It wasn’t the divisional state championships or the Meet of Champions. Those two important competitions are a few weeks away.
But judging by the top performances at Saturday’s State Coaches Large School Invitational, it had to feel that way.
By the end of the day, 10 state-leaders were attained inside the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center, including a meet record in the girls’ 4×800-meter relay. In that event, both Weymouth (9 minutes, 26.96 seconds) and Wellesley (9:29.64) went under the previous mark of 9:30.05.
The girls’ 300m saw the top five break 41 seconds with Whitinsville Christian’s Avery Glidden taking the crown with a time of 40.11, just .32 ahead of Framingham’s Abby Desmarais.
The 600m races produced some impressive efforts by our MA athletes. For the boys, Acton Boxborough’s Ajay Raina improved his state best in a close race with Brookline’s Cameron Walter. Both went under 1:21 with nation’s top-10 performances. Raina clocked a winning time of 1:20.59 (No. 5 in the country), while Walter was timed in 1:20.95 (No. 8). Wellesley’s Kayla Bohlin won the girls’ 600m with a state No. 1 of 1:36.85.
Brookline senior Lucia Werner became the first girl to break 11 minutes this winter, winning her speciality with a time of 10:57.60.
Wellesley’s Annie Comella took over the top spot in a crowded 55m dash with her triumphant 7.13. She won a close race over Methuen’s Lauren Quarm, who was second at 7.19. The boys’ race produced our 1-2-3 sprinters in the rankings with Wellesley’s Christopher Brooks still remaining untouchable against his state rivals with a first-place time and PR of 6.39. He was followed by Brockton’s Lucas Andrade (second, 6.46) and Andover’s Jason DeJesus (third, 6.51).
Algonquin Regional’s quartet of Anna Gentile, Olivia LaBelle, Audrey Helwig and MacKenzie Clark went nearly two seconds faster than their seed in the 4x200m relay, striking gold with a time of 1:45.99, No. 1 so far this season.
Boston Latin’s Colin Fisher came close to his all-time best in the mile, capturing his speciality with a state-leading 4:19.31. Shamus Larnard of Boston College High was second in 4:21.48.
St. John’s Prep’s Daniel Padley took over the No. 1 position in the 1,000m with a PR of 2:31.27.
