there. Temp in the 40s? Ugh, the memories of meets like that pain me.
The 4x800m rolled out senior Austin Cipriano (2:03.88), senior Sean Hayes (2:06.53), Leighton Klug (2:09.97), and Jon Gustavson (1:59.76) moving up a spot to get the team into third at 8:20.12 and garnering 6 points. Then the hurdle/sprint prelims began, with the Astros packing 3 hurdlers into the 110m HH finals and two into the 100m. They were only 0.04s away from getting in a third in Michael Duarte!
Roll those finals: 2026 Division 1 Champion senior John Child gets a great start and runs a PR 14.55 to take the title, lowering his No. 3 All-Time performance slot and pushing to No. 3 Senior ahead of Fareed Rice ’95. How do you PR in conditions like that? Some champions find a way. Senior Oliver Gould nails down 5th (15.26) and Gavin Edgecomb 6th (15.46). We’ve had HH duos scoring at the championships before, but this may very well be the first time Astros have gotten points from three hurdlers. All in a row, side by side, lane by lane. Beyond impressed with this crew.
2026 Division 1 Champion Winston George (11.02) won comfortably when Cesar Flahn appears to pull a hamstring with 10m to go. One of those races you’d love to see both healthy for because that was going to be some kind of finish. Senior Elijah Roberts placed 5th in 11.46.
Life in the soggy, blustery field events were a little tougher, but our athletes worked through it to contribute points to the cause. Seniors Thomases Blaszka (43′-2.5″) and Connelly (42′-8″) placed 3rd and 4th in the shot put. Thomas Blaszka came back for another 3rd place in the discus when he winged it 140′-4″.
The wind and the wet depressed the high jump, but you have to remember everyone jumps in the same conditions. This kind of event comes down to focus and perserverance, an unwillingness to pack it in. Senior Ryan Robinson (5-8) tied for 2nd place, bringing back 6 points.
Speaking of perserverance, it’s almost his last name. Senior Kyle Severance places 4th in the triple jump (41′-3″) while Senior Vincenzo Rufo takes 6th (40′-7″).
Resuming with the oval, Jason Robie came back a 2026 Division 1 Champion in the 1600m (4:20.42), technically a PR for that exact event if we ignore his mile earlier in the year. Senior Trainor Mailloux came in 4th at a PR 4:26.72.
The 4x100m crowned four more 2026 Division 1 Champions in Michael Duarte, Winston George, Elijah Roberts, and Gavin Edgecomb (43.21). Cold, wet hands, I’m sure, but the baton stayed true. Elijah made the sacrifice, literally giving his body to make sure that baton got to Gavin. Big respect to the senior running the corner.
300m IH, here we go. Two more Astro hurdlers return to the track in Gavin Edgecomb and Oliver Gould. YouTube is a little cruel, cutting out this race between the two files they uploaded. 2026 Division 1 Champion Gavin Edgecomb keeps his time under 40 again, 39.78, in a tight pack of three across the line. Oliver Gould goes 4th, 41.93.
The meet got to the 800m, and big, bad 2026 Division 1 Champion Joe Gustavson was ready to go. YouTube picks up at the 500m mark and Joe has pulled well to the front with Melo Berdicia chasing a few meters back. What strides on these two coming through that mark in full flight. 100m to go and it’s still looking interesting, but Joe has it in hand, keeping the accelerator to the floor in 1:53.42.
Now double 2026 Division 1 Champion Winston George dominates his final, a 22.01 victory into a headwind. He improves his 200m No. 2 ranked time to inch ever closer to school record holder Jadyn Ruimwijk’s 21.98.
Back to the field events, Ian Magnan finished 3rd with a weather-handicapped 12′-6″ but I’ve got to give some respect to the champ Leo Guarracino of Portsmouth who I think PR’d by over a foot coming into this meet. That’s a hat tip!
Sebastian Tarallo-Hanney has moved quickly up the Division 1 ranks for javelin, and he placed 2nd with a mark of 141′-11″. Oliver Gould kept his long jump sand marks at 21′-0″ on the nose, good for 4th place.
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
Well, Ethan Fischer of BG and Jason Robie didn’t leave much to chance right from the gun of the 3200m. Fischer went for the Giardina style start, leading Robie through the 400m in 65 and the 800m in 2:13. I mean, sure. At 4:33 through the 1600m, the picture hadn’t changed at the front one bit. 2400m. Same same. 2800m. Steady as they go. This was much like the indoor 3000m, where Robie played predator and Fischer let him. I was a little surprised to see it play out again. Robie makes his move with 400m to go and Fischer covers it for 200m, 250m, but double 2026 Division 1 Champion Robie is too much (61s last 400m), just like that indoor 3000m. Trainor Mailloux finishes in 5th with his 9:41.98. At 9:08.30, Jason has made it easy on me. I don’t like to convert times, and I haven’t had to so far. Jason’s mile is so dominant I don’t have to parse tenths of a second for the 1600m. He does me the same favor by going so far beyond the 2-mile time of Matt Downin ’95 (9:13.80 3218m) that it doesn’t matter. Jason has the record easily in hand. How he flexes and bounces right after the race is beyond us mortals.
The 4x400m would cap it off, at least on the boys side of the meet! Austin Cipriano ran the first leg, but the sunlight is so glarey in the video I can’t make out the line for the 3-turn stagger split. Caleb Arroyo gets through the break and the handoff zone in 5th, but something happens to a team in the zone and Michael Duarte exits in 4th. That cleans up the objective considerably with open track from him to the lead trio. By 160m Michael has made the trio a quartet. My heart is in my mouth a little at this point, because that’s the thing with the 4×400: everyone gets out, but who can come back? 220m and a lot starts to happen. Spaulding flies from 2nd to 1st as Michael goes around a team to take 3rd. The now 2nd place team becomes someone who doesn’t come back because Michael (50.91) goes around him, too, getting the stick to Joe Gustavson about 15m down, but at the head of another trio. That trio includes Melo Berdicia again, who passes Joe at about 150m. No, sir, Joe pushes right back into 2nd, beating back that challenge. At 200m, the gap to Spaulding is about 12m. At 100m, there goes that man. Joe slingshots around Spaulding and down the stretch it is so clear from Joe’s strength that he has it in hand, 2026 Division 1 4x400m Champions in 3:27.14.
That was a Tour de Force, like nothing the state has seen before. The weather dictated suboptimal conditions and some suboptimal performances against the record boards, but points are points and the Astros scored more than any team in D1 history.
Congrats to the boys! They ended up having the Saturday results to themselves, because over in the girls meet . . .
But one more time, here’s to the mad men that set PRs at the meet!
