Bay State Games Wrap Up

Lexington athletes were staples on Bay State Games rosters and entry lists. They were fixtures on the podium as well.

The two-week, Olympic-style event wrapped up in earnest on Sunday, and plenty of area athletes turned in stellar performances in a number of sports.

Some of the best results for local athletes came out of the badminton competition. Atop the list is Naoko Honda's first place in the Level C Women's Doubles tournament. She teamed with Somerville's Qifang Wu to win the event, the only top finish for a Lexington athlete at the Games.

Zhiping You added a second place in the Seniors' Men's Singles, while Surya Bhupatiraju and Hao Shen teamed up for a runner-up showing in the Juniors' Doubles.

It was a busy couple of weeks for Christian Herlihy, who was entered in swimming and diving as well as track and field. The Bowman Elementary School student competed in four Junior Division swimming events, placing second in the 400 freestyle, third in the 200 butterfly, third in the 200 individual medley and fourth in the 100 freestyle.

Herlihy added a sixth-place finish in the Junior Division mile event on the track. Fellow Lexington runner Woojin Kang was third in the Junior Division 100 dash.

Joining Herlihy in the swimming competition was Lee Chiang, who competed in the Masters' I Division. Chiang was second in the 50 freestyle, third in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 200 free.

Another event to feature at least two Lexington athletes was wrestling. Alex Lieber was second at 171 pounds in the Scholastic Division and Derek Campbell placed sixth at 162 pounds in the Open Division.

In table tennis, Lexington's Darren Wang paired with Holyoke's Zachary Slepchuck to win bronze in the Boys' Scholastic Doubles tournament.

The final Lexington athlete to earn a podium spot was Thomas Ballenthin. He was a member of the Metro boys' soccer team that finished second.

Will Marcal and Rob Krentzman also competed for Metro, but in the baseball tournament. The Metro team won only a single game in the four-day tournament that opened the Games.

But more hardware could be in store for the locals. Douglas White (Open Division, Free Pistol) is entered in the Pistol Shooting competition scheduled to take place July 25 at the Sharon Fish & Game Club.