The Track at New Balance goes dark. A spotlight shines down on runners as AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blares from speakers around the arena. This moment, the introduction to the 4×800-meter relay, marked the start of competition for the Boys Indoor Track team at the 2026 New Balance Indoor Nationals. The Warriors raced in the 4×800-meter relay on Thursday, March 12, and in the 800-meter race on Saturday, March 14.

Senior Tony Carballo, juniors Ibrahim Abdel-Dayem and Jonathan Traub, and senior and captain Harry Flint ran in the relay, placing 9th in the nation with a time of 7:53.77. Carballo ran first and said that while it hurt, he pushed himself to go as fast as he could and not hold back.

“I really wanted to get out hard,” Carballo said. “I’ve run my past races kind of conservatively, and my coach kind of chewed me out about that.”

Nerves were high, said Carballo, who crossed the finish line in 1:59.67. He said he hopes to use the same mentality even in less important races.

“This is one of the biggest races that we’ve ever run in our lives,” Carballo said. “Going from here, you can really just kind of put into picture the next races, how much less significant they kind of feel.”

Abdel-Dayem ran the second leg of the relay, crossing the finish line in 2:00.51. It was his first time racing at Nationals.

“I’m definitely excited to have this experience to pass down to the sophomores who are going to come,” Adbel-Dayem said. “I’m sure we will be back here again next year.”

Traub was the third leg, securing a time of 1:58.91, when he passed the baton to Flint. Flint passed two opponents and crossed the finish line in 1:54.61, finishing 9th.

Flint, who has attended both outdoor and indoor track New Balance Nationals three times before, said he was nervous going into the race, but felt confident in his training.

“I’ve been training for about 3.5 months now,” Flint said. “It’s been since the end of November that I’ve been in this indoor track season, and I’ve completed a ton of really hard workouts, so going into this race with my teammates, I knew that we all had what it took [to place highly].”

Flint said the Warriors are lucky to have the New Balance Track so close to home. He said the energy in the arena was “absolutely incredible.”

“Going into that last lap [of the relay], the crowd just started erupting, and my entire head felt like it was about to explode because everyone was cheering for those two guys who just got the national record. Even though the cheers weren’t precisely for me, it gave me a huge energy boost,” Flint said.

Although the team didn’t reach their goal of placing in the top six, which would have garnered them All-American honors, Carballo said he was proud of the work they put in.

“We were out here to run with the fastest people in the nation, just trying to get a good time, and it really didn’t pan out, but we’re really proud of how long we’ve been running, how well we’ve been running, how hard we’ve been working, too,” Carballo said.

On Saturday, March 14, Flint raced in the Boys 800-meter Championship, finishing in a time of 1:53.83. He placed 31st overall.

Saturday was Flint’s first time racing solo at Nationals, and he said he felt privileged to be in the event.

“[Before the race] I was just trying to stay positive and focus on the fact that this would be my last ever indoor race for Brookline,” Flint said. “And I just wanted to stay grateful. And my mindset going into the race was to just enjoy the moment and not put so much pressure on myself to do well.”

Flint placed third in his heat, the third fastest section of runners in the event. He said he enjoyed competing with people at a similar caliber.

“It was super competitive, and I wasn’t really able to take it out and get out in front, but I ended up kicking in the last lap on a few people, and that felt really good,” Flint said.

After the race, Flint was greeted by his friends and family. He said he felt grateful for the support.

“There were people from the 4×800 [who came to watch], Tony [Carballo] and Ibrahim [Abdel-Dayem], and also a lot of my family were there,” Flint said. “So that was really satisfying. And I just felt super grateful and privileged to have people come and pay money to watch me run my 800. So I was just really happy.”