This is it. One more chance to earn an entry into the upcoming divisional state championships or improve on your current seeds for next weekend’s meets. That’s what’s on the docket this Saturday with the MSTCA State Qualifier Meet. Here we list four of the top boys’ events that will be contested inside the Reggie Lewis Center this weekend.
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600m
This is one of those races this year that is shaping up to be what could be one of the most hotly-contested events at the Meet of Champions in a couple of weeks. It includes eight runners that have broken 1:23 this season, including our No. 1 seed this weekend. Holding that spot is Joao Victor Cunha of Revere, who ran a best of 1:22.93 at the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational at Harvard on Jan. 21. Cunha followed that effort by capturing the Greater Boston League Championships last week at Reggie Lewis in 1:23.43. He could be peaking at the right time for an even faster effort this weekend. Dartmouth’s Tyler Medeiros (1:25.57) and Parker Charter’s Connor Stach (1:25.85) are the next two seeds.
4×400m
This one shouldn’t even be close with our top seed coming in with a time that’s more than 10 seconds faster than the No. 2. So why is this event here? Well, the team that holds the distinction as the overwhelming favorite also happens to be one our state’s best with Milton in the field. On Wednesday, just a day after registration closed for this weekend’s meet, the Wildcats clocked the No. 4 time in the state rankings by winning the Bay State Conference Championships in a time of 3:27.77. How fast can Milton run with no one near them? Guess will find out on Saturday.
4x800m
So far this season, nine teams have gone under 8:10. Our top two seeds in this event will try and become the latest. With listed seeds of 8:08.0 and 8:10.0, St. John’s Prep and Newburyport are comfortably ahead of the No. 3 seed in the race, Woburn Memorial (8:25.0). This should be a two-team race with a pair of squads looking to get close to that eight-minute mark.
HIGH JUMP
This event features Carver’s Camren Allain, who was recently selected as our HOKA Athlete of the Week after leaping a best of 6 feet, 6 inches to tie for the No. 1 spot in the rankings with Brockton’s Lucas Andrade. Will Allain own that position by himself after Saturday? We’ll see.
