As we have now entered the month of May, we have nothing but big time racing on the schedule and the Weston Twilight Invitational should prove to be an excellent start! Last week, we saw a majority of athletes stretch their legs and help out their teams at the Divisional Spring Relay meets. On Saturday as dusk settles onto Weston, everyone will be out to chase a fast time on the clock and fend off competition. Below you will find a rundown of the races and top athletes to keep an eye on this Saturday and if you can't make it out to Weston, be sure to our LIVESTREAM!
SPRINTS
After a superb indoor season, Brianna Duncan of Cambridge RL will look to start off her final high school season on a high note! During the winter months she dipped under 7.00 in the 60m dash (6.94) and put up a personal best of 39.84 in the 300m. As it might be cool and potentially rainy on Saturday evening, so not necessarily ideal for throwing down fast times in the sprints. We still expect Duncan to come out strong from the blocks in both the 100m & 200m and should be the to clear victor in both events.
The girls 400m on Saturday night should be Avery Leydon's for the taking. Despite only being a sophomore, the Woburn youngster is one of the top returners in the 400m this outdoor season and she should be well out of reach from her closest competitors.
As one of the best multi athletes in the state, Julia Valenti of North Reading is going to be looking to go fast over the 100H in addition to flying high in the pole vault. Getting 3rd last year in the 100H at All-States, Valenti should be able to cruise to victory and it will be an excellent start to the spring if she is in low 15.00 range.
Already off to a fine start in the 400H, Kelly Crawford of Mansfield will look to hold off some stiff competition and go even faster than her current PR / MA#1 time of 67.73 from the Mansfield Speed Classic.
It will be close and quite evenly matched affair in the final of the boy's 100m dash. If things go as expected, we should see the likes of Noah Shute of Lexington, Nikolas Smith of Northampton, Ben Pierre of Somerville, and Raymond Gorzela of Andover headlining the event. While the season is still young, Gorzela has already been lighting up the track and clocked in a MA#1 time of 10.98 at last week's Nashua North Invitational. While that is certainly flying, we cannot forget about Sommerville's Pierre and his personal best of 11.42. In addition, Shute of Lexington is not too far behind with a personal best of 11.64 and is coming off a very nice indoor season in the 60m.
On top of his blazing 10.98 at the Nashua North Invitational, Gorzela also ran the 200m and stopped the clock in a MA#1 time of 22.06 (5.1 wind). While the wind certainly played to his advantage, Gorzela's time is still nothing to scoff at and should make him a top target. Hoping to stop the speedster from Andover will be the equally fast duo of Myles and Lucas Holt. Myles is slightly faster with his 22.74 personal, but both looked strong throughout indoor and should be ready to roll on Saturday.
The 400m is certainly the sweet spot for Lucas and Myles Holt, as this lethal twin duo shares almost the exact same personal best: Lucas-49.43 Myles-49.42. Seeing as they have good strength from running the 600m indoors, we don't think the 200m and 400m should tired them out too much. Though they shouldn't count out the indoor 300m expert from Northampton, Nikolas Smith.
The Boy's 110H should prove strong dual between Noah Kortkamp of Brookline and Fabian Gaziano of Framingham. In terms of PRs, Gaziano comes out on top with his 15.49 from last outdoor season. Though on paper, Kortkamp definitely had a strong winter season and should be ready to lower his current personal best of 15.93.
In the Boy's 400H our top picks will be the strong multi athlete from Pembroke, Aaron Diauto, Brady Bailey of Norwell, and Walker Horton of Chelmsford. Bailey leads the way with his all time best of 59.42 from last year's D4 Championship meet.
DISTANCE
There are maybe one or two young ladies in the state faster than Clare Martin over 800m and unfortunately for the fans, we won't see them toeing the line with her on Saturday evening. Martin was superb during the winter months and with a personal best of 2:10.27 it should be a walk in the park for her in Weston.
Hoping to make it a sweep in the mid-distance events for the Lady Lions of Newton South, Rebecca Grusby will look to open up her senior spring with a mile victory. Over the indoor season, Grusby lowered her mile PR to 5:02.5 and knocked off 10+ seconds on her 2mile to end the season with a very fast 10:47.8. It would be a tall order, but can Grusby dip under that elusive 5:00 barrier the first time out this Spring? She will certainly have quality competition to push her, as Grace Connolly of Natick and Kayley Richards of Lowell should be joining her at the front. As a freshman, Connolly lit up the indoor season and ran big time personal bests of 5:03.2 and 10:45.8. Meanwhile, Richards is a seasoned veteran who has the fastest PR in the field with her lifetime best of 4:56.7.
Boise State bound and last year's runner-up, Emily DeMarco of Ispwich will be the one to watch in this Saturday nights two mile. Taking 2nd overall last year running her lifetime best of 10:59.4, DeMarco and potentially Kayley Richards of Lowell (10:59.5) will be the only two competitors to have gone under 11:00. Hoping to latch onto DeMarco for as many laps as possible will be Abby Fisher of Billerica (11:07.2), Erin Grela of Ursuline Academy (11:10.5), and Rachel Sessa of Tewksbury (11:13.5).
