Track & Field recorded a successful finish at the New England Preparatory School Track and Field Association (NEPSTA) Division I Championships this past Saturday at Choate, where 13 boys teams and 14 girls teams competed for the titles. Boys Track and Field finished in fourth place with 37 points, while Girls Track and Field took the win with 125 points. Girls Track and Field also won last year’s NEPSTA Championships, making them back-to-back champions.
The team went through extensive training to prepare for this meet, balancing physical conditioning but also recovery. Alessandro Reverdito ’29 described the practices leading up to the championships that emphasized the importance of the race.
“We did a lot of prep going into it because every meet we’re always doing workouts, runs, [and] lifting, everything to prepare, but for this meet especially [because it was] towards the end of the season. We’ve had a lot of prep going in, but we also made sure the week before to really reduce the volume and make sure we weren’t pushing ourselves too much so we’d be fully rested for the race. For the distance runners, we weren’t even supposed to run on Wednesday like usual, which is really a one time thing, but it was to prep us for this race, because it really is the biggest race of the season by far,” said Reverdito.
Eden Dunleavy ’29 commented on the atmosphere of the meet, explaining that while there was pressure to perform well, the team’s supportive environment built excitement and spirit.
“On the bus, everybody was tired and there [were] a lot of nerves, but there was definitely excitement. The fact that we were going to compete against other Division-1 schools was definitely getting people really hyped about the meet, and right before going on, just being together as a community and setting up our tent together established a sense of community and support. We see a lot of support on the track team, just teammates helping each other and being there for one another’s events,” said Dunleavy.
Many athletes set personal records (PRs) at the meet, both individually and in team relays. Adanna Obi ’29 commended members of both the girls and boys team for their strong performances.
“Our girls 4×400[-Meter Relay], which consisted of Jenna [Robertson-Palmer ’27], Ela [Budzinski ’28], Lauren [Signoriello ’27], and Eden, won by a wild margin, 3.56 [seconds], which was a very impressive time. We also had some great jumping. We had Hailey [Piasecki ’26] in the pole vault get second. We had Gabbie [Kawooya ’27] in the triple jump who got fifth. Our boys team did a really great job in the 4×400[-Meter Relay] and the 4×100[-Meter Relay] as well. We had lots of PRs all around. I placed, which is cool because I was a freshman. Eden [Dunleavy ’29] got second in the 400[-Meter Dash], and it was all around [a] really, really great meet,” said Obi.
Gabbie Kawooya ’27 shouted out Girls Track and Field Co-Captain Gracie Aziabor ’26 for her leadership and consistent support.
“[Gracie] is just such an inspiring person to be around and especially at a meet. It just becomes increasingly obvious why she got captained because of the way that she supports the team, supports all our teammates, and is always doing her best to be 100 percent there for each person who’s on the track or doing a jump or any event that they’re doing,” said Kawooya.
Reverdito added that Track and Field will carry the momentum from the championship into its final meet of the season, and emphasized teammates’ improvement over the course of the season.
“It sets a great expectation for the rest of the season because we performed really well. I know there were a lot of PRs. We’re still having positive growth as a team. We’re happy with our progress, and going into Andover/Exeter, our last meet of the season, we should all be looking forward to that because we’ve definitely grown a lot as a team,” said Reverdito.
Track & Field looks forward to its final race against Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter) this Saturday at home.
