DISTANCE
The winners in both the 800m and mile races should be determined early. Acton-Boxbrough's Samantha Friborg should be untouchable in the 800m. On Monday., she cruised to an all-time best and nation No. 2 of 2:07.75, nearly six seconds ahead of formidable foe, Grace Connolly of Natick, who clocked a PR of 2:13.41. The race also features Franklin's Julia Fenerty (2:13.87), Tewksbury's Makayla Paige (2:14.12). Lynnfield's Kate Mitchell (2:14.54), Milton's Elise O"Leary (2:15.10) and Tewksbury's Rachel Sessa (2:15.44). It's a quality field, but this one should be over by the opening 400. The bigger question is how fast will Friborg run? Is she capable of a 2:06? One darkhouse in this race to possibly snare that coveted runner-up spot is Paige, who is only a ninth-grader. She looked very impressive this past Saturday at the Eastern Division 3 meet where she ran her 2:14. Just like the divisionals, Connolly will be competing in the two-lapper after a competitive mile race. It will be interesting to see how fast she'll run.
Connolly will have two options in the mile. She can either hold back and conserve energy for her mile race or run all out if see if she can dip under 4:50 for the first time in her career. Whatever she chooses, a victory is evident. The Red Hawks' junior blazed to a PR of 4:50.96 on Monday to easily win the Eastern Division 1 title. She goes into Saturday's race at the obvious No. 1 seed. Her next closest competitor is talented freshman Emma Kerimo of Concord-Carlisle, who has a seed time of 5:05.90. Other quality competitos in the field include Gloucester's Eve Feuerhach (5:08.02), Brookline's Vivian McMahon (5:08.07) and Littleton's Sarah Roffman (5:09.14) to name a few. We're guessing that Connolly won't hold back in this one and will be aiming for a new PR on Saturday.
In the two mile, Amherst-Pelham's Sophia Jacobs-Townsley would appear to be the runner to beat. She was our indoor champion and finished as a runner-up at last year's outdoor meet. She has an overall best of 10:51. Some possible contenders include Norton's Julia Palin, Beverly's Ashley Foley and Lowell's Olivia Sheffield, who have all run in the 11:07-11:10 range for 2M.