The region’s best will take center stage on Saturday with the 78th annual New England Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium in New Britain, CT. Here’s a few top events that feature some of our top Massachusetts athletes.
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GIRLS’ 100m HH
This event is loaded with talent,. It features 11 hurdlers that have broken 15 seconds this season. As for the individual title, just two stand alone in this one – Natick’s Emmanuella Edozien and D’Asia Duncan of Bloomfield (CT). Edozien is the top seed and a strong favorite in this race after cruising to a state record of 13.57 seconds at last weekend’s MIAA Meet of Champions, her third time under the 14-second mark. Duncan has been hovering in the low 14-second range throughout the spring with a best of 14.00 at last weekend’s CIAC State Open. The meet record is 13.94, set last year by Annika Scott of Bedford (NH). That one-year-old mark should go down on Saturday.
GIRLS’ 100m
in 2015, former Lake Region (ME) standout Kate Hall raced to the current meet record of 11.41 in this event. There’s a good chance that record could be erased on Saturday. This is the only race that three-time state champion and defending New England and New Balance National titlists Lisa Raye will be competing in this weekend. The RI native and West Warwick standout, who has been nursing a sore hamstring the last month, will be focusing on a quality time in this event as she prepares for a defense of her crown at New Balance next weekend. At the states last week, the Georgia-bound junior blazed to a time of 11.64. She has a season best of 11.40 from the Loucks Games and in 2024 struck gold at the nationals by running 11.26, the current RI state mark. The weather is not supposed to be ideal with rain expected in the forecast, still we think Raye is capable of getting in that 11.4 range, especially with Sharon’s Nina Kyei-Aboagye in this race. Kyei-Aboagye swept the sprint events at last week’s MIAA Meet of Champions by taking this race in 11.62 and winning the 200m two days later in a state record of 23.28. She should provided the added push for Raye to come close to a record this weekend. You can’t count out Lauren Quarm of Methuen (MA), too. She was second at the MOC with a time of 11.73.
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GIRLS’ 400m
This event matches Dennis Yarmouth’s Breanna Braham with defending champion Xenia Raye of West Warwick (RI). Braham is the No. 1 seed in an event that we believe could come down to the final few meters. She’s coming off her victory in the one-lapper at last Sunday’s Meet of Champion where she clocked a PR of 53.70 seconds, a race she edged Chloe Elder of Natick by just three hundredths of a second. Raye breezed to a nearly four-second season best of 54.93 at last weekend’s State Meet. The Georgia-bound senior has made it clear this year that she wants to break 54 seconds and also knock off the three-year-old state mark of 54.10, set by former Moses Brown great Sophia Gorriaran. This is a race she certainly have an opportunity to do both with a talent like Braham on the line.
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BOYS’ 800m
Expect this race to be tight right to the end with the potential to have four or five, possibly more, still in contention coming down the final straightaway. Eight in this field have gone under 1:54 this season, including La Salle’s Eamon O’Brien. The Rams’ talented junior won his first state title last week with a time of 1:54.54. He has run faster though. O’Brien captured top honors at the BSR Elite Scholastic 800m last month with a PR of 1:52.81. The La Salle runner will need a similar effort like that to earn a New England title. The top seed is Yendri Ruiz of New Britain (CT), the State Open winner with a best of 1:52.17. CT also has the next two seeds with Hampden’s Alexander Medina (1:52.88) and Cromwell’s Dylan Bathrick (1:52.95). Don’t forget MA’s top entry, Logan Walsh of Ludlow. Walsh had his best race of the season last week when he finished second in the 800m at the Meet of Champions with a PR of 1:53.03. To win on Saturday, he’ll likely have to run faster. We’re expecting this one to be fast from the get-go with a time in the ballpark of 1:50-1:51
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BOYS’ HIGH JUMP
Could we have a seven-footer in this event? Anytime can happen, especially when you have someone who’s already accomplished the feat and another that was an inch short during the indoor season. The athletes in question are Caleb Satisfield of Barrington (RI) and Shrewsbury’s Derek Shimmer. Both won their respective championship meets by clearing 6-6 last weekend, Satisfield at the RI State Meet and Shimmer at the MIAA Meet of Champions. Just three short weeks ago, Satisfield captured the Class B Championship soaring to a height of 7-0. Shimmer won the New England indoor title by clearing a best of 6-11, a meet his Barrington rival was eighth at 6-5. This will be their first time facing each other since that meet, but don’t count on it just being a match-up between the two. The field includes a few others capable of winning. Among some of the other top contenders are Brodie Scott of Waterford (CT), who soared to a height of 6-8 to take the State Open title as well as fellow CT rivals Camden Mazerrole of E.O. Smith (6-8) and Ethan Rowe of Bloomsfield (6-6).
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BOYS’ SHOT
This should be one of the more competitive field events of the meet. It features four shot-putters that exceeded 60 feet at their recent state championships – Maine’s Ryker Paradis of Lewiston (63-10), Connecticut’s Thomas Matlock of East Lyme (62-9.75), Hopedale’s Ari Levine (60-8.75) and Rhode Island’s Kayden Thomas of Rogers (60-2). Also with 60-footers to their credit, either during indoor and outdoor track, are Chris Amy of Norwich Free Academy (CT), Marshall Potter of Simsbury (CT) and Brandon Wolfenden of Pilgrim (RI).
