Before some of our athletes move on to compete at one (or more) national competitions next month, several of our top runners, jumpers and shot-putters will be taking on the region’s best this Saturday at the 37th annual New England Interscholastic Indoor Championships, held at the Reggie Lewis Center. The weight-throwers will hold their competition on Wednesday at 4 p.m., at the PCTA field house in Providence, R.I.
The meet includes teams from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. As usual, the regional competition will feature the top six performers in each event from their respective state meets. Judging by what we witnessed this past Saturday at the MIAA Meet of Champions and results from the other competing states, be prepared for an intense competition this weekend when our region’s best converge under one roof.
Along with our sisters sites from New Hampshire (nh.staterunning.net), Connecticut (mysportsresults.com), and Rhode Island (ocean.staterunning.net),our State Running Team will be in full force at the New England’s this weekend with complete coverage, including a FREE Live Stream of the meet with several from our Team offering commentary throughout the broadcast.
Once the entries have been released, we’ll start pumping out our previews of the events. Massachusetts will have three returning champions. That trio includes Weston’s Ben Tavares in the 600-meter run, Brockton’s Lucas Andrade in the 55m hurdles and Wachusett in the girls’ 4x400m. Unlike last year when he was second at the MOC before striking it rich against New England’s finest, Tavares is fresh off a victory at the MOC where he was timed in 1:21.21. Andrade comes into the meet after breaking his 10-day-old state mark with a 7.29 best at the MOC, a race he finished just two hundredths of a second ahead of Lowell’s Khai Yin. Wachusett was third at this past weekend’s meet. In 2024, the Mountaineers went sub-4 with a winning time of 3:56.84.
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Our state’s top distance runners has been noticeably missing at Reggie Lewis this winter. Just like last year, Westford Academy’s Jack Graffeo, the Division 1 winner at the Meet of Champions and a bronze-medalist at the Foot Locker Nationals, did not compete in any MSTCA or MIAA events. Instead, he’s been focusing his attention on the postseason and the nationals.
Graffeo has raced in just two meets this season, both held over the last two weeks. The results of those competitions prove the Colorado commit is in peak shape to prosper next month.. This past Friday, Graffeo finished second overall in the 3,000m at the Circuit Boston where he was timed in a PR and US #5 of 8:13.24 at the TRACK at New Balance. A week earlier, he broke the state record for the 5,000m at BU’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational. Graffeo finished seventh overall in a nation-leading 14:06.49, erasing the nearly one-year-old mark of 14:14.57 by former WA teammate and current Stanford freshman Paul Bergeron from the New Balance Nationals.
