By Hannah Fraser
Sports Reporter
On Saturday, May 6th, the Newton South boys’ track team raced at the annual Twilight meet at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts. The meet was a huge success as many South athletes set personal records and placed at the statewide invitational.
The annual Weston Twilight meet is well known among runners for the milder temperatures, lively mood, and competitive under-the-lights races, all of which are factors that can induce an athlete’s performance.
“I think that the attitude was pretty positive overall given that a lot of people ran personal records and hit a season-best,” said captain Dan Epstein.
One of the most exciting events of the day was freshman Danny Collins’ personal record in the high jump. He jumped 5’10 and placed 5th overall in the meet, a very impressive feat for a freshman.
Collins’ incredible performance brings excitement to the team when looking towards future meets.
“He’s gonna be a big force at the DCL championships and he’ll definitely help us steal a lot of points,” said senior captain Gal Fudim.
Fudim had a successful day himself as he set a personal record in the 800m race. He finally broke 2:00, running 1:59.99, a big achievement for a distance runner.
The Lions were very competitive in the field events too. Senior Yuval Levy pole vaulted 12 feet and placed 3rd overall. Senior Aidan O’Flaherty threw a PR of 47 feet in the shot put and was 6th overall in the meet.
“I’m proud of my performance because I’m competing with the best in the state at my event,” O’Flaherty said.
Dan Epstein ran a very fast 200m race at 23.2 seconds, placing in the top 8 of the meet. He hopes to continue running well throughout the remainder of the season.
“I am really happy to finally get a fast time, even though it was just shy of my pre-season goal I set for myself,” said Epstein.
Looking to the future, the boys are working hard to maintain their speed for upcoming meets, while reducing the risk of injury.
“It seems as if over 50% of the sprinters are dealing with some nagging muscle issues. So we have just been investing a ton of time recently in our stretching and mobility drills to make sure that we stay healthy and fit,” Epstein said.
Looking ahead the boys will take on Dual County rivals before competing at the Dual County Championships.
“We always put up a good fight against the rest of the league, and everyone is super pumped to try to regain last year’s title,” Epstein said.
