Meet of Champions: Boy’s Preview

Top Boys Events to Watch

Boys 800m

We’ve had this one marked since Newburyport’s Michael Mohoric dropped a 4:05 at the BSR Elite Mile. Of course, the natural question became, what can he do over 800m? He didn’t disappoint at the Division 4 Championships running 1:51.99. What makes this race special is he’ll be going against 800m specialist Harry Flint of Brookline. Flint has no doubt had this race circled since finishing third last year and just dropped a PR and state #1 1:51.59. Both runners are undefeated over the two-lap race. The meet record set last year by Flint’s teammate is in jeopardy. But how fast could they go? Flint made his sub 1:50 aspirations known indoors. With both getting after it and pushing each other over the last 100, this could be the race. Can anyone go with them? Three runners, Xaverian’s Jack Weintraub, North Andover’s Aiden Siwicki, and Amherst-Pelham’s Nicolas Lisle, have run 1:53. Thursday will be a great day to PR.

Shot Put

During the Indoor Season, Oliver Ames Mitchell Callender and Hopedale’s Ari Levine separated themselves from the field, both throwing over 62 feet. Then Cohasset’s Nicholas Askjaer showed up to New Balance Nationals with a massive throw of 65’5” to finish second overall. He competed Indoors unattached, but on Saturday he’ll represent Cohasset in what could be the best event of the day. Askjaer and Callender have thrown in the 62-foot range all season, but don’t count out Levine. He’s thrown 62 feet before and it’s his Senior year. Askjaer leads the Dicus field as well.

Long Jump

Catholic Memorial’s Amar Skeete has been king of the Jumps for a while now, but that changed at the Middlesex League Championships. Wakefield’s JaMauri Belmer launched an incredible 24’11” to tie the state record, while Lexington’s Simon Tandeih jumped 24’9.5” for second. Skeete has a best of 24’3”. All three are capable of walking away with the win, but will need to be at their best. While Tandeih and Belmer may have the best overall marks, Skeete has been jumping in the 23–24-foot range for a while and may hold the advantage. Skeete is also the State Record Holder in the triple jump and will look to defend his title from last season.

400m Hurdles

Abington’s Aidan Calcano Da Silva already broke the state record over the 400 Hurdles, set just last year by Westford Academy’s Ryan Kyle. His current mark of 52.32 is seventh in the country. The Abington Junior will have a lot on his plate as he’ll race the 110 Hurdles as well as run the 4x400m alongside twin brother Nathan. However, with the 400m Hurdles Thursday night, he’ll have plenty of time to recover. Expect him to challenge his own mark and move up the national rankings. Milton’s Jonah Stephens Roye, only a sophomore, is the #2 seed at 54.36, followed by Central Catholic’s Jeremiah Mateo Mora at 54.60.

4x100m

The boys from Saint John’s Prep have already broken the mark they set last year with their 41.53 from last week’s Division 1 Championships. (They also broke it at D1 Relays.) However, what makes the 4×100 so exciting is the perfection needed to execute. No doubt the Eagles have spent hours practicing their handoffs. Still, you find yourself forgetting to breath at each exchange. Newton North will look to challenge them. They ran a superb 4x200m indoors and were second last week.

200m

Reading’s Ryan Pulpi leads the state in the 100m, 200m, and 400m, but we’re going to focus on the 200. After running an incredible 21.11 at the Division 3 Championships, we must ask, can he break 21? A rare feat in Massachusetts, and one that would cement Pulpi has one of the best to ever to do it in MA. The state record stands at 20.93 from Mike Morris in 1981. South Hadley Great Jonas Clarke did it back in 2022, running 20.98. Silver Lake’s Jeffrey Smith came agonizingly close back in 2006, running 21.01 at the All-State Meet for a still standing meet record. Can Pulpi join them?

4x800m

While the 4x400m will no doubt be fantastic, we’re highlighting the 4x800m because it’s more difficult to predict. At this point we don’t know who will be running fresh, which will be a big factor. A fresh Brookline squad could be capable of running well under 7:50. Xaverian has the fastest time this season at 7:54.36, and with most of their athletes competing Thursday or running fresh, they’ll have a great opportunity to better that. Newton North has emerged as another top contender running 7:55.44 and should be in a similar position to Xaverian. Boston College High School is another team to watch out for. They ran 7:58 back at the D1 Relays, and most of their legs are only running Thursday. Natick, Billerica, and Concord-Carlisle, can run well under eight minutes as well but have a few athletes competing in the Mile earlier that day.

Mile

While Michael Mohoric is the odds-on favorite here, this race could offer the most intrigue in terms of tactics. Perhaps in an ideal world, Mohoric takes it from the gun and pulls the field along to massive PRS. And maybe he will do that. He may decide to chase a PR, or meet record, and take it from the gun. What happens then? Natick’s John Bianchi has been chasing sub 4:10 for a while now. Last year he took the race out in around 3:06, with eventual race winner Altamo Aschkenasy running 4:08. That same race also saw Billerica’s Shane Leslie run a huge PR of 4:12. Brookline’s Theodore Butty has the fastest time of those three this season, with his 4:12 from the BSR Meet. All will have their eye on the clock and hope to see a four followed by a zero when they cross the line. However, if it goes out slow, who knows what happens. Given his 1:51 speed, it’s still hard to bet against Mohoric, but that will leave the door open for a lot of runners. Watch out for Billerica’s Mason Niles, who ran 4:17 at this meet last year as a freshman. After missing the end of the XC season and most of Indoors, he’s been steadily building back.