LYNN — The revitalized Lynn All-City Track and Field Championship featuring Lynn Tech, Lynn English, Lynn Classical, KIPP Academy and St. Mary’s will return for the first time since 2019 this Saturday. The five high schools will compete against each other at Manning Field, with the meet set to start at 4 p.m.
“I can’t tell you how excited we are — the schools, the athletes, the coaches — to have this event back,” said St. Mary’s coach Tristan Smith, who is one of the key people in putting together this event. “Track brings different people together. All of these teams share Manning Field every day at practice, so the chance to show our stuff against one another in a meet setting is really special.”
Due to COVID-19, the event has been put on hold since 2019, when it was revitalized for the first time. The Lynn Tech boys and Lynn Classical girls teams won the meet that year, but athletes from all the schools got to wear the title of “champion” for many of the individual events.
Local sponsors will be abound for this meet, including Superior Roast Beef and Marlene Lara Real Estate. Furthermore, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Lynn Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. All sponsors will be thanked in the meet program, with some of the top donors having a track or field event named for them for the meet.
Smith stressed that they were still looking for sponsors.
“We are actively looking for businesses or individuals who might be willing to sponsor the event so we can get medals and t-shirts for all of the kids,” said Smith.
Harrington Trophy is doing the awards for the meet, while XTreme Silkscreen is producing the shirts.
Alongside races named for sponsors, the event will feature leaders from across Lynn. City officials will help kick off the event around 3:30 p.m., while former Lynn English quarterback Jermaine Kelly will serve as color commentator throughout the meet. Lynn running legend Joe Abelon will be on hand as meet director. In recognition of Abelon’s many years of service to Lynn’s running scene, the trophy given out to the winning boys and girls teams at the end of the meet has been named the Joe Abelon Trophy.
“I am happy to have a full track season and super happy to have all five Lynn high schools competing in this meet,” said Lynn Tech head coach John Hogan, who, alongside Smith, is one of the people putting the meet on. “But I’m even more happy about having Coach Abelon be a big part of this meet.”
The meet will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday at Manning Field. Spectators are encouraged to arrive by 3:30 p.m. for pre-meet team introductions.
Those looking to get involved with sponsorship are asked to email Tristan Smith at [email protected].
