When it’s a competition like the Meet of Champions where you have the state’s elite going toe-to-toe, anyone of our winners could be selected as our HOKA Athletes of the Week. We’d like to commend all for their successes at this past week’s two-day meet. But narrowing down the candidates for this week’s honor, two very-gifted athletes stood alone. So, without further adieu, we’d like to congratulate North Reading’s Giuliana Ligor and Westford Academy’s Paul Bergeron as our respective female and male recipients.
On Thursday, Ligor never left a victory in doubt in the 400-meter hurdles. In a flawless effort, the Hornets’ junior not only dipped under the 60-second barrier for the first time but established a state record and nation No. 4 of 58.97. Ligor beat a talented field where the next four finishers were under 1:02. Two days later, the North Reading standout was back on the line for the flat-out 400m. Once again, Ligor proved untouchable, claiming that title with a PR of 55.62.
As for Bergeron, he captured the two longest races of the meet. It all began on Day 1 with an historic performance in the two-mile run. In a race that collectively was the fastest this state has ever seen on MA soil, Bergeron ran away from the field in the closing laps to take the title with state record and nation-leading 8:43.86, breaking the one-year-old mark of 8:44.54 by St. John’s Prep’s Nathan Lopez from the 2023 New Balance Nationals. The Stanford-bound senior wasn’t finished quite yet. On the final day, Bergeron was triumphant in the mile with a nearly two-second best of 4:07.98.
