The Boston Latin School track and field team showcased an impressive performance at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Division I Championship on February 12 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center. Multiple athletes competed in both relays and individual events. Divisionals allowed underclassmen to learn from not only the experienced juniors and seniors from BLS, but also from athletes from other schools who displayed impressive mastery of their events.
Benny Pierre Louis (I), senior captain of the girls’ track and field team, started off the day strong with a tenth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles, running a season’s best for 2025. Soon after, Ianna Blenman (III) competed in the 55-meter dash, falling just short of making the finals with a ninth-place overall finish. Additionally, Lateef Lawal (I) had an amazing regular season, setting school records in the 55-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump; he competed well in the 55-meter hurdles at divisionals, finishing just shy of the top 20.
The boys’ and girls’ 800-meter relays finished within the top 20 and ten, respectively. Girls’ distance team captain Rachel Starr (I) ran a season’s best in the mile with a 12th place finish, ending her indoor season strong. “I also enjoyed that the girls had a strong 800-meter relay, so that more of my teammates could race,” Starr remarks, “The girls’ distance team became very close this season because it’s a small group. It was so fun to push each other in practice and to spend time together outside of track.”
On the boys’ side, the coaches felt that there could have been improvements in tactics throughout all events, a sentiment shared by many of the boys who were disappointed in their performances. They still had many accomplishments, however, in their respective races. Sam Burnet (I) ran the 1000-meter and Joe Day (II) ran the 600-meter, both placing in the top 20. Brendan Nolan (I) placed fifth in the mile and Bilal Elhaji (I) placed fifth in the two-mile.
Burnet (I) states, “With national level competition, you know everyone is able to compete at a high level and going to these meets you want to prove that you are at the same level as your competitors. Especially leading up to bigger races such as states and nationals, divisionals is a good way to test to see where your fitness is at and what you can expect out of these bigger races.”
The competition included some of the best high school athletes in the country. Various future Division I and III college athletes from high schools such as Newton South High School, Boston College High School and Brockton High School attended the meet. Starr agrees with Burnet about the importance of the experience: “I am proud of my mile performance but am also looking forward to improving my time during the outdoor season.”
Captain Francis Obijuru (I), a long jumper and high jumper, comments on the excitement the meet generated: “The atmosphere was electric during relays and it was impressive seeing people, even my teammates run USA top 100 times.” Athletes remained appreciative of the opportunity to participate in the high-caliber event which served to prepare many of them for the remainder of the indoor competition season. Looking ahead to states, the team was excited to demonstrate their hard work and determination at the highest level of competition for high schoolers.
The team found many successes, with athletes qualifying for the State Meet of Champions, including Blenman in the 55-meter, Nolan in the mile, Elhaji in the two mile and both the girls’ and boys’ 800-meter relay teams.
The team is now looking forward to their races at the New Balance Indoor Nationals, which is to be held at the TRACK at New Balance from March 13 to March 16, where BLS athletes are set to compete in the mile (Nolan) and 5k (Elhaji), 4 by 55-meter hurdle relay (Haochen Zhang (II), Brendan Furlonge (II), Reggie Hesselbein (II) and Lawal), the distance medley relay (Day, Burnet, Nolan, and Elhaji) and middle school long jump (Isaias Ortega (V)).
