There is a rich tradition of excellence by Massachusetts runners at the Ocean State Invitational. Since being established in 2007, we have seen seven individuals and six teams take the win in the Championship Races. In addition, Jonathan Green (St. John's Class of 2013) has the Boys Course Record with his 15:29 performance in 2012 and Abbie McNulty (Bishop Feehan Class of 2014) set the Girls Course Record with her 17:48 victory in 2013.
After taking the Boys Championship individual title from 2012 until 2015, Noah Carey of Guilderland decided it was a time for a change and brought last year's title back to New York. Once again making the trek from New York's Capital District, Carey and his Guilderland squad will return to defend both the individual and team title. Carey has already proven his capable of repeat victory, as he won his home invite in 14:58 and 16 seconds faster than his victory in 2015.
Out to defend the New England region and perhaps the best hope for bringing the Ocean State Invite title back to MA will be Ben Kovacs of St. John's. Despite being out of contention for victory in 2015, Kovacs proved he was a top notch competitor throughout the rest of last fall and track seasons. While Kovacs might be the favorite on paper, we will also need to watch out for Thomas Lingard of Lexington. The junior from Lexington has a very lethal mix of strength and speed, which will certainly favor him on the flat and fast course at Goddard Park. Also hoping to find himself in the thick of the lead pack on Saturday will be Nico Agosta of Parker Charter. Having competed at the Ocean State Invite for the past three years, Agosta knows the course well and should be looking to start off senior year with a Top 10 finish.
If it's not a Massachusetts boy first across the line on Saturday, will it be a Massachusetts squad taking the team title? We certainly like our chances and feel that it will be a fight for first between St. John's and Lexington. As the season is still young, we have yet to seen any performances from either squad and can only rely on previous year stats/returner information. These two squads battled it last year at this meet and St. John's took 2nd with 105 points and Lexington was 3rd with 111. Both squads lost their equally matched frontrunners to graduation and right now appear very evenly matched. It's certainly going to come down to the wire on Saturday, but we're going to give a slight nod to the Lexington squad. Be sure to also pay attention to the squad from Hamilton-Wenham, as they could find themselves in the Top 3 if they have a strong season opener.