It’s fair to say that with the level of talent that competes at the Meet of Champions, any event is of the must-see variety. We’re going to break it down to what we consider some of the key match-ups for each day of the two-day meet, which will be held at Fitchburg State University.
Here’s what we consider the best for Saturday’s competition.
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GIRLS’ MILE
Just two day after Thursday’s win in the 800m, Westford Academy’s Abigial Hennessy will make it two-for-for-two just like she did in 2024. Hennessy should win this race with plenty of real estate behind her. She twice has run 4:40 in this event this spring, and won last week’s D1 race with an equally-impressive 4:43.72, taking top honors by nearly 15 seconds over Newton North’s Ciara Evans. Hennessy has proven she has the potential to break 4:40. After all, she twice has been less than a second from doing it this year with her 4:04.01 best from the Penn Relays Carnival and her 4:40.76 effort from the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile early last month. Will she attempt a sub-4:40? Yes…but probably not this weekend. That attempt will come two weeks later at the New Balance Nationals. Look for Hennessy to run sub 4:50 in a solo effort, probably in the 4:45 range. There should be several under five minutes on Saturday. Six more in this race have seeds in that area, and more could do it, too. The two seed is Wellesley’s Charlotte Tuxbury, who was a runner-up in D2 last week and owns a best of 4:50.43 from last year’s New Balance Nationals. There’s also Evans, who was second to Hennessy last week in 4:58.37. One runner you can count out to be finishing among the top two or three is the No. 9 seed Emily Frawley of Newton South, who has a seed of 5:01.72 from a league meet in mid May. At last week’s D1 meet, Frawley ran an all-time best of 2:10.68 for the 800m to place third. Two days later, she was at sub 4:50 pace late in the mile before dropping out due to a sickness. She’s healthy for this weekend’s race and is coming off a third-place finish and time of 2:11.81 for the 800m on Thursday under piping hot conditions.
BOYS’ 110m HURDLES
At last week’s D1 meet, Westford Academy’s Ryan Kyle edged pre-race favorite Lucas Andrade of Brockton at the line to snag his second individual title of the two-day meet. The gifted senior, who broke his own state record again in the 400m IH on Thursday, will pull off the double again on Saturday. The only difference is he won’t be sharing the starting line with Andrade, who appeared to suffer an injury after last week’s race, one that Kyle won by a hundredth of a second over his rival with a time of 14.17 under windy conditions. The WA hurdler will be sub-14 this weekend with a time in the high 13-second range. Andrade has the current state record of 13.69 from his win at the MSTCA Coaches Shore Invitational back in May. That mark may be a little out of reach for Kyle, who has a PR of 13.92 from his victory at the Weston Twilight Invitational. But you never know. The fearless Westford Academy standout ALWAYS comes to race and is coming off another state mark in the 400m IH where he broke his own state record for the third time with a nation No. 5 of 51.72. Kyle will also be pushed in his race, despite Andrade’s absence. Southeastern Voke’s Joseph Cook became the state’s third hurdler under 14 seconds in this event with his triumphant 13.96 to win the D3 crown last week. Milton’s Zakai Perkins (14.13) and Milford’s Aloie Okhipo (14.26) are among others that should be among the top finishers
GIRLS’ POLE VAULT
This is one of the first events of the meet and one you might not want to arrive early for at Saturday’s competition. Five in this field have cleared 11 feet this season, led by top-seed Emerson Gould of Acton-Boxborough, who captured the D1 title last week with a PR of 12-0, improving her state lead and PR by six inches! Parker Charter’s Kinsley Kline, the D6 champion, is the No. 2 seed at 11-6, but she did do two inches better at the Mother’s Day Mania Pole Vault Meet in Natick on May 11. The remaining 11-footers are Shrewsbury’s Alexandra Welch (11-2), Ipswich’s Kameya Perron (11-0) and Lincoln-Sudbury’s Isabel Gibowicz (11-0).
BOYS LONG JUMP
Eleven athletes (that’s right, 11!) have broken 23 feet in this event this season. Nine will be at the sand pit on Saturday is a must-see event, one that could produce the state’s first 24-footer since Stoughton alum Elisha Teneus-Claude leaped 24-feet even to win the now-defunct Div. 2 South Championships in 2021. Holliston’s Connor Teague holds the No. 1 seed and PR of 23-11, which he did to win the D4 crown last week. The next two seeds are Wakefield’s JaMauri Belmer (23-6.75) and Central Catholic’s Suuna Kalemera (23-3.5). There will be plenty of new faces representing the top positions on the podium at this year’s meet. In 2024, seven of the eight finishers were senior. The lone non-senior was fifth-place finisher Ethan Thevenin of Lowell, who is not competing at this weekend’s meet.
GIRLS’ 400m
OMG, is this going to be a good one! The top two seeds and the runners were listing as co-favorites are Natick’s Chloe Elder and Dennis Yarmouth’s Breanna Braham. At last week’s D1 meet, Elder blazed to a state best of 54.29. Braham won the D5 title with her second sub-55 clocking of the season, a PR of 54.87, just two hundredths of a second under her previous best from the Weston Twilight Invitational on May 3. Now the two standouts will face each other for the first time this spring. Can you say 53 seconds and a meet record? Sub-54 is definitely possible with these two runners on the line at the same time in a race that could be determined by just a few meters, perhaps a lean at the finish. The meet record is 54.51 by former Hingham star Sierra Irvin in 2014 from the All-State Meet. It should go down this weekend. Not to be ignored is No. 3 seed Moriah Luetjen of Amherst-Pelham, who has a best of 55.94 from the Glenn B. Loucks Games in N.Y. She won the D4 crown in 56.36 last Saturday. She appears to be a shoo-in for the bronze.
BOYS’ SHOT
This event features two 60-footers with top seed and favorite Alex Jackson coming in with a PR of 67-2 from a league meet on May 8. At No. 2 is Hopedale’s Ari Levine with a best of 60-2.25. He achieved the first 60-foot effort of his career with his win at the D5 meet. Jackson , who is unbeaten in the shot and the discus, an event he won on Thursday (187-6), should take the double for the second straight year. Although a long shot, don’t count out Levine to possible pull off the upset.
