MSTCA Boys & Girls Invitational

Some photos from MSTCA 31 Jan. 09 1st day.
Click here for photos by Chris Brearley
Youtube video of Corey Thomas in HJ 7' - 0 1/2". Click here.
Youtube video of 2M boys Sunday Click here.
Youtube video of boys 600m 2nd heat Sunday Click here

Jon Gault wrote a great DCL preview of DCL runners in the MSTCA Sunday meet but it didn't arrive till today! Gmail messed up. I'm posting it anyway so we can see how his predictions were. For some reason he left out his name in the the 2 mile. Great run
3 479 Gault, Jonathan 12 Bedford 9:34.43
Hey Jon, how's that Bedford photo below?

predictions by Jon Gault:

Starting on the boys’ side:
55 Hurdles: NS senior Yong Cho is seeded 3rd in this event. He is a good bet to make the finals, and is a threat to win. To do that, though, he’ll have to catch defending state champion Corey Thomas of BC High.

1000m: NS senior Sasha Long is seeded 7th in a pretty strong field. Look for fast times, especially from Omar Abdi (defending state mile champ), Mike Masse (defending D1 1000 champ, with a PR of 2:31), and Joe Doyle (4th at this event at states last year). Doyle has yet to drop a really fast time this season, perhaps running at Reggie will allow him to do so.

1 mile: Arlington senior John Jantz is seeded 18th in the boys’ mile. Look for him to challenge in the wide open unseeded heat (seeds 12-24 are all within 5 seconds of each other).

2 mile: The DCL is well-represented here, with the 2nd, 6th, and 15th seeds. Look for a fast time from Arlington junior Antony Taylor, who is coming off a 4:25 mile and has yet to be challenged in the 2 mile. Expect Taylor to go well under his PR of 9:41 in a field that includes Footlocker finalist and state DII XC champ Mike Moverman as well as state D1 XC champ Ahmed Ali. AB senior Teddy Farley should challenge for the win in the unseeded heat.

4x200m relay: AB and Westford are seeded 10th and 12th respectively. The field is led by Andover, who has star sprinter Chris McConnell, the defending state champ in the 55m.

4x400m relay: Again, AB and Westford are both seeded closely in this event, at 3:33 and 3:35 respectively. St. John’s Prep leads the field at 3:27.

4x800m relay: NS is seeded 9th in this race, after a 3rd place finish at last year’s outdoor state meet. However, John Beck will be absent from this team due to injury, weakening NS’s chances. Westford is seeded 24th in this event also.

Long Jump: The DCL has four entries in this event, headlined by versatile NS junior Ross McDonald, last year’s outdoor state champ in the pole vault. Westford seniors Chris Fowler and Sam Grad and Weston junior Jonathan Dieujuste are also entered in the field.

High Jump: LS senior Sam Weust is the only DCL entrant, seeded 11th at 6’2”. As in the 55 Hurdles, watch out for BC High’s Corey Thomas, seeded 1st (by 4 inches) at 6’11”. Will he be able to break 7’0”?

Girls:
55m: NS junior Ezra Banks and Boston Latin junior Olivia Grant are both seeded at 7.54, giving each of them a good shot at the finals. Weston junior Alley Wheaton is also entered in the event.

55 Hurdles: Westford senior Cassandra Ryding is seeded third at 8.74. She won this event at DCL’s last year, and has a chance to do very well here.

300m: Boston Latin junior Meisha Brooks is seeded 11th. Arlington’s Rebecca Robinson is the only freshman in the field, and is seeded 19th at 43.37. She now has a chance to stack up against the best in the state on a big stage.

600m: LS senior Jessica Griffin is seeded 3rd at 1:38. She was 6th in this event at All-States last year, and with Meg Looney graduated, the event is up for grabs this year.

1000m: LS and NS boast two entries apiece in this event, led by NS’s Kathy O’Keefe, this year’s Freshman-Sophomore meet champ. LS senior Ellie Hylton, who is a sub-18:00 5k runner, Notre Dame senior Ellen Callahan, and NS senior Juliet Ryan-Davies are seeded 7-9 and are threats to win in a field in which the top 9 are separated by two seconds. LS sophomore Emily Rudder rounds out the DCL’s representatives.

1 mile: NS senior Kelsey Karys and LS sophomore Andrea Keklak are the DCL’s top representatives in a loaded girls’ 1 mile field that also includes Oliver Ames’ Jenna Davidner and Bromfield’s Emily Jones, a 3-time Footlocker finalist. Karys and Keklak have had many great races together, but the shorter event usually favors Keklak, who has more speed than Karys, this year’s DCL and NXN NE champ in XC. Melanie Fineman of NS, Claire Arthur of LS, and Amy Dao of AB are also entered in the event.

2 mile: Multiple state champ Bridget Dahlberg of NS leads a field that features 4 DCL runners among the top 8 seeds. A trio of LS runners, Holy Clarke, Rachael Potter, and Jen Gossels, are seeded 4th, 5th, and 8th, respectively. Look for Dahlberg for the win, and a time that could dip below 11 minutes.

4x200m relay: Westford, LS, Boston Latin, and Newton South all have teams entered in this race. Watch for Westford, seeded #1 to push for the win, as they return all four legs from a team that finished 6th at All-States last year.

4x400m relay: LS, Notre Dame, AB, and Westford are all entered in this event. LS are the defending state champions in this event, but they return only one leg (Jessica Griffin) from last year’s team.

4x800m relay: LS is seeded number 2 here behind a strong Weymouth team. They return all four legs from last year’s state runners-up team, though, so watch for a good race. Conspicuously absent is NS, last year’s state champ in this race.

Shot put: NS senior Nalis Mbianda is the lone DCL entry. She is seeded 3rd, but must watch out for defending state champ Emmaline Berg of Holliston, who is headed to throw at Dartmouth College next year.

High jump: LS senior Maggie Fleming is tied for the #1 seed in this event, and has a great shot to win. Also entered is Westford senior Ailish Hanly.