In most years, one can count the number of true All State Meet contenders on one hand, even if you're missing a few fingers. A team battle that comes down to 2-3 athletes, simply figuring out where the teams' studs are deployed and who can add four of them together for a relay is usually the recipe for predicting a winner. This year, in both the girls and boys team competitions, that isn't quite so simple. Expect a real battle to ensue, and with no team guaranteed to reach 30 points, expect the unexpected when it comes to hoisting trophies.
The girls contenders seem to be Marshfield, Notre Dame, Acton-Boxboro, Peabody, Lincoln-Sudbury, Lexington, Cambridge, Ursuline, Newton North, and Bishop Feehan. Hingham would be joining that group on some level, but for losing superstar distance doubler Julie McConville to the Brooks PR Meet in Washington. In true exciting fashion, each event has at least some implications toward the team title, and will be broken down as such.
We kick things off on the infield, where Marshfield's dynamic dup of Kelsey Sullivan and Ellen Dipietro are the top two seeds in the hurdles, just a touch ahead of Old Rochester's Ally Saccone. Should Marshfield hold serve here, they will have a lead that they might never rescind in the meet, something that has surely never happened in an All State meet. Look for others like Emily Dawidczyk of Oxford and Melissa Isidor of New Bedford to break into the scoring as well, in another deep year for hurdles. Moments later, Brianna Robitaille of Attleboro will try to stay a step ahead of Amanda Henson of Barnstable again, but Nashoba's Sarah Militano will have something to say about it as well. NDA's Amanda Reilly will need to get the Cougars on the board at this point if they're to have a shot at the team win.
The oval will feature great races throughout. Peabody's Catarina Rocha is the odds-on favorite to take the mile, putting the tanners in the driver's seat early on, but Manchester-Essex's standout sophomore Olivia Lantz is improving rapidly, and Rocha was once a young stud new to the scene, so anything can happen. Abby McNulty of Bishop Feehan might be beginning a very key double here, and if she can stay at least in 3rd, Feehan will ride her and a great 4x200 to a possible team title. Watch for Lincoln-Sudbury's Sydney Clary as well, who could help the Warriors to a win with 5 or more points. The 600 was a DI showdown a week ago, and the top 3 seeds return, with Peabody's Heather MacLean trying to shock Meghan Bellerose of Newton North again. If MacLean wins, Peabody could be at 20, with the 4x800 still to come. Lexington's Camila Isern could drive home big points, as could Amy Piccolo of Ursuline, beginning her double 600-300 day. Dracut's Karina Shepard and Lowell's Brianna Allison will have a nice battle in the 1000, an event stacked with 10 kids seeded under 3:02. What Maya Halprin-Adams does here could very well seal Cambridge's chances. Dominique Hall of Shrewsbury should take the 300, but A-B (Maya Jarostchuk), Lexington (Robin Gross), and NDA (Isabella Dimare) each need points here as well. Also to watch, Amy Piccolo's double duty concludes here for Ursuline, and Madi Nadeau of Newton North could break into the scoring as well. Last on the oval will be the 2 mile, which Bedford's Erin Dietz appears poised to take, unless McNulty can regroup from the mile to challenge her. Colleen Sands leads a pack of 14 seeded under 11:30, 7 of whom were in the DI race.
As always, the field events should have major implications. Whoever wins out of the incredible battle between Dipietro, Wachusett's Amy Collins, and L-S's Lucy Alexander will not only be adding points to their totals, but pushing back someone else. If A-B's Savannah Craib places highly, she could help them along as well. Winchester's Carrie Abraham seems the class of the long jump field, but what Kelsey Sullivan does here could boost Marshfield. If Michaela Smith can win the battle with Mahar's Sabrina Silva, each seeded at 40'.5", then North will be in the hunt once again. Lurking in the seed list here are Cambridge's Anchella Bernard and Peabody's Pamela Zabala, each with much on the line.
In the end, the relays should decide this meet. NDA looks safe in the 4x200, but Bishop Feehan and Nashoba are both very good, and Cambridge and Wachusett will look to improve as well. Narragansett is the class of the 4x800, but did racing at the Armory last Saturday hurt their ability to come back? Dracut, L-S, Peabody, and Andover are packed in together, Newton South is always dangerous, Newton North might use Meghan Bellerose 
here to take a shot at the win, and there are teams like Weymouth, Feehan, and Lowell lurking in the unseeded heat as well. Looking for a finish like the Di meet had on Saturday, look to the seeded heat of the 4x400, where Newton North, Lexington, and A-B could all battle with the meet on the line.
