Middle, Long Distance Events
Ryan Oosting of Arlington (MA), who captured the mile and two mile at his state meet and is one of the nation's best distance runner, has decided to concentrate solely on the deuce, leaving the mile wide open and the potential for a meet record in his lone race. Oosting, the national outdoor 5K champion, captured the two mile last week with a nation-leading 9:08.34. He did that after winning the mile with a 4:21 just 90 minutes earlier. Our guess is Oosting is eyeing a sub nine-minute effort at Reggie with hopes of breaking the record of 8:59.05 by former La Salle great DJ Principe in 2016. He certainly has the competition to push him this weekend. The Arlington junior will once again have to contend with Newton North's Andrew Mah, who battled him at the All States for most of the 16 laps. Mah finished with a PR of 9:12.27 and, more importantly, may have gained some extra confidence to knocked more seconds off that time. There's also Connecticut's Drew Thompson, the New England X-C champion, who won the CIAC State Open with a best of 9:12.66 for 3,200m.
There's no clear-cut favorite in the mile with a number of runner capable of securing a spot at the top of the podium. Joseph dos Reis of La Salle Academy (RI), won his state meet on Feb. 17. This past weekend at the BU Last Chance Invitational, dos Reis captured his heat with an all-time best of 4:17.30. Connecticut has two sub 4:20 guys in this weekend's race, Windham's Alexander Korczynski and Staples' William Landowne. Korczynski is the No. 1 seed based on his winning 4:16.57 at the Yale Track Classic in January. He recently copped his State Open meet with a best of 4:15.49 for 1,600m. Landowne has done 4:17.28 for 1,600m and 4:20.49 for the mile. You also can't count out the sophomore trio of Tyler Brogan (Franklin, MA), Lisandro Berry-Gavira (Mount Ararat, ME) and Michael Griffin (King Phillip, MA), who are also 4:20 milers.
The meet record of 2:25.14 should not be in jeopardy, but the potential is there for a few runner going sub 2:30 in the 1,000m. Erik Linden of Dover Sherborn (MA) came a few strides away from dipping under the mark by finishing second at the MIAA All State Meet with a PR of 2:30.09. Jason Dolan of Westford Academy (MA), third at the All States, has gone under 2:31 three times this winter with a best of 2:30.53. The field will also include Bay Staters and 2:31 guys, Tyler Griffin of St. John's and Aiden Foucault-Etheridge of Amherst-Pelham. There's also William Hall's Miller Anderson (2:31.79) and Fairfield Ludlow's Ian Bartlett (2:32.34), 1-3 finishers at the CIAC State Open.