It’s Preview Time!
With the outdoor track & field season licking off, it’s time to spotlight the top athletes who could dominate this spring. We’ve based our projections on performances from the 2025 outdoor season, results from this past winter campaign, and some inside knowldege.
Here we feature the girls’ sprinting events, which include the 100-meter dash, 200m, and 400m.
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100m
Expect to see a lot of familiar faces among the leaders in this event. Of the eight athletes who occupied the podium at last year’s Meet of Champions, seven return, including the top three. The kicker is that this trio also produced the fastest times this past indoor season in the 55-meter dash – Sharon’s Nina Kyei-Aboagye, Methuen’s Lauren Quarm, and Tantasqua’s Keoni Savoie.
Defending champion Kyei-Aboagye gets the early nod as the favorite at the Meet of Champions. Don’t be surprised if she finishes the season with a new state record, too. In 2025, the Sharon standout capped her season by clocking a state-leading and personal-best 11.60 seconds in the prelims at New Balance Nationals. That performance moved her to No. 2 on the all-time list, just behind former Buckingham Browne & Nichols standout Samirah Moody’s state record of 11.48, set at the 2021 AAU Club Championships. There’s every reason to believe Kyei-Aboagye could challenge that mark this spring. She’s coming off a spectacular indoor campaign, highlighted by a state-record 6.83 in the 55m at the Meet of Champions. She also broke the state 60m record with a 7.43 in the prelims before finishing eighth in the final.
Quarm is coming off a strong winter season, where she ran a season-best 7.00 at the Northeast Invitational and successfully defended her title at the Division 1 Championships. She didn’t close out the season as planned, recording a DNF in the finals of the 55m at the MOC, which could provide added motivation this spring. The Methuen standout was one of four sprinters to break 12 seconds in the 100m last year, finishing second to Kyei-Aboagye’s 11.62 at the MOC with an impressive 11.73.
Savoie, who clocked a swift 7.04 in the 55m at the Colgate Women’s Games in early February, will be aiming to dip under 12 seconds this spring. She owns a personal best of 12.21 from the New England Championships.
There are several others who can’t be overlooked. Among them are Oliver Ames’ Lavender Kozaka, Natick’s Emmanuella Edozian, and Malden freshman Khadijah Diagne. Diagne enjoyed a breakout indoor season, highlighted by a third-place finish in the freshman 60m at New Balance Nationals, where she ran 7.64. She’s certainly capable of a low-12 performance – if not faster – in her first outdoor campaign.
200m
It’s Kyei-Aboagye once again in the half-lapper. She made it back-to-back titles with a victory at last year’s Meet of Champions where she blazed to a state record of 23.28. During the indoor season, she posted an all-time best of 38.33 to win the 300m crown, a mark that ranked second overall behind Diagne’s 38.25 at the Division 2 Championships.
Kyei-Aboagye, Diagne, and Natick’s Chloe Elder headline this event as the top contenders. Elder placed third at last year’s Meet of Champions, clocking a personal-best 24.45, and followed that up with a runner-up finish in the 300m this winter with a best of 38.67. It’s very possible we could see three athletes dip under 24 seconds this spring—with Kyei-Aboagye even threatening to break the 23-second barrier.
Other top runners include Savoie, Quarm, Reading’s Kamryn Encarnacao, and Framingham’s Ava Lombardo, all of whom have posted times in the low 25-second range and could factor into the finals.
400m
In the history of the state, only two runners have ever broken 54 seconds in this event – and both did it at last year’s Meet of Champions. Dennis-Yarmouth’s Breanna Braham and Natick’s Chloe Elder delivered a race for the ages at the season-ending meet, with Braham winning in a state-record 53.70 and Elder just strides behind in 53.73. Braham has since graduated, but Elder returns for one final campaign.
Based on returning athletes from the 2025 season, Elder holds nearly a four-second gap on the next-fastest competitor. While that margin is unlikely to hold this spring, she still earns the nod as the early-season favorite.
One major addition to the field is Malden’s Khadijah Diagne. The talented freshman clocked 56.03 in this event at last month’s New Balance Nationals – a time just off the 55.46 that Elder posted at the same meet.
Also returning from last year’s Meet of Champions are Blackstone Valley Regional’s Abigail Bilodeau (fourth), King Philip Regional’s Alex D’Amadio (fifth), and Uxbridge’s Kendall Gilmore, all of whom broke 58 seconds.
One intriguing question remains: will Newton North’s Peggy Blumenthal compete in her first outdoor season? The 600m state champion this past winter ran a personal-best 1:32.33 to place second at New Englands and posted a 400m best of 58.10 at New Balance Nationals. If she chooses to compete this spring, she certainly has the potential to drop a second or two and contend.
