New England Rankings: 3rd Release

When Carla Forbes enters the New England rankings she does it with a splash.  The Newton North junior was launching huge jumps at the Dartmouth Relays this past weekend, and her stellar performances that day resulted in a NE#1 ranking in both the long jump (19’4”) and the triple jump (40’10”).  Nationally, she is now ranked US#1 in the triple jump and US#3 in the long jump.  A key component to her success is runway speed, and Forbes demonstrated her aptitude with a NE#3 time of 7.31; finishing as the top American at Dartmouth.

Other notable performances from the week came in pairs.  The La Salle Academy girls posted New England top performances in the DMR (12:12.44) and the 4x800m (9:38.69).  Those two marks are ranked US#2 and US#7, respectively.

On the boys’ side, Marshfield and Pembroke got in on the relay action with top performances in the DMR at Dartmouth on Friday evening.  Marshfield earned the win behind the impressive closing speed of anchor leg Joel Hubbard, and both teams picked-up national rankings in the process.  Marshfield is currently US#3 (10:26.42) and Pembroke is US#5 (10:29.61).

The 400m has two new leaders.  Precious Holmes (Hillhouse, CT) was unfazed by the flat floor of the Dartmouth Field House and blasted a US#2 time of 55.80.  Her male counterpart Donovan Henry (Catholic Memorial, MA) did much of the same, posting a NE#1 and US#10 winning time of 50.16.

Joe Vercollone (Pembroke, MA) showed tremendous foot speed in closing out a big win in the 1000m at Dartmouth.  His time of 2:30.51 is currently NE#1 and US#2.  The girls 1000m continues to show the most impressive depth of any event in the region.  Fourteen girls have run under 3:05, and that’s with many of the top tier athletes running other events this past week. 

Bethanie Brown (Waterville, ME) improved on her New England leading time of 10:48.95 in the 2 Mile.  She shaved approximately .50 from that performance to win the Dartmouth Relays.  Running a similar style race to that of Brown, Stephen Robertson (Wakefield, MA) put an early 100m gap on the Dartmouth Relays field and never looked back.  His winning time of 9:23.35 is currently NE#1 and US#6.

Royal Cheatham (Hope, RI) stayed closer to home this past weekend, but it did not hinder her impact on the New England rankings.  Her 55m winning time of 7.17 at the Rhody Classic is .07 faster than NE#2 Mollie Gribbin of South Burlington (VT).  Jerickson Fedrick (Salem, NH) held off Charles Ruffin (King Philip, MA) in the 55m at Dartmouth to take over the top spot in the region.  Their 6.39 and 6.48 times are the two fastest fully automatic marks this season.

Although not every state has pole vault as a sanctioned event indoors, two athletes from the region posted notable marks.  Mike Cyphers (Lebanon, NH) cleared 15 feet relatively easily at Dartmouth, and based on his other attempts, may have 16+ in his sights.  Despite her home state not officially recognizing pole vault during the indoor season, Steph Brown (Newton North) is now tied for the New England lead after her 11’6” winning performance at Dartmouth.