MIAA All State Championship Girls' Preview



Sprint/Hurdle Events

Last year, Norton's multiple all-stater Brooke-Lynn Williams was a dominant force in the short sprints. When she competed in a meet in Massachusetts, it was already assumed that the real race was for second with Williams the overwhelming favorite for the title. This year is different, a lot different. We might not see a sub seven-second clocking in the 55-meter dash and feel William's meet and state record of 6.91 seconds should be safe. But we could see a low seven-second effort and it could be a number of talented individuals that does it for the victory. The leading contenders look like Wachusett's Victori Steffon, Springfield Central's Kyla Hill and Oakmont Regional's Alyssa Madden. Hill and Steffon battled together at the Division 1 meet with Hill winning with a time of 7.14, just .03 ahead of her rival. Madden won the recent Division 5 crown with a PB of 7.20, just ahead of the Bromfield School's Chloe Alfieri, who was timed in 7.21. There's also Natick's Abigail Gerdes, who has done 7.22 and Amesbury's Skylar Snay with a best of 7.23. See what we mean that this a race that is wide open and one that could teeter near seven seconds for the winner. The 300m dash could be another event that's determined by a lean. Alfieri is the top seed with her meet record of 38.95 from the Division 5 meet. In that race, she defeated an equally-talented Madden, who also dipped under 40 seconds with a 39.74 clocking and is the defending state champion in this event. We anticipate the individual title will come down to this gifted duo, but we're not ruling other runners from taking that illustrious title. The field features several more that are close to a sub 40. Among those are Medway's Ava Vasile (40.28), Beverly's India Ingemi (40.38), Wachusett's Steffon (40.42) and Wellesley's Anna Jordahl-Henry (40.45). The 55m hurdles could come down to Vasile and Belmont's Anoush Krafian, who has both clocked 8.41. Vasile did it with her recent win at the Division 5 states and Krafian achieved her PR by breaking the tape at the Dartmouth Relays,  proving she can perform in these high-pressured meets. She also captured the Division 2 title. Pope Francis's Alexandra Gonett, the Division 5 winner,  could also figure in the mix. She won her divisional crown with a PB of 8.49. Underclassmen are prevalent for the top positions in the 600m run. The No. 1 seed is just a freshman, Tewksbury's Makayla Paige, who won the Division 3 meet on Sunday with a state No. 2 of 1:33.93. Comella, a tenth-grader, won the Division 2 meet and has a best of 1:34.82. There's also Division 3 runner-up Emma Sullivan, who ran 1:35.20. Andover's Julianna Kennedy and Hannah Neilon of Fitchburg have also clocked under 1:36 this winter.