The boys meet has similar prospects, with Lowell favored on paper, Newton North favored by history, Hingham the brazen upstarts, and Acton-Boxboro the best team in the meet. Not all races affect the team score, like the girls, but all races will be fun to watch.
In the hurdles, we have a rematch between Jung Park (Newton South) and Jordan Samuels (BC High), with the tale of the tape favoring Samuels's height, but the stop watch, being the only measure that counts, favoring Park. If L-S is in the hunt, a nice race here from Ben Colello would help. Taj-Amir Torres of Amherst has shot onto the 55 dash scene like a rocket, and appears light years ahead of the field, although Peabody's Chris Cennami might have a few things to say about that, and Walpole's PJ Hayes is a threat to return to form.
The mile should be must-watch stuff, with Mike O'Donnell the favorite, and a chase pack of Lowell's Pat Coppinger, Brookline's Sam Burrington, Weymouth's Nolan Parsley, and KP's Owen Gonser in tow. Unlike last week, the field might be wise not to let O'Donnell appear so comfortable, since he was able to walk away with it in the final 200 meters. Andre Rollim of Somerville is another big favorite in the 600, and St. John's Connor Murphy gets another crack at him. If L-S's Luke Goodrich gains points here, they will be on their way to contention. The race with the biggest team significane is the 1000, however, with the top 4 teams each having some skin in the game. Josh Kerberof L-S won the battle last week, but Newton North's Gabe Montague, A-B's Tim Cox, and Lowell's Mike Killa Kalenoski are seeking revenge. A-B needs Cox to be huge here, and then have Brian Sommers chase down Ryan Lucken of Newton North in the 300 to turn the tide. Lowell's Ryan Fitzgerald and Hingham's Andrew Bolze can make big things happen in the 300 for their teams as well. Right around 11:00 AM, we're all going to know a lot more than we did before. The 2 mile will follow, with Westfield's Blake Croteau and St. John's Jon Green doing battle again, and Lowell's Johnny Abraham needing to make something happen for his team as well.
The field events could very well be the Alex Niemec show, with the Chicopee Comp senior the clear favorite in the long jump, and a possible double-winner in the high jump. He will battle with Adam Couitt of Somerset-Berkeley and Scituate's Jack Kahrs over the bar, and will have Xaverian's Kyle Darrow to contend with in the pit, but one must go deeper to understand the implications of the jumps. Bolze and Sommers simply need to bust through the pack of kids in and around 22 feet to help their teams, and Lowell's Mike Holder and Newton North's Nick Fofana could go a long way for their squads by clearing 6'4". The shot put is big too, as after we watch Eric Beckwith of North Attleboro flirt with 60 feet, guys like North's Carl Whitham and Lowell's Colin Hoey will do battle with the likes of Nate Robitaille and Joe Manson.
Like the girls meet, this one is destined for the relays before going to the scorecards. A great battle between Cambridge and Woburn in the 4x200 could give way to an even more important war between A-B and Lowell in the unseeded section #5. Newton North and Hingham's teams sneak in there as well, each trying to steal a point. Lowell knows all about Brookline in the 4x800, as Pat Coppinger needed every inch of track to outlast Sam Burrington on Saturday, but have they heard of the titans of Pembroke, I wonder? Pembroke, the 6th seed, will run fresh, and should blast into the sub-8:00 range, with Westwood's 7:57 from 2011 in jeopardy. Newton North's team here would benefit from holing serve in 4th. Finally, while the crowd might hope for it to all come down to the 4x400, Lowell does not, since they don't have a team in the mix. Newton North, L-S, and A-B did battle last week, and I'm pleading to Coach Blackburn to switch Ryan Lucken to anchor, so I and the rest of the crowd can watch he, Sommers, and Kerber do battle with the meet on the line. Dare to dream.
No predictions from me. All I'll say is this. This winter has tried its best to dampen the spirits of Mass. track with its snow and frigid temperatures. The track at Reggie Lewis Center will be on fire on Saturday, though, and that's all that matters.