Records will be broken, there will be a plethora of PRs and there will be some celebrating, lots of it. It’ the best of the best converging at three different locales for a sure-to-be intense four days of competition. It’s this week’s MIAA Division State Championships. For track & field enthusiasts like us at Bay State Running, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Throughout the week, we’ll be previewing all six meets, girls and boys. What schools will be battling for the team titles? What are some of the events (and athletes) to keep an eye on from Thursday to Sunday? Will do our best to give glimpse of what to expect.
Let’s get started. Here were feature Division 2.
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Division 2 State Championships (Boys)
LOCATION: Merrimack College
Days/Time: Thursday and Saturday
Teams: Algonquin Regional, Arlington, Barnstable, Belmont, Beverly, Bishop Feehan, Boston Latin Academy, Bridgewater-Raynham, Catholic Memorial, Chelmsford, Concord-Carlisle, Diman Regional, Essex North Shore, Everett, Hingham, Hopkinton, King Philip Regional, Leominster, Lynn English, Malden, Marshfield, North Andover, North Quincy, Peabody, Plymouth North, Quincy, Springfield Central, Tanstaqua Regional, Waltham, Wellesley, Whittier Regional, Winchester, Woburn
Events To Watch: The javelin features defending champion Gable Gray of Chelmsford. Gray has a PR of 206 feet, 3 inches from the Andover Boosters Invitational. The Lion junior has a season best of 191-1, which is 15 feet further than two seed Nick Gallagher of King Phillip, who comes inn with a best of 176-1…Peabody’s Alex Jackson will be looking for the twin bill. The Tanner senior is the top seed in the shot with a best of 67-2. He’s also inching closer to the 200-foot mark for the discus with an all-time best of 191-2.5. With substantial margins over the No. 2 seeds in both events, we’re expecting Jackson to reach the top spot on the podium twice this weekend…Marshfield’s Graham Heinrich is entered in three events at the meet, all of which he holds the No. 1 seed. The Rams’ talented senior is scheduled to compete in the 800m (1:53.70) and two mile (9:17.44) on Thursday and the mile (4:10.91) on Saturday. Our guess is if it does come down to two events, it might be the two mile and mile. In the 800m, the No. 2 seed is his teammate Matt McCabe, who has a best of 1:55.38 from the BSR Elite Scholastic 800m a few weeks ago. We could certainly be a sweep of the middle- and long-distance events by the Rams in these races…We’re expecting the race to get pretty tight in the 400m hurdles where the top five seeds are all under 58 seconds. Woburn’s Dawit Kulubya has a top-seeded time of 56.32 from his win at the ML-12 Championships. Peabody, the leading contender for the team title, has the next two seeds with Omar Mishal (57.06) and Brian Stevens (57.34)…All three relays could produce some interesting results. Winchester, ranked No. 4 statewide, is the top seed with a best of 42.51. Catholic Memorial is not too far behind at 42.89, an effort that tied it for No. 12 in MA. Peabody leads four teams under 3:30 in the 4x400m with a best of 3:25.77. In the 4x800m, Arlington is favored with its time of 8:01.18, nine seconds ahead of Boston Latin Academy (8:10.49), the two seed. Could we see a sub-8 by the Spy Ponders this weekend?…The triple jump features state-leader Amar Skeete, who won the Catholic Conference Classic title a two weeks ago with a leap of 47-4.5, an effort that’s just outside the top 50 nationally….We should have a race in the 400m with Bridgewater Raynham’s Jack Hannigan (49.58), Beverly’s Ray Kwiatek (50.05), Everett’s Kayshaun Eveillard (50.10), Plymouth North’s Kaz Gallo (50.43) and several others in the mix.
Team Outlook: Peabody is the favorite here. Based on its seeds, the Tanners have the ability to reach the century mark in terms of scoring with about a third of their points coming in the throwing events. Marshfield, Bridgewater Raynham, Chelmsford, Winchester and Catholic Memorial are a several others that could fill some of those top podium spots.
Division 2 State Championships (Girls)
LOCATION: Merrimack College
Days/Time: Thursday and Saturday
Teams: Arlington, Barnstable, Belmont, Bishop Feehan, Boston Latin Academy, Bridgewater-Raynham, Catholic Memorial, Chelmsford, Diman Regional, Essex North Shore, Everett, Hingham, Hopkinton, King Philip Regional, Lynn English, Malden, Marshfield, North Andover, North Quincy, Peabody, Plymouth North, Quincy, Waltham, Wellesley, Whittier Regional, Winchester, Woburn
Events To Watch: You don’t want to miss what’s happening beyond the oval, particularly the javelin and discus. Those are the events that state-leader Alessandra Forgione holds the No. 1 seeds. Forgione has bests of 139-9 for the javelin and 132-8 for the discus…The mile has the potential to turn into a competitive race in the late stages. The top seed and the favorite in this race is Charlotte Tuxbury of Wellesley. Tuxbury, who has a PR of 4:50 to her credit from last year, has a season best of 5:01.87 this season. Belmont’s Dana Lehr, another sub-5 runner, is at No. 2 with a seed of 5:01.93. These are the two runners we expect with be the front runners and eying for the title, but you can ignore what’s behind them. Four others have seeds under 5:10 with Winchester’s Riley Newman (5:06.78), Arlington’s Evie Lauzon (5:08.57) and Wellesley’s Emma and Maddie Tuxbury, younger sisters of Charlotte, at the four and five seeds with times of 5:07.45 and 5:08.54, respectively…You know there’s potential for good things to happen in the 800m and 400m with Macey Shriner listed among the entries. The Plymouth North senior is the top runner in both events. She has a best of 56.92 in the 400m and an all-time best of 2:09.55 for the 800m, which she did to place fourth in a loaded field at the Glenn B. Loucks Games in N.Y., a few weeks ago. Shriner’s top competition in the 800m is North Quincy’s Maddy McGillicuddy with a best of 2:16.37. We do expect the meet record of 2;12.92, set by former Wellesley standout Rory Clare in 2022, to be broken in Thursday’s race. Shriner could also erase a 42-year-old mark in the 400m. West Roxbury alum Genessa Eddins hold the current mark of 56.90 in that race, Shriner will matched up against three others that have broken a minute, including Essex North’s Nora Kisel, the No. 2 seed with a time of 58.70.
Team Outlook: With the ability to score a considerable amount of points on the oval and in the jumps, Wellesley is the overwhelming favorite to win the team title. King Phillip, Arlington, Peabody and Essex are among several that could be battling for the other top spots.
