Kamen Kaleb ’25 competes in High Jump event.
Girls:
Andover: 60
North Reading: 39
Austin Prep: 21
Boys:
Andover: 67
North Reading: 38
Austin Prep: 31
Phillips Academy Track & Field (PATF) took a decisive victory against Austin Preparatory School (Austin Prep) and North Reading High School, led by record-breaking individual performances and an uplifting team culture. Co-Captain Russell Robinson ’25 broke the school record for the 55-Meter Dash, and Arashi Hunter ’25 broke the record for the mile.
Aviad Awa ’28 summed up the performance, emphasizing that both Boys and Girls won.
“The meet was pretty good. We won in both boys and girls categories. There were a few records broken during the meet, so all in all it was a pretty positive meet… Russell stood out because he broke the school record for the 55-Meter Dash, and we all know he has been trying to do that for a pretty long time, and Arashi also stood out for similar reasons because he broke the one-mile record,” said Awa.
Similarly, Christopher Lee ’27 also highlighted a race by Tomas Tejapaibul ’27 in the 300-Meter Race. A race of pure grit, Tejapaibul had an exciting finish that exemplified his effort.
“Tomas was in the 300-[Meter Race], and he absolutely killed it. He put everything into that 300[-Meter] Race, crossing the finish line by practically falling over. I watched it right beside him, and the steps were basically forced. It was a great race,” said Lee.
According to Oh, the 4×400 relay was particularly exciting. Despite losing in the close finish, the team cheered on Ethan Brown ’27 throughout.
“In the 4×400 relay, we had a strong start and the very last runner, Ethan Brown, was going head to head with the other last runner, and it was really close. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to pull out the win, but it was a really good effort by him, and what I really liked about that moment was that all of the members of PATF got up and supported him and pushed him, and I think that’s what gave him that extra spark to keep him going during that last stretch” said Oh.
With the large community track offers, Lee expressed the rare opportunity students have in track.
“[Track & Field] is probably about 11 or 12 percent of the student population, so a lot of us are going to try something new, a lot of us are going to run something new, and we get to do it well because of the great coaching and staff,” said Lee
Looking to the future, Warren Oh ’28 discussed how the team will work on training and improving in the future.
“[Head] Coach Keri Lambert mentioned that what we are really trying to do is peak athletically towards the middle to the end of the season, which is the end of February and beginning of March. What we’re trying to do is… have tech days where we work on our mechanics… Then, we have hard days which are like workout days, [including] fighting off exhaustion. Really pushing our body to our limits so that we can grow. And then a recovery day, which we take lightly to ensure that our bodies are in the best shape,” said Oh.
