These interviews were done remotely due to COVID-19 precautions.

Because of the cancellation of the 2020 spring sports season, senior athletes reflected on the best moments from their time playing their sport at Algonquin.

Zane Walter:

What are you most proud of from your time doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I am most proud of breaking 5:30 in the mile. I finished my Junior year season with a 5:29, just barely getting under my goal. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of neck and neck races between me and Aaron Wiswall. “

What will you miss most from doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I will miss the team camaraderie. Especially on indoor track and within the specific events such as distance, there was some serious friendship and bonding.”

What is your favorite memory of outdoor track at Algonquin?

“Breaking 5:30 and getting my PR of 5:29 was definitely a highlight. It felt like the culmination of all the hard work I had put in so far, and I was able to carry that momentum into my summer training and subsequent XC season.”

Aiden Fish:

What are you most proud of from your time doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I’m most proud of running my event and beating my personal best each time I ran and seeing my improvements.”

What will you miss most from doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“The thing I will miss most about track is running with my friends, and pushing myself in the workouts my coaches provided.”

What is your favorite memory of outdoor track at Algonquin?

“My favorite memory of track is going on the trails and running along the streams with friends.”

Ben MacNeil:

What are you most proud of from your time doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“Looking back on my entire track Career, the thing that I am most proud of would probably be learning to pole vault. As a kid I always thought it looked like so much fun, but yet incredibly difficult. I am very happy I decided to try it out.”

What will you miss most from doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“The thing I will miss most about track is just getting a chance to run outside with friends everyday. It was something I looked forward to everyday. It was a chance to relax and just forget about everything stressing me out for a few hours.”

What is your favorite memory of outdoor track at Algonquin?

“My favorite memories from track would have to be runs to “bird song”. “Bird song”, is a trail that runs along the Assabet River and was a place we would run to almost everyday we could.”

Joe Shoemaker:

What are you most proud of from your time doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I was never the strongest or fastest athlete on the team, but I definitely had the most team spirit. There were few spirit days that I didn’t go all out on. I feel this brought some light-hearted energy to the team. I was fully aware that I couldn’t help the team by scoring points in meets, so I did the next best thing. I am proud of this and will stand by it.”

What will you miss most from doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“The team culture was amazing and it will be hard to say goodbye to it. Especially as I aged, the team cultivated this sense of inclusivity and fun. We, during meets, would fill a kiddie pool, lay out towels, set up chairs and umbrellas, and have a full out beach day. Of course the coaches weren’t always the happiest about it, but we enjoyed ourselves.”

What is your favorite memory of outdoor track at Algonquin?

“It is extremely hard to choose one, but if I had to, it would be the F.A.R.T. relays. Standing for Fat Ass Relay Team, coach would get four of the larger members on the team, usually shot put throwers, and make us run the 4×100 relay. That alone would be funny enough, but we made it better by using a stick of pepperoni as a replacement for the batton. I feel that an honorable mention for favorite moment would have to be rapping in the back of the bus on the way home from meets.”

Preston Green:

What are you most proud of from your time doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I’m most proud of being part of a league championship team and being able to make so many good friends from the team. In essence just the whole team experience made myself feel proud to be a part of it.”

What will you miss most from doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I will most certainly miss all the championship meets. They are so much fun and are high stakes and it’s awesome to see great athletes compete.”

What is your favorite memory of outdoor track at Algonquin?

”My favorite memory of outdoor track is watching Matt Madamba’s (‘19) races. He is so awesome and watching other teammates compete at their best is what brings satisfaction to me.” 

Aaron Wiswall:

What are you most proud of from your time doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“I’m definitely proud of how much I changed because of Track. It made me grow up, physically and mentally. You can look at my freshman photo, then my senior photo after being with the program for a couple years. I’m a completely different person because of track, and I’m really proud of that.”

What will you miss most from doing outdoor track at Algonquin?

“Without a doubt, the people are what I’m going to miss the most. The distance running squad felt like a tight family that supported each other every day.”

What is your favorite memory of outdoor track at Algonquin?

“There’s a lot of great memories that surface when I look back, but my favorite is probably when I broke my mile time and ran a decent 800 in the same meet on my 17th birthday.”

Boys’ outdoor track seniors that The Harbinger was unable to contact: 

Thomas Coffey

Garrett Goodney

Joe Kearney

Jason Michalik

Austin Mowry

Quinn Potter

Matt Rawlings

Josh Tattelman

Kevin Tucker

Nick West