Despite only being the first week of May, George Papoulis of Haverhill has already shown himself to be in fine form and ready to make it a big final season of high school running. Opening up his season over two weeks ago at the Haverhill Invitational, Papoulis took the 800m with a current MA#1 time of 1:57.1. The Haverhill senior also has the fastest personal best in the field with his 1:55.6, which means he will be our top pick Saturday. Hoping to utilize his excellent distance strength and solid mid-distance speed, Jack Crawford of Mansfield is also heading to Weston in hopes of winning and lowering his personal best of 1:56.15. Mid-distance specialist, Esu Alemseged of Cambridge RL is coming off an indoor season that was showcased by some terrific performances in the 1,000 (1st @ All-States 2:28.5). Seeing as he is just tick behind Crawford with a personal best of 1:56.19, we can count on him being in the mix with 200m to go. Will Ashenfelter of Needham has a PR of 1:57.9 and should be ready to roll after strong 600m performances during the winter.
Unfortunately, we are hearing through the grapevine that Thomas Ratcliffe will not be attending tomorrow night. He is feeling a little under the weather, and the coaching staff has decided to rest and recover. A very smart move as we still have plenty of Track and Field in the weeks ahead.
Thomas split an excellent 4:04.9 in the Championship of America DMR to help the Concord Carlisle team finish 3rd overall. It was the second fastest split among the whole field and any slower than HS Sub 4 sensation, Drew Hunter of VA. The fact that Ratcliffe is already in such terrific form at the start of May, shows he is ready for business and could go quite fast on the Regis College track.
With Ratcliffe out of the mix all eyes will be on future Cornell harrier, Liam Sullivan of Northampton boasts a personal best of 4:16.6 and always been in the mix during big races. Coming off his best ever indoor season and an exciting BAA Scholastic Boys Mile victory, Matt D'Anieri of Wellesley can also be considered a credible threat on Saturday.
With Ratcliffe off the board in the 2 Mile, the All-State XC / Indoor 2 Mile Champion, Thomas D'Anieri of Wellesley will be leading the charge. Racing very sparingly through out the winter, D'Anieri should made race days count and dropped a huge personal best when he won All-States in 9:11.4. Due to the light racing schedule and being his senior season, we believe that D'Anieri and Coach Broe have been gearing up for a big outdoor.
FIELD EVENTS
Control of the high jump area should come down to Ian Dolaher of Malden Catholic and Eric Wicks of St. John's. The last time these two squared off was at the All-State Meet where they both matched/achieved their current PR of 6'-4". This will be the first big outing for both this spring and will probably have some rust to shake off, but Wicks definitely has the advantage given his consistency hitting 6'-4" during the winter.
If things stay dry, we could have ourselves a quality pole vault competition with Aaron Corin of Lincoln-Sudbury leading the pack. Corin is hands down the best vaulter among the field, as his personal best of 12'-9" is nine inches from the next closest competitor. Though he has yet to hit the runway this spring, so we aren't necessarily expecting a PR jump right out of the gates. That means he should definitely be weary of Andover's Joseph Aronov, who has a best mark of 12'-0" and hit a respectable 11'-6" in his season opener.
Newton North's Jared Prior has leapt out to 22'-0" in the long jump and should be ready to capitalize as he gets underway with his final high school season. On the triple jump runway, Shaq Joseph of Somerville and his personal of 43'3" are our pick for the "W", but do keep an eye on his teammate, Imler Ozit. Though Ozit didn't compete very much during indoor, he finished 7th last year at All-States with a big personal best of 43'-4".
A fine fight should go down in the discus circle between the likes of Adawehei Robinson of Amherst and Marc Umumbo of Framingham. Both enter the spring as top-5 returners in the event; last season we saw Robinson put up a mark of 146'5" and Umumbo was not too far behind with his personal best of 145'-10". Shaping up to be an equally exciting duel will be on the javelin runway between Conor Finnegan of Billerica and Jake Pettis of Haverhill. The only two athletes to huck the javelin over 170' and Finnegan sits on top with his personal best of 175'-8".
Don't expect us to bet against the Indoor All-State and New England shot put champion, as we're confident that Elmer Acuna of Newton North should rule the circle on Saturday. Though don't sleep on Cole Stewart of Bishop Feehan, who had a tough finish to the indoor season but a fantastic all-time best mark of 57'-10.25".
She was the All-State and New England Champs runner-up this winter and hit a personal best of 5'-5". Despite the outdoor season being just a few weeks old for Samantha Thompson of Weston, she already hit a new personal best of 5'-6" at the NY Relays in mid-April. Given Thompson's current form, we are certain she will improve upon her 13th-place finish at this meet last year. Also looking to soar high and well above her competition will be the defending All-State Champion, Julia Valenti of North Reading. She won this event last year and should do so confidently this year.
Depending on where she plans to focus her efforts, Brianna Duncan of Cambridge R&L could sweep both triple and long jump competitions. She was certainly a force to reckon with all winter and capped off a superb season with a big personal best of 40'-2" to take 5th overall in the New Balance Indoor Nationals triple jump.
Our pick for toppling the field in the discus is going to be the Middlesex champion, Rebecca Andersen of Lexington, who has the best mark in the competition with her 109'-9". Expect a tight three-way battle in the javelin between Kartina Rokosz of Belmont, Casandra Winkelman of Wellesley, and Erin Logee of Andover. Only three inches separates these young ladies and Winkelman is out front with a personal best throw of 112'-1". Throwing it deep all winter, Roxann Wint of Newton North is well clear of her competitors with a personal best of 40'-2.25" and Saturday's meet should be a good test of her current form.