James Petersen hands the baton to Jon Hunter in the final leg of the 4x100 relay.

While Lazarski had a slow start to the spring season, the senior captain placed fifth in the discus Saturday at the Andover Invitational and followed up with his two event wins on Tuesday. After the meet, head coach Kevin Black said Lazarski is exactly where he should be at this point and the season.

“We always tell the athletes that we’d like to see their best performances late in May and not in April, and his timing is pretty good right now,” he said. “He’s been the foundation of our weight events for a number of years now.”

The Panthers also got wins in the field events from Noel James in the high jump and Jeff Smith in the javelin.

On the track, Duncan Watt finished first in the 110 hurdles and Peter Gilmore continued his strong season by winning the two-mile run. Led by Pat Taft, Panthers dominated the mile run by taking all the top spots.  Also in the mile the Panthers got personal best times B-team runners Matt Galewski and Joe Ridge, who finished at 4:46.0 and 4:47.8 respectively. Sophomore Shane Gray also picked up a career best in the 800-meters.

“They were just spectacular,” said Black, who was especially happy with Galewski and Ridge getting bests on the eve of the Class B relays. “I was very pleased with their performances. Those are two times we need for Saturday. ”

The 4x400 and 4x100 relay teams also had season highs for the Panthers at the meet. The 4x400 team of Smith, Pat Egan, Brendan Sartori and Alex Perrotta picked up their best time of the season, but lost on the final leg of the race.

The 4x100 team of Garry Somers, Jake Galewski, James Petersen and Jon Hunter finished with in a season best 45.9 seconds with a performance that made Black very happy heading into Saturday’s relays.

“I wasn’t happy with their passes last meet and I wasn’t happy with their passes yesterday in practice, but I was very happy with their passes today,” he said of the 4x100 team. “Their passes looked crisp and fast.”

Whitman-Hanson also got a chance to measure themselves against the best in the area on Saturday when they finished fourth out the 31 teams for Massachusetts and Connecticut competing in the Andover Invitational.

Whitman-Hanson finished with 62 points, one point behind Brookline for third place. Reading and Central Catholic finished in first and second with 80 and 74 points, respectively.

Led by Pat Taft (right) and Travis Wright (left), Whitman-Hanson swept the mile run against Marshfield and Nauset.

Brookline was favored heading into the event, but Egan gave the Panthers a three second lead in the third leg of the race before passing the baton to Kevin Gilmore, who nailed down the win. Egan’s fifth place finish in the individual 800 meters gave the Panthers the edge over Brookline in the distance races.

“It was Whitman-Hanson's day in the distance events,” Black said. “The meet within the meet of the battle between the top two distance running schools in the state kept the competitive fires burning between the two fierce rivals.”

Noel James also continued his quest for a state championship in the high jump, winning the event with a 6’4” leap while fellow Panther Duncan Watt finished in fifth place by clearing the bar at the 6’0” jump. The Panthers also got points in the field events from Lazarski and Will Forbes in the discus and Tyler Morgan in the javelin.

The Panthers now get set for the Class B relays at Dennis-Yarmouth on Saturday where Reading and Central Catholic are again top seeds.

“We are going up against the iron of the state,” Black said. “I think we have a good shot at placing well and we’ve been at the top levels of the state all season long. Now it’s crunch time in the relays and we’ll see.”