Girls' 800m
The clear-cut favorite in this event is Samantha Friborg. The Acton-Boxbrough senior had a stellar indoor campaign where she captured the 1,000m at the All State Meet and was fifth in the 800m at the New Balance Nationals where she clocked an all-time best of 2:08.76. Friborg will not have it easy in this one. She'll be matched against a few other capable runners worthy of taking the crown. The most notable is Natick's Grace Connolly. Connolly has a seed time of 2:15.14. That time is deceiving as she rarely runs a competitive two-lapper, focusing instead on the mile and two mile. Connolly is also entered in the mile. Will she run both? It's possible. With the meet split up at two different locations, the mile is the first event of the night at Regis College. Less than a mile away at Weston, the 800m is the last event. In other words, she'll have about a 90-minute rest between events and less than a five minute warm-up between the two facilities. It will be interesting to see just how fast Connolly can run. There's also Milton's Elise O'Leary. She was the Division 3 state champion for 1,000m this winter and has run 2:15 for 800m. She also has 56-second 400m speed. Woburn's Avery Leydon could also contend up front. She has a seed time of 2:16.43 and was third for 600m at the All State Meet where she had a near best of 1:35.09.