With so many variables, it’s never easy. But we’ll give it our best shot predicting who we feel will be some of our top track & field athletes this outdoor season. Here we feature the girls’ distance events, which includes the 800m, Mile and Two Mile.
800m
We’re expecting the competition to be stiff in this event. Of the top 20 finishers at the Meet of Champions last year, half are returning this season. Wellesley’s Charlotte Tuxbury and Framingham’s Sasha Lamakina, who were second and third with PRs of 2 minutes, 15.45 seconds and 2:16.34, respectively, are the top returnees. Tuxbury won the mile at the MOC this past winter and clocked an all-time best of 4:55.80 at the New England’s. Lamakina was a runner-up in the 600m, and this past weekend struck gold in the high school race of the BAA Invitational Mile. Could we see Holliston’s Carmen Luisi competing in this event come championship time? While she was unable to race at the MOC this past season, she did post the fastest time for the 1,000m with a 2:53.24 best from the Northeast Invitational. As a sophomore in 2022, she ran a PR of 2:15.98 for the 800m. You can’t ignore Westford Academy’s Abigail Hennessey, too. She captured the 1,000m at the MOC back in February and raced to an all-time best of 2:15.72 at the New Balance Nationals. There’s also Plymouth North’s Macey Shriner. She finished the indoor season by placing fourth in the 1,000m and running a state-leading 2:14.98 for the 800m at the New Balance Nationals. When it comes time for the MOC in June, who will be at the starting line in this race and who will not? It’s anybody’s guess. Take your pick in this one. Other sub 2:20 runners that could be battling for those top spots are Barnstable’s Chloe Dibb, Cambridge Rindge & Latin’s Eleanor Allen, Brookline’s Molly Kiley and Newton North’s Ciara Evans, to name a few.
Mile
After finishing second to Newton South grad Amelia Everett at last year’s MOC and winning the title this past winter, you have to give the favorite nod to Tuxbury in this event. The Red Raider junior has broken five minutes several times, including her outdoor best of 4:55.89 from the MOC. Tuxbury will more than likely be focusing on getting that time in the low 4:50 range, and perhaps under 4:50. She’ll be among the leaders when some of the best milers from the region compete at the second annual BSR Elite Scholastic Mile next month, an event she was fifth overall in 2023. Belmont’s Dana Lehr (4:59.66) and Brookline’s Audrey Seeger (4:59.79), the 2-3 finishers at the MOC this winter. were also in the sub-5 club. All and all, nearly two dozen runners were under 5:10 in one of the more competitive events of the season. Several in that group were on the cusp of breaking five minutes, such as Evans (5:00.19), Pentucket’s Kaylie Dalgar (5:00.51), Nashoba’s Caroline Collins (5:01.80), Luisi (5:02.68) and Shriner (5:02.69), just to name a few. During the outdoor season last year, seven broke five minutes. We could have more this spring.
While she doesn’t compete in any MIAA or MSTCA events, keep an eye on Ellie Shea this season, the final one of her stellar high school career. The Belmont native broke the then 20-year-old state mark for the mile with a 4:37.22 effort at the Battle Roads Twilight Series last May. That time was a hundredth of a second under the 2003 record of 4:37.23 by Bromfield alum Ari Lambie
Two Mile
There’s no clear-cut favorite in this event. But if everything transpires like it did this past indoor season, which we believe it will, we’ll have a very competitive year in the deuce. During the indoor season, we had three runners break 11 minutes with Billerica’s Gianna McGovern (10:54.51), Brookline’s Lucia Werner (10:57.60) and Collins, the MOC winner at 10:59.51. A bunch more were between 11:03 and 11:09, such as Westfield’s Megan Moran (11:02.39), Central Catholic’s Madeline Courtemanche (11:03.75), Bishop Feehan’s Lauren Augstyn (11:05.56), Seeger (11:05.97), Groton Dunstable’s Georgia Brooks (11:08.17) and Cambridge Rindge & Latin’s Aoife Shovlin (11:09.17).
