Greg McGrath has endured his share of heartbreak at the Meet of Champions.
During last winter’s indoor meet, a breakout performance by Marblehead’s Nathaniel Assa in the two mile denied the Boston College High standout his first individual title. Less than four months later, Assa did it again, leaving McGrath to settle for second once more after another hard-fought battle.
The trend continued in the fall when he fell short of his ultimate goal at the season-ending meet, finishing seventh despite entering the race unbeaten against his state rivals.
As he crossed the line as the winner of Saturday’s two mile at the MIAA Meet of Champions, McGrath raised one finger to the sky.
The heartbreak, the near misses were now a thing of the past.
Taking control early and never letting up, the Eagles’ standout finally earned his long-awaited moment atop the podium, clocking a winning time of 9 minutes, 8.15 seconds.
“I haven’t won one yet. I got second last year, I got second in outdoor. Cross country again, I thought it was mine and didn’t get it,” he said. “It’s super cool to get a gold medal. It’s all I wanted. I’m hoping I can keep this going.”
Finishing second behind McGrath with a 13-second PR of 9:20.27 was Parker Charter’s Nathaniel Henshaw. Early-race leader Sean Finnegan of Hopkinton placed third in a personal-best 9:22.80.
Finnegan traded leads with McGrath through the opening mile, which they reached in approximately 4:34. But from there, the BC High senior seized control, stringing together a series of 33- and 34-second 200-meter splits to break away from Finnegan and the rest of the field.
Now the focus is on the New Balance Nationals in two more weeks where McGrath is hoping to achieve his season goal of breaking the nine-minute barrier, a time he came less than three seconds shy of at last month’s Coaches Invitational where he raced to an all-time best of 9:02.95.
“I wanted a sub nine (minutes) so I could get into the fast heat,” he said. “We’ll see if 9:02 gets me there. I really hope it does.”
Reading’s Ryan Pulpi continued his excellence in the sprints this season by sweeping the 55-meter dash and 300m titles. Pulpi powered to the 55m crown with a near best of 6.41. Finishing second was Greater Lawrence’s Gustavo Varela at 6.44. Less than two hours later, the Rockets’ senior proved victorious again with a dominating performance in the 300m where he broke the tape at 33.82. Lincoln Sudbury’s Nicholas Begic secured runner-up honors at 34.47.
In the 55m, the top four finishers were under 6.5 with Essex North Shore’s Makaio Bey (third, 6.45) and Clinton’s Sean Blaze (fourth, 6.45) taking the next two spots.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Pulpi said. “There were so many people that were hundredths of seconds behind. I knew I had to get out pretty fast because the start was going to make or break it. I felt I got a good start and I was able to hold them off. It was so close the whole race.”
The gifted sprinter also ran the anchor leg on Reading’s second-place 4x400m squad that was timed in 3:27.02. Newton North won the race with a foursome of Logan Smith, Nuno Cabral, Max Badri and George Rumkin combining for a time of 3:25.70.
Just 0.15 seconds separated the top two in the 1,000m as Brookline’s Harry Flint edged Concord-Carlisle’s Toby Martel in 2:30.11. Placing third at 2:31.92 was Milton’s Robert Beato.
Flint, fresh off a sub-1:20 victory in the 600m at last week’s Division 1 meet, didn’t hold back. The Brookline senior pushed the early pace, hitting his opening 400m at 59.59 with a tightly packed group of at least seven runners within a second of each other.
Coming down the final stretch, Martel took over the lead slightly only to be edged by Flint the final few meters.
“It’s a great thing to be challenged by other athletes,” Flint said. “I haven’t been challenged too much this season, so when it happens, it pushes you. He got on me the last lap, and I’m proud of him. But I’m also proud of myself for trusting my kick and getting through that. It was a nice finish.”
Flint also ran the anchor on Brookline’s winning 4x800m squad. With a time of 7:59.99, the Warriors became the first school to break eight minutes this season. Theodore Butty, Ibrahim Abdel-Dayem and Jonathan Traub also ran legs for the victors. Flint ran a split of 1:56.9 to overcome eventual runner-up Xaverian Brothers (8:00.76) at the line.
Arlington’s Nico Peukert won the 600m with a best of 1:21.49. Peukert didn’t have it easy with the gutsy, front-running of Lowell’s Denzel Kisekka. The Red Raider senior held a nearly two-second gap over Peukert at the 400m mark, which he passed through in 51.82. Peukert wasn’t able to reel him in until there was about 100m remaining with a closing sub 28-second final 200m. Kisekka finished with a PR of 1:21.55.
Nestled among the lead pack the first half of the mile, Natick’s John Bianchi ran negative splits over the last 800m to claim his first individual title at the MOC with an indoor best of 4:11.83. Bianchi ran his final 400m in just 59 seconds to earn a nearly three-second win over Billerica’s Shane Leslie, who took second in 4:14.73.
“That was definitely the plan,” said Bianchi about holding back early in the race. “I learned that it’s kind of hard to win a mile if you’re leading the whole race. I kind of just tried to stay relaxed and stay patient the first half of the race. I took over and tried to make it go fast. I just wanted to get the win.”
Hopkinton’s Harry Millar had the best performance of his season to capture the 55m hurdles. In a race that was expected to be close, Millar won convincingly with a PR of 7.40.
The No. 3 seed BC High surprised the competition by taking the 4x200m. The quartet of Mikey Frost, Naol Adugna, Joaquin Barros and Isaiah Christian were timed in 1:29.91, the first sub 1:30 of the winter campaign, Newton North was second at 1:29.94.
In the throwing events, Oliver Ames’ Mitchell Callender won the shot (61 feet, 3 inches) and Nipmuc’s Dash Correia (58-2.75) took first in the weight throw. Catholic Memorial’s Amar Skeete defended his title in the long jump with a leap of 23-1.25. Seven in the field cleared 6-4 in the high jump with Braintree’s Brendan McGeough winning the title in a jump-off.
(Above photos courtesy of Byron Flagg)
