Breanna Braham will be out in Eugene, Ore., later this week for the Nike Outdoor National. The recent Dennis Yarmouth grad is hoping the weather is a bit warmer when she competes against some of the nation’s best inside Hayward Field.
Whether she gets her wish or not, Braham has proven one thing during less-than-ideal weather this spring. Regardless of the conditions, the Dolphins’ gifted runner is always ready to compete no matter who she faces on a the starting line.
With a wet track, moderately cold and sometimes windy conditions, Braham was red-hot once again at the 78th annual New England Track & Field Championships. The multiple all-stater was twice a victor inside Veterans Stadium in New Britain, striking it rich in the 400-meter run and the 200m dash. For the one-lapper, Braham won convincingly against a talented field with a time of 53.99 seconds. She came back a little more than an hour later to win the 200m at 23.89.
In the 400m, Braham finished 1.5 seconds ahead of Amherst-Pelham’s Moriah Luetjen, who nabbed the silver with a season best of 55.54. It was D-Y standouts third time under 54 seconds. She won last week’s Meet of Champions with a PR of 53.70.
“My goal was just to get out there and kind of have a good start, come off the curves strong and be relaxed and finish,” she said. “Just give it all I got.”
Braham admitted she benefitted from her race at the MOC where she finished just three hundredths of a second ahead of Natick’s Chloe Elder.
“Definitely,” she said. “That race made me a lot stronger and mentally prepared coming for this one. It made me coming off the curve a lot more relaxed.”
Braham led four other runners under 25 seconds in the 200m. Placing second was Grace Saysaw of Concord (NH) in a time of 24.29. Sharon’s Linda Jenner nearly made the podium, taking eighth overall in a PR of 25.22.
Braham, who has been unbeaten in the 400m this season, will now head to Oregon where she’s hopes to continue to excel in her specialty. She’s also entered in the 200m, Sprint Medley and the Co-Ed 4x400m Relay.
The current state record is 52.7 for the 440 yards by former Brookline standout Maxine Underwood in 1982. That’s an effort that computes to about 52.4 for 400 meters. Braham believes a sub-53 is possible with the right kind of conditions.
“That’s my goal,” she said. “Just go out there and see what I have to offer.”
Braham earned two of five victories for the Bay State at the regional competition. In what proved to be a tight race coming down the stretch, Marblehead’s Nathaniel Assa captured the 3,200m crown. Assa engaged in a heat battle with Rhode Island’s Sean Gray of Portsmouth in the late stages of the race. The talented duo broke from a drawn-out pack with a little more than a half mile remaining. Assa was able to hold off Gray coming down the final straightaway en route to a triumphant 9:04.57. Gray was just a few strides behind in 9:05.27. The pair ran the final 800m in 2:05 with a sub 60-second split for the last 400m.
“The race was going pretty slow the first mile so the pack was still with us,” Assa said. “Going into the last laps, I passed him with 600 (meters ) left. On the bell (lap), I knew I had to just hold him off for the win. He’s a really strong athlete. I knew he could close hard. I knew i could do it. I just had to leave it all on the track.”
Assa has one more race before he puts a close to his season. He’s entered in the 5K at the New Balance Nationals, an event that’s scheduled for Thursday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field. He was sixth at the indoor nationals with his current best of 14:32.40.
“Around 14:20 is going to be my goal,” he said. “Just get high in the placement as much as I can; another All American title indoor and outdoor. That’s what I’m going for.”
Catholic Memorial’s Amar Skeete and Holliston’s Kaitlyn Quealy won the respective boys’ and girls’ triple jump crowns, and Amherst-Pelham girls’ 4x400m squad also were triumphant on Saturday for MA, Skeete, came just three inches short of his PR from last weekend’s win at the Meet of Champions with a distance of 48-2. Quealy, a runner-up to two-time champion Gabrielle PIerre of Lincoln Sudbury at the MOC, soared to a best of 39-0.5. In the 4×4, the Hurricanes’ foursome of Olclara Baptiste, Ruby Austin, Skylar and Moriah improved on their state-leader with a time of 3:52.36.
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