COURTESY PHOTO BY MILE SPLIT
Lynn Tech’s Justin Lewis will head to the New Balance Nationals to compete in the high jump this weekend.
By STEVE KRAUSE
Lynn Tech high jumper Justin Lewis was at the airport at 5 a.m. today to fly down to Greensboro, N.C., for the New Balance Nationals Meet that goes from Friday through Sunday.
Lewis will be jumping in the championship meet Sunday around 11 a.m. Already this spring, Lewis has won Division 3, all-state and New England championships in the event. The three-sport athlete jumped 6 feet, 8 inches two weeks ago, and came back last week in the New Englands with a 6-7.
“He’s had a pretty good week of practice,” said Tech track coach John Hogan. “A did a lot of stuff in the swimming pool, and jumping off the diving board. He also got some good jumps in as well.”
Hogan, whose brother, Fred, is a former girls basketball coach at Lynn English, is a former swim coach for the Bulldogs. And he is a big believer in water therapy.
“I brought my cross country kids who were having problems with their knees into the pool and then ended up, a couple of weeks later, running their best times. I believe in water therapy. I’ve been working in the pool since I was 16.”
Hogan doesn’t know yet how Lewis stacks up against the competition, but says that the 2015 Item Football All-Star is in heady company.
“There will be future Olympians running,” Hogan said. “Maybe not this year’s but in the future. There are some heavy hitters.”
Lewis will be joined at Nationals by freshman Akeem Blake, who qualified for the freshman portion of the meet in the 100-meter dash.
Also attending the national meet will be Marblehead’s 800 sprint medley team of Michael Weidenbruch, Joe Doherty, Jeff Cabrera and Jacob Wikar. Doherty will also run in the freshman 100.
Peabody will send several representatives. Marcelo Rocha will run in the 5000, the Peabody team of Moisse Irizarry, Phil Bynum, Amisaday Quijano and Ugonna Okananawa compete in the 800 medley, Nate Hobbs will compete in the triple jump and Cynthia Aroke is the top seed in the 400 hurdles Emerging Elite class. Bynum, Quijano, Irizarry and Hunter Josselyn will take part in the 4×100 Emerging Elite, while Irizarry, Bynum, Josselyn and Okananawa take part in the 4×200. The team of Amanda Andrews, Dayna Vadala, Sophia Anderle and Aroke compete in the 4×400, and Hobbs will take part in the high jump. Finally, Patrick Pang will compete in the freshmen hammer throw.
Swampscott’s Michelle Connor will compete in the high jump, as will Gloucester’s Sierra Rudolph. Lynnfield’s Kate Mitchell will run the 800 and Danvers’ Devan Walsh will compete in the javelin. Swampscott’s Catie Cullinane, Ella Parker, Zoe Petty and Bailey Shorr will run in the 800 medley.