Wellesley Athletes of the Week: Track and Field’s Ava O’Grady & Matthew Yen
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Athlete of the Week: Ava O’Grady
Sport: Track & field (long sprints and triple jump)
When & how you got involved in track & field: I started track my freshman year of high school because I had always enjoyed sprinting, especially in my soccer games.
What you love most about track & field: I love that you get out of it what you put in, like Griff always says. If you’re willing to do the hard part in practice, you will get results.
Pre-meet routine: Before meets I like eating popcorn and I will also listen to music to calm myself.
Top goal for this season: My goal for this season is to get more PRs in the 400 and triple jump. My goal for the team as a whole is to win another Division 2 state championship.
Thoughts about this year’s team: I really love this team. We stay positive during tough workouts and push each other through. I definitely wouldn’t be able to push myself as hard if I wasn’t surrounded by this group of girls. And when we’re done with practice, we usually hang out and enjoy the nice weather together. During meets, we always sit together before we’re about to race and calm each other’s pre-race jitters. I think the community of this team is a big part of why people enjoy this sport and keep coming back year after year.
An accomplishment that you’re especially proud of: I’m proud of being in three 4×400 relays that have placed first in the divisional meet.
An inspiring story related to your involvement in track & field/this team: During one of our meets, our 4×4 team didn’t have a baton for our race so we went to Griff and he pulled a blue baton out of his bag that we had never seen before. We ended up winning the relay and running one of our best times of the season so Griff nicknamed the baton “Big Blue.”
Interests outside of track & field: In school my favorite subjects are all the sciences and outside of school I enjoy playing with my dog, watching movies, and spikeball.
What other sports do you play, if any? Soccer
Coach John Griffith on Ava O’Grady: Ava has been an important member of our Indoor and Outdoor Track teams over the last 4 years. She puts in the work in practice and has had a ton of success. She has been part of many Division 2 titles for both Indoor and Outdoor Track. Ava is a quiet leader but makes a lot of noise on the track. She has been a fixture in our 4×400 relay teams that have been very successful. She is also very versatile as she usually doubles in running events and is a great triple jumper. For these reasons and many more I believe Ava is very deserving of this honor.
Athlete of the Week: Matthew Yen
Sport: Track and Field (100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, long jump, 4 x 100 meter relay; Senior captain)
When & how you got involved in track & field: I started track when I was a freshman in high school after my eighth grade season was canceled due to Covid. I had always seen my older brother dominate the track and it inspired me to try the sport out not only as a means of getting faster for football, but also as a way to better myself.
What you love most about track & field: What I love most about track and field is that that luck plays a very small role in a race or a jump. It’s truly a sport where you get out the work you put in and over time seeing progress is very fulfilling.
Pre-meet routine: Before each of my races I like to put my head down and remind myself who I am running for which gives me laser focus going into my race.
Top goal for this season: I would love to win the division two state championship as we were runners up last year.
Thoughts about this year’s team: Our team is full of talent across the board and everyone I know has came very far from where they have started.
An accomplishment that you’re especially proud of: My favorite accomplishment in track and field was running at New Balance nationals at the track at UPenn. Our relay team was first in the state and ended up placing 17th in the country.
An inspiring story related to your involvement in track & field/this team: Many times throughout my journey I have felt that I wasn’t doing as well as I should have been, but I kept showing up to practice to better myself and have brought myself to be one of the best sprinters and jumpers in school history.
Interests outside of track & field: My favorite school subject is economics and I plan to study that in college. I also love playing football and am doing both football and track next year.
What other sports do you play, if any? Football
Coach Larry Corda on Matthew Yen: As the season progressed, Matthew worked diligently to get better. He took practice seriously and constantly improved. His times in the 100m dropped every race while his long jumps also improved every meet. He’s now our fastest 100m and long jump athlete. His intensity and determination are matched only by his desire to get better. We’re fortunate to have such a talented and great athlete.
(Athletes of the Week are nominated by their coaches.)
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