No doubt this past weekend proved that things are starting to heat up here in Massachusetts. Our inaugural BSR Elite Scholastic Mile on Friday saw six of our Bay Staters break 4 minutes, 15 seconds and two, St. John’s Prep’s Nathan Lopez (third, 4:08.28) and Brimmer and May’s Brian Gamble (fourth, 4:08.94), even go under 4:10. Saturday’s Weston Twilight Invitational didn’t disappoint either with a bunch of state-leaders and a few national-caliber performances by our athletes at Weston High and nearby Regis College, the sites of the meet.
We’ll be honest, as the meets get closer and closer to the Meet of Champions, and even beyond, it’s going to start getting more and more difficult choosing what we consider the right individual for our HOKA Athlete of the Week. We’re going to make it easy on ourselves. Like we’ve done previously, we’re going to pick two for this week’s male recipient – the Eagles’ Lopez and Haverhill’s Natanael Vigo-Catala.
Along with several more, these two athletes had exceptional performances this past weekend. Lopez clocked a nearly five second PR at the BSR meet and was just strides behind the top two finishers – Saint Raphael Academy’s Devan Kipyego (first, 4:07.60) and Phillip Exeter Academy’s Byron Grevious (second, 4:07.85) – in one of the most competitive mile races the state has ever seen. As for Vigo-Catala, he was on mission from the start in the 400-meter run at the Twilight Invitational. The top seed beat a very talented field handidly at Saturday’s meet, breaking the tape in an outdoor best of 48.13.
