Sprint/Hurdle Events
The meet record of 6.34 for 55-meters is certainly in jeopardy on Saturday. The top seed is Needham's Davonte Burnett, who has already matched that time with his victory at the Coaches Invitational last month. Burnett, the reigning outdoor 100m and 200m champion, recently won his specialty at the Division 1 State Meet with a meet record of 6.36. The Needham star has the competition that can push him to the current MR or win the title outright. Hudson's Micheal Blake, Greater New Bedford's Dejury Amado, Woburn's Marcus Qualls, Oakmont's John Caouette and Milton's Smith Charles are among a large contingent that have clocked faster than 6.5 and should make this event exciting for those podium placements. Charles could be the one that battles Burnett to the end. He is the defending state titlist and recently dominated the Division 3 states. He has a best of 6.40, which he did to finish third at last year's New England Championships. Another MR that could go down in the short events is the 300m dash. Hingham's Andrew Bolze set the current record of 34.32 back in 2014. In this race. five have broken 35 seconds this season with Burnett owning the fastest time with his 34.16 best from the Coaches Invitational last month. In that race, he has to hold off Somerville's Phillips Magre, who crossed the line at 34.44. Both could recreate the match-up this weekend. But the recent divisional state meet victors are not the only sprinters that could steal the show inside Reggie. Watertown's Mange Caman has been consistent all season and captured the Division 5 crown last Thursday with a fast 34.71. There's also Fitchburg's Angel Figueroa (34.95) and Shrewsbury's Joseph O'Brien (34.98) that are capable of PR performances. Acton-Boxborough's Adam Yang is the top seed in the hurdles. The talented junior is coming off a victory at the Division 1 meet where he was timed in a state and personal best of 7.62, despite dealing with a sickness prior to the race. Old Rochester's Harry Smith could contend for the crown. He was the Division 3 winner this past weekend and the only other competitor that has broken 7.7 with his 7.69 effort is gold-medal performance at the Division 4 meet. Fourteen hurdlers in the field have dipped below eight seconds this winter so you know this race will be a thriller to the finish.
How about the 600m? This could be the most exciting of race of the day. It includes our 1-2 finishers from the Division 1 states, Jonathan Polanco of Leominster and Theo Burba of Newton North. In this very-competitive event, Burba has been our top seed for most of the season. He was second last year to Burncoat's Rodney Agyare-May at All States where he went sub 1:19. Burba's best this season is his state best of 1:20.16 from the Bay State Conference Championships on Feb. 11. In one of the bigger upsets of the five divisional meets last week, Polanco clocked a nearly three-second PR to defeat Burba at the Division 1 states with a 1:20.79. That race alone should give Polanco plenty of confidence this weekend and more than likely has sparked a flame for Burba to regain his post as the top dog in this race. No question the winner will be under 1:20. Agyare-May's record of 1:18.76 from 2017 might be safe, but you never know. An amazing 17 runners in this field have gone under 1:24 for the three-lapper this season with 1:22 guys such as Brockton's Lincoln Shea, Brookline's Quinn Gangadharan, Belmont's Calvin Perkins, Weston's Peter Diebold and Northampton's Ethan Cooper among that crew.