Day 2 of the MSTCA Northeast Invitational features the standard events common at most meets throughout the season and at the MIAA divisional champions and Meet of Champions, such as the 300-meter dash, 600m, 1,000m, long jump, high jump, shot and all three relays (4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m). Just like Friday’s opening day, the competition is top notch.
Here are some of the events we’re listing among the best.
***
GIRLS’ SHOT
This event features two shot-putters that have exceeded 40 feet in their careers with 1-2 seeds Madeline Goncalves of Haverhill and Bishop Feehan’s Brooke Serak. Goncalves currently sits atop the rankings after capturing the shot at the Boston Holiday Challenge with a best of 43-feet even. Serak has an all-time best of 41-8.25 from her victory as a tenth-grader at the MOC in 2023. The Feehan senior is the defending champion in this event, winning last year’s title with a season best of 41-1. If both athletes are at their best this weekend this could be a competition that is determined by inches not feet. The No. 3 seed is Arlington’s Bella Hayes, who has a legit chance at a 40-footer with one big throw. She has a best of 39-4 from a meet on Jan. 2.
GIRLS’ LONG JUMP
With 13 athletes already over 17 feet this season, this is one of those events that will be difficult to predict who will be the last one standing at the MOC. Three of those leapers will be competing on Saturday with Wellesley’s Annie Comella, Natick’s Emmanuella Edozian and Groton-Dunstable’s Eliana Lothrop. Comella has a season best of 17-5.25 from a league meet on Jan. 2. She achieved an all-time best two years ago as a sophomore when she soared to a distance of 19-3 during the spring, one of two 19-footers she did that season. Edozian and Lothrop both come in with seeds of 17-7.75. So far, no one has gone further than 18 feet this winter. That should happen this weekend.
HIGH JUMP
Both the boys’ and girls’ competitions have a chance of producing state-leaders with the quality of talent that each has attracted this weekend. Two of the current state-leaders, Dennis Yarmouth’s Walter Mayo and Brockton’s Lucas Andrade, are tied at the No. 1 seed for boys with both clearing 6-6 this season. Old Rochester’s Braeden Christopher is the three seed with a best of 6-5. Of this trio, Andrade owns the best overall jump with his winning effort and PR of 6-8 from the Div. 1 Championships this past spring. The girls’ event features defending indoor MOC winner, Zoe Santos of Norton. Santos has a best of 5-8 from last year’s meet. She’s been unbeaten so far this season and comes into this weekend’s competition with four straight 5-4 efforts. That’s a height that six other athletes in this field have achieved in their careers, including Westford Academy’s Audrey Smagula, who holds the two seed at 5-4.5.
GIRLS’ 1,000m
Be prepared for a fast race here. This event includes seven runners with seed times under three minutes. At the top of the list is New Hampshire’s Haley Kavanaugh of Oyster River. who was third in this event last year with a PR of 2:55.33. Kavanaugh, a Nike Cross Nationals qualifier this past fall, won the mile at the NHIAA Meet of Champions this past spring with a PR of 4:53.27. She’s capable of improving greatly on her 1K best this weekend. MA entries Lauren Downer of Haverhill (2:56.48) and Framingham’s Sasha Lamakina (2:56.55) are a couple of others we expect will challenge up front, possibly making this a race one where the winner will be determined in the final stretch. Downer was the runner-up at the MOC last winter and has already run a strong 1:36.39 for 600m, clocking that time just a few days earlier on Wednesday. Lamakina, a 2:12 half-miler, ran her best for the five-lapper at the Beantown Winter Classic on Dec. 22 and currently leads the state in the 600m with her best of 1:34.39. Other sub-3 runners are Wellesley’s Delaney Dyer (2:58.02), Groton Dunstable’s Meghan McEleney (2:58.11) and Holliston teammates Maggie Kuchman (2:58.80) and Annabelle Lynch (2:59.83). The meet record of 2:58.12 by Shepherd Hill’s Emma Sullivan in 2020 does appear to be in jeopardy.
BOYS’ 600m
The results of this race should produce a new state-leader. The top seed is Bishop Stang’s Michael Veegh, who last year captured the Div. 4 crown with a PR of 1:21.53. Veegh has a season best of 1:25.26 from a league meet on Dec. 18, but has yet to be tested. He won that race by six seconds and, in his only other 600m a week earlier, was seven ticks ahead of his closest rival. The Spartans senior will be challenged on Saturday with three more in this field with seed times under 1:25. Those runners include Amherst-Pelham’s Nicolas Lisle (1:23.94), Westfield’s Sean Johnson (1:24.33), and Lowell’s Raymond Dafe (1:24.95). The meet record of 1:23.32 by Wachusett’s Dylan Breen could be erased this weekend.
300m
Talk about a fast field for the boys. The top five entries all have seed times under 36 seconds, led by Methuen teammates Mekhi Lumsden (35.75) and Juan Polanco (35.79). Lumsden ran his PR recently, placing fifth at the Boston Holiday Challenge on Dec. 28. Polanco’s best came in 2024 from the MOC where he was tenth overall. Bishop Feehan’s Matthew Shaw (35.81), Norwell’s Noah Mulligan (35.85) and Shepherd Hill’s Anthony Graves (35.87) are other members of the 35-club. The meet record here is 35.70 by Haverhill’s Nataenel Vigo Catala. That mark is certainly attainable with this field. The top girl for the 1.5-lapper is last year’s MOC and New England bronze medalist Breanna Braham of Dennis Yarmouth with a best of 39.62. Braham is our current state-]leader with a season best of 40.26. She’ll be matched up with Wachusett’s Rahma Giwa, who was sixth in this event last year at the MOC and has a best of 40.48. Don’t ignore are next three seeds – Natick’s Chloe Elder (41.46), Algonquin Regional’s Arianna Gentile (41.85) and Framingham’s Ava Lombardo (41.85). This race could certainly be won by a lean at the finish. Yes, here’s another event where we could have a new meet record. The current mark of 40.27 was set five years ago by Beverly’s India Ingemi.
