Sprint, Hurdle Events
We're going to begin with the 600m run. Despite the absence of Perkins, this is a race that we expect with be a dogfight from start to finish. The favorite label would have to go to Cebastian Gentil of East Greenwich (RI). Gentil raced to a nation No. 1 of 1:19.92 at the Dr. Sanders Invitational in New York on Jan. 27. Gentil won his second straight state title with a time of 1:21.64 on a flat track. Returning to a banked oval, Gentil has potential to PR again with a time in the low 1:19 range (possibly faster) with the level of competition he'll face. Who are some of those individuals? The home state will have two capable of breaking the tape at the end - Newton North's Theo Burba and Leominster's Jonathan Polanco. Burba has a season best of 1:20.16, which he did at the Bay State Conference Championships. He finished a rare second in-state the last two weeks to Polanco at the Division 1 state meet and Perkins at the All State Meet. He has a best of 1:18.87, which he did as a tenth-grader in 2017. Polanco, a sophomore, shocked Burba at the Division 1 meet and was third at All States. He brings a 1:20.79 to the line. Connecticut's Malcolm Going of Danbury (1:20.40) and Marcus Manson of Windsor (1:21.08) could also make things interesting the final straightaway.
By the looks of it, the 300m dash has potential to be dominated at the podium by Massachusetts with six of our top seven seeds hailing from the Bay State. The No. 1 seed is Somerville's Phillips Magre, who established a meet record this past weekend at the MA All State Meet with a PR of 34.30. Fitchburg's Angel Figueroa (34.55), Watertown's Mange Camara (34.71 and Wachusett's Manni Peri-Okonny (35.02), Hudson's Michael Blake (35.21) and Oakmont's John Caouette (35.37),the next five finishers in that race, are also scheduled to toe the line. But you can't ignore Jarett Flaker, a sophomore from Scarborough (ME). Flaker won the Dartmouth Relays this winter with a time of 35.21 on a flat surface. He also clocked sub-50 for 400m at his recent indoor state meet where he finished at 49.87.
The 55m dash will more than likely be determined by a lean at the finish. The top six seeds have run 6.5 or faster for the short sprint. Dejury Amado of Greater New Bedford Vcational (MA), a runner-up at the MA All State Meet, owns the top time this season with his best of 6.44 from the states. Richmond Kwaateng of Lowell (MA) has done 6.46. There's also MA sprinters Marcus Qualls (6.48) and Qaouette (6.49) as well as Leon Campbell of Hartford (CT) and Flaker, who have both been timed in 6.50.
New Hampshire's Billy Powers of Winnacunnet is the No. 1 seed in the 55m hurdles. Powers is the defending titlist in the event, clocking an all-time best of 7.34. He captured the Dartmouth Relays in January and won his state meet on Feb. 4 where he ran a season best of 7.42. Deshuane Poole of Hillhouse (CT) and Edward Williams of Sacred Heart (CT), 1-2 finishers at the recent CIAC State Open, come in with seed times of 6.53 and 6.55, respectively. There's also MA entries Adam Yang of Acton Boxborough (7.62) and recent state champion Elisha George of Woburn (7.66) as well as two-time RI state titlist Chris Choquette of Cumberland (7.68) that could figure in the mix.