Jacob Martino
The Malden High School track team managed to make it to the State Tournament yet again behind the lead of head coach David Londino. Athletes from both the boys and girls teams qualified to compete at the Reggie Lewis Center for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament.
Last year, the boys team went undefeated and became the Greater Boston League champions. This year, they were only one race away from winning the title for a second straight year, falling short to Cambridge Rindge and Latin. “It was a really good season,” Londino stated. “I thought it was going to be a rebuilding year, but they came only four seconds from being GBL champions.”
The runners representing MHS for the boys teams were seniors O’Shane McCreath, senior Eddie Fisher, junior Franklin Huynh, and freshman Ralph Duperville, who competed together as the 4×200 relay team with a time of 1:36.47 minutes. Huynh and McCreath both ran the 55-meter dash placing after each other with a time of 6.67 and 6.79, respectively. In the high jump, Fisher jumped a height of 5’10.
In the 1000-meter run, junior Blue and Gold member Haley Dowdie and senior Haley DeFilippis ran times of 3:15 and 3:19, respectively. Sophomore Jacqueline Bouley competed in the 600-meter with a time of 1:42.77, beating the qualification time of 1:43.77 minutes to meet the national silver standard which is extremely impressive for any runner. The 4×800 relay team consisted of senior DeFilippis, Dowdie, junior Blue and Gold members Lauren Benoit, and Bouley with a time of 10:20.88. The 4×400 relay team consisted of senior DeFilippis, Dowdie, sophomore Bouley, and junior Iris Feng with a time of 4:26.24. “The performance for both teams went really well,” Londino commented.
At the end the meet, the MHS runners walked out with their heads held high confident that they will be back again next year. The girls team will be losing three seniors next year, and the expectations will be even higher for them to succeed. “I thought the girls had a good developmental year,” Londino commented when asked about the team’s success this year. As the winter season comes to an end, both teams will be working toward getting a GBL championship and having another opportunity of winning the state title for MHS.
