The state’s best collide from five divisions this week at the TRACK at New Balance with the MIAA Division Championships. What are some of the top events to watch and school’s expected to be battling for team honors? Here we feature the Division 5 meet, scheduled for Saturday.
DIVISION 5 CHAMPIONSHIP – GIRLS
Day/Time: Saturday, 10 a.m.
Teams: Abington, Advanced Math & Science Academy, Amesbury, Athol, Atlantis Charter, Ayer-Shirley, Bellingham, Blackstone-Millville, Boston Collegiate, Boston International, Bourne, Brighton, Bromfield, Brooke Charter, Carver, Charlestown, Clinton, Codman Academy, David Prouty, Dennis-Yarmouth, Dighton-Rehoboth, Douglas, East Boston, East Bridgewater, Excel Academy, Fairhaven, Frontier, Greenfield, Hamilton-Wenham, Hampshire, Hull, Ipswich, Joseph Case, Leicester, Littleton, Lunenburg, Lynnfield, Mahar, Manchester-Essex, Martha’s Vineyard, Mashpee, Maynard, Medway, Millbury, Millis, Mohawk Trail, Monomoy, Nantucket, Narragansett, Nashoba Valley Tech, Nipmuc, North Reading, Northbridge, Norwell, Old Rochester, Oxford, Pentucket, Pioneer Valley, Quabbin, Randolph, Rockland, Sandwich, Saugus, Seekonk, South Hadley, Southbridge, Southwick, Stoneham, Sutton
Top Events To Watch: The 55-meter dash could certainly create some excitement. The top six sprinters in this race have seeds of 7.50 or faster and are separated by just eight hundredths of a second. At the No. 1 seed is Case’s Alyana Massie, who won the recent MSTCA Qualifier with a best of 7.42 seconds. She’s followed by Hampden Charter freshman Omoadani Oratokhai, who has a best of 7.43 from a recent PVIAC meet. Seekonk’s Julianna Dutra (7.45), Saugus’s Soraya Mathieu (7.49), Quabbin’s Abigail Falconi (7.49) and Ayer Shirley’s Sastea Cherduville (7.50) are a few others that could make this race close…The 600m is a race where a sizable pack could still be in contention late in the closing stages. The top seed is Sutton’s Vivien Bregman at 1:38.72. Three more in this field have also gone sub 1:41 with Dennis Yarmouth sophomore Kerri Clark (1:38.97), Old Rochester sophomore Phoebe Cowles (1:39.0), and Lunenburg sophomore Sophia Viveiros (1:40.85)…The 1,000m features one of just four runners that have broken three minutes this season with Seekonk’s Hayden Robinson on the line. Robinson has broken the mark twice this winter with a PR of 2:58.56 from the MSTCA Qualifier on Feb. 7. She currently ranks No. 3 in the state, just .55 behind Lexington’s Amelia Whorton. The state-leader is Westford Academy’s Abby Hennessy at 2:46.44. This should be a solo effort by Robinson, who’s best is nearly seven seconds ahead of the two seed, freshman Emma Genovese of Hamilton-Wenham…In the mile and two mile, Bromfield’s Rosie Bradley will be going for the double. She’s the top seed in both races with times of 5:07.88 and 10:54.93, respectively. In the mile, her top challenger appears to be Sutton’s Annabella Lamoreaux, who comes in with a 5:10.93 best. Olivia Coronella is the No. 2 seed in the deuce with a time of 11:19.53…Could we have a sub 10-minute performance in the 4x800m? It could happen. The 1-2 seeds, Lunenburg (10:07.17) and Old Rochester (10:09.03), likely have that milestone on their minds for Saturday’s race…The shot features two throwers among the top 8 in the state with Nipmuc’s Kameron Getman (36-7.5) and Advanced Math’s Aysha Silva (36-5).
Team Outlook: Based on the recent rankings by the MSTCA, Lunenburg, Sutton and Seekonk are among our top three teams. Lunenburg has been a runner-up in this meet the last two years, both times to North Reading.
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DIVISION 5 CHAMPIONSHIP – BOYS
Day/Time: Saturday, 10 a.m.
Teams: Abington, Advanced Math & Science Academy, Amesbury, Athol, Atlantis Charter, Ayer-Shirley, Bellingham, Blackstone-Millville, Boston Collegiate, Boston International, Bourne, Brighton, Bromfield, Brooke Charter, Carver, Charlestown, Clinton, Codman Academy, David Prouty, Dennis-Yarmouth, Dighton-Rehoboth, Douglas, East Boston, East Bridgewater, Excel Academy, Fairhaven, Frontier, Greenfield, Hamilton-Wenham, Hampshire, Hull, Ipswich, Joseph Case, Leicester, Littleton, Lunenburg, Lynnfield, Mahar, Manchester-Essex, Martha’s Vineyard, Mashpee, Maynard, Medway, Millbury, Millis, Mohawk Trail, Monomoy, Nantucket, Narragansett, Nashoba Valley Tech, Nipmuc, North Reading, Northbridge, Norwell, Old Rochester, Oxford, Pentucket, Pioneer Valley, Quabbin, Randolph, Rockland, Sandwich, Saugus, Seekonk, South Hadley, Southbridge, Southwick, Stoneham, Sutton
Top Events To Watch: The 300m features the talented brother duo of Nathan and Aiden Calcano Da Silva, who both rank among the top five in the state. The speedy siblings went 1-2 at a South Shore league meet on Feb. 6 with Nathan clocking a state No. 3 of 34.64 and Aiden right behind at 34.87, a time that’s No. 5 on the list. Both could certainly pose a threat to take individual honors at next weekend’s Meet of Champions with an outside chance of a sweep of the top two. Not sure that’s ever been done in the history of the state at a meet of that magnitude. We certainly can’t ignore the three seed, though. Clinton’s Sean Blaze holds that spot with his best of 35.20. He currently ranks ninth in the state…Speaking of Blaze, he’s the favorite in the 55m dash with a PR of 6.40, an effort that puts him in a tie for tenth on MA’s all-time list. Fellow teammate Gavin Naughton is the two seed at 6.53. Nine more in this race have dipped under 6.7…Parker Charter’s Nathaniel Henshaw will be looking to sweep the distance events. The talented senior has the top seeds in the mile (4:23.40) and the two mile (9:33.89). In the mile, Hamilton-Wenham’s Cole Regan is the only other runner with a seed under 4:30, bringing a best of 4:26.91 to the line. Henshaw’s teammate, freshman Jett Johnson, should be his top challenger in the 2M. He has a seed of 9:40.36…The 55m hurdles features top seed Malik Washburn of Old Rochester, who’s tied for fourth in the state at 7.60. Aiden Calcano Da Silva of Abington is the two seed at 7.70…The state has two shot-putters that have exceeded 60 feet this winter. One of them will be occupying the circle at Friday’s meet. Hopedale’s Ari Levine, who ranks No. 2 in the state behind Oliver Ames’ Mitchell, has a PR of 62-3.5 from the MSTCA Coaches Invitational. He’ll have some competition in this one. Six throwers in this field have thrown further than 50 feet, including Lunenberg’s Ray Breadmore, with an indoor best of 55-9. During the spring, Breadmore was less than a foot from 60 feet with a PR of 59-3 from the Outdoor Mercury Games on April 25.
Team Outlook: The MSTCA rankings have Parker Charter, Clinton and Joseph Case as the top teams. Parker Charter was 14th out of 41 teams last year and placed eighth in 2024.
