The MSTCA Division State Relays have arrived.
A majority of coaches will agree that this weekend’s meets represent a true team champion; where depth and talent play a more important role than next month’s championship meets. Throughout this week, we’ll provide a capsule of all five divisions. Who are the teams that will be facing each other this weekend and what are some of the top events and athletes that will be competing in their respective divisions? We’ll have it here. Below we feature the Division 3 State Relays, which will be held on Saturday at Reggie Lewis, beginning at 9 a.m.
***
Division 3 State Relays – Girls
Day/Time: Saturday at 9 a.m.
Teams: Agawam, Ashland, Bedford, Boston Latin Academy, Burlington, Burncoat, Canton, Chelsea, Chicopee Comp, Dartmouth, Doherty, Duxbury, Grafton, Greater Lowell Tech, Greater New Bedford Tech, Hingham, Hudson, Longmeadow, Lynn Classical, Mansfield, Marblehead, Masconomet, Melrose, Milford, Milton, Minnechaug, North Attleboro, Northampton, Norwood, Notre Dame (Hingham), Oliver Ames, Plymouth South, Putnam Tech, Reading, Shepherd Hill, Silver Lake, Somerset Berkley, Somerville, Southeastern Tech, Springfield Sci & Tech, Stoughton, Tantasqua, Walpole, West Springfield, Westfield, Westwood, Whitman-Hanson, Worcester Tech
Athletes & Events To Watch: The 46-year-old meet mark of 9:22.90 by Seekonk appears far out of reach, but the 4×800-meter relay still has the potential to produce a fast time—one that could rank among the best of the weekend. The top two teams are separated by less than a second on the seed list, with Westwood (9:44.36) and Melrose (9:45.0) holding the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Oliver Ames (9:57.36) and Burlington (9:59.64) also enter with seeds under 10 minutes. This is a meet that means a great deal to the teams on the line. Look for this one to land somewhere in the mid- to high-9:30 range—possibly faster…In the Sprint Medley Relay, Wachusett, Weston, and Milton have already dipped under the 4:22.0 standard for the New Balance Nationals. There’s a strong chance that list grows this weekend. The top three seeds—Oliver Ames (4:18.53), Milton (4:18.91), and Westwood (4:19.07)—all come in under the mark. Put them in the same race and good things tend to happen….Among MSTCA and MIAA programs, Duxbury currently ranks No. 5 in the state in the 4x200m with a time of 1:47.72 from last month’s Boston Holiday Challenge. The Dragons will no doubt be looking to move up the rankings with a big performance this weekend. Oliver Ames and Bedford, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, both enter with times under 1:50. With clean handoffs and quality lineups, that could be enough to push Duxbury into the 1:46 range—or faster…We could also be saying bye-bye to the meet record in the long jump relay. The current mark is 50-9.5, set by North Attleboro in 2020. Combine the top jumps from Reading’s trio of Isabelle Lightbody (18-5), Annabelle Repucci (18-0.5), and Kamryn Encarnacao (17-6.75), and you have a combined distance of 54-0.25. That provides a comfortable margin to take a stab at the record, even if they’re not quite at their best.
***
Division 3 State Relays – Boys
Day/Time: Saturday at 9 a.m.
Teams: Agawam, Ashland, Bedford, Boston Latin Academy, Burlington, Burncoat, Canton, Chelsea, Chicopee Comp, Dartmouth, Doherty, Duxbury, Grafton, Greater Lowell Tech, Greater New Bedford Tech, Hingham, Hudson, Longmeadow, Lynn Classical, Mansfield, Marblehead, Masconomet, Melrose, Milford, Milton, Minnechaug, North Attleborough, Northampton, Norwood, Notre Dame (Hingham), Oliver Ames, Plymouth South, Putnam Tech, Reading, Shepherd Hill, Silver Lake, Somerset Berkley, Somerville, Southeastern Tech, Springfield Sci & Tech, Stoughton, Tantasqua, Walpole, West Springfield, Westfield, Westwood, Whitman-Hanson, Worcester Tech
Athletes & Events To Watch: Reading Memorial returns half of last year’s quartet that captured the Division 2 Relays title in 8:05.34, with Tim Connolly and Cameron Gigler back in the lineup. Connolly owns a personal best of 2:03, while Gigler has dipped to 2:00. Add in newcomers Max King and Owen Sinclair, who bring credentials strong enough to project splits in the 2:03 range, and this is a squad capable of matching—or even improving upon—last year’s performance. Reading enters with a seed time of 8:02.09, a clear sign that the coaching staff believes the Rockets are ready to produce a fast race at the midway point of the season…Oh boy, we could be in for a treat in the SMR. The top five teams in this race all enter with seeds under 3:40—Reading (3:38.21), Marblehead (3:38.33), Silver Lake (3:39.0), Plymouth South (3:39.0), and Milton (3:39.42). The New Balance Nationals standard sits at 3:39, and so far none of these squads have dipped under it. With that mark in sight, motivation will be high across the board. Look for a tightly-contested race that could come down to the final few meters… Combine the heights achieved by the trios from Marblehead and Oliver Ames and you end up with totals separated by just a few inches in the high jump relay—17-9 for Marblehead and 17-6 for Oliver Ames. The meet record of 18-5, set by North Attleboro in 2023, may be out of reach, but the battle between these two squads could get intense.
