When it comes to top talent, you never quite know who will show up at the New England Championships. While the regional meet typically attracts many of the area’s best, several elite competitors, particularly in the distance events, sometimes opt to skip it in order to prepare for national meets two weeks later.
The 38th annual championship, set for Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center, will be minus some of the region’s biggest stars. But plenty of elite talent will still make the trip to Boston, using the meet as a final tune-up before taking on the nation’s best.
Here’s some of our boys’ events where our Ocean Staters have a good chance at winning or placing high on the podium.
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55-Meter Dash
As always, the finish-line camera could play a key role in determining the winner.
The favorite is Connecticut’s Shelldon Simpson of Windsor. Simpson has been unbeaten this season and owns a career best of 6.30 seconds, set at the recent CIAC State Open. He also claimed victories at last month’s Yale Track Classic and the East Coast Invitational.
Simpson will face a deep and talented field that includes four other sprinters seeded at 6.40 or faster. Among them are Barrington’s Patrick Trainor (6.37) and East Providence’s Jack Pawlik (6.40), the top two finishers at the RI State Meet.
Connecticut standouts Kiernan Boyle of Ridgefield (6.38) and Justus Richardson of West Haven (6.40) add even more firepower, setting up what could be a race decided by thousandths of a second.
The meet record of 6.33, set in 2017 by Mark Doyley of Weaver (CT). That nine-year-old mark could be a thing of past if the finals unfolds as expected.
300-Meter Dash
Here’s another sprint that could produce a thriller at the finish.
Once again, Simpson of Windsor is the top seed. The Connecticut standout broke the 34-second barrier this past weekend, blazing to a winning 33.90 at the CIAC State Open.
La Salle’s Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo holds the No. 2 seed after breaking a facility record at the PCTA fieldhouse, previously held by future Olympic gold-medalist Raj Benjamin with a triumphant 34.55 at the State Meet two weeks ago.
The next three seeds – Aaron Rich of Lyman Hall, CT (34.60), Stephen Ross of Con-Val, NH (34.73) and Nassyr Andrade of Cromwell, CT (34.74) – could also play a factor in the outcome.
Here’s the kicker – all five athletes recorded their times on flat tracks, not on a banked oval like Reggie Lewis. Prepare for a treat in this one. Simpson gets the favorite nod, but it’s not a sure thing with runners like Giroux-Pezzullo capable of pulling it off on Saturday.’
The 33.90 record, set two years ago by Windsor’s Maxim Copland, may not survive the weekend.
Mile
Don’t be surprised to see a sizable lead pack still in contention late in the race. The top six runners in this field have seeds between 4:19.06 and 4:22.92.
Brooks Mello of Barrington sits at No. 5 with a converted 4:22.90 from his runner-up finish in the 1,500m at the State Meet. The Eagles’ junior has run faster for the mile, owning a PR of 4:18.68 from his win at the Beantown Winter Classic on Dec. 20.
Mello’s state final ended in frustration after contact on the final turn sent him to the track and cost him a chance at the title. We’re expecting the Eagles’ junior to have fire in his eyes as he eyes a New England crown.
Maine’s Henri Rivard of Marshwood (4:19.06) and Ellis Wood of Deering (4:19.78) hold the top two seeds in this race. Connecticut has three more among the top six – Darien’s Andrew Sharron (4:22.39), Fitch’s Julien Silva (4:22.83) and Ridgefield’s Aidan Nelson (4:22.92).
If Mello emerges with the win, he’ll have plenty of company on the final straight away. This is a race without a clear-cut favorite.
Two Mile
We’re listing Sean Gray of Portsmouth as the favorite in what we believe will be a very competitive race among our top seeds. Gray holds the No. 1 spot with an adjusted time of 9:13.34 from his 3K at the State Meet, where he took runner-up honors in 8:32.35. He has run even faster, clocking an all-time best of 8:22.11 at the John Thomas Terrier Classic on Jan. 30. This race comes two weeks prior to the New Balance Nationals, where the Patriots standout will likely be aiming for a time in the low nine-minute range, possibly faster. Don’t be surprised if he shoots for something in that range this weekend, as he’ll have plenty of recovery time before Nationals.
Gray will more than likely face stiff competition from the New Hampshire tandem of Pinkerton’s Jason Robie and Bishop Guertin’s Ethan Fischer. Robie won the NHIAA Division 1 title a couple of weeks ago with a best of 8:34.55 and owns 4:20 mile speed. Fischer, a sophomore, was second to Robie at the Division 1 meet with a PR of 8:36.61. He also won the two mile at the MSTCA Boston Holiday Challenge, racing to a best of 9:21.17.
There’s plenty more in this race who could join the mix, including Connecticut’s Tycen LaBelle of Griswold (9:19.52), Hudson Schunk of Fairfield Warde (9:22.38), and Oxford’s Joseph Deluise (9:22.71), along with Massachusetts’ Landon Slaney of Oliver Ames (9:25.19), who always seems to deliver his best in meets like this.
As he often does, look for Gray to take control from the gun and try to gap the field by the time he hits the mile mark.
4×200-Meter Relay & 4×400-Meter Relay
We’re grouping these events together because both feature La Salle Academy, a squad with the potential to pull off the sweep. The Rams are seeded 10th in the 4x400m with a listed time of 3:28.78, but that mark is a bit deceiving. With the foursome of Eamon O’Brien, Antonio Bearden, Abraham Ghamrawi, and Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo, La Salle captured the title at the Nor’Easter at the Track on Jan. 10 with a season-best 3:23.39. That time would rank them as the No. 1 seed this weekend, 0.54 seconds ahead of Windsor (3:23.93). Other Connecticut entries – Framingham (3:24.53), Hamden (3:24.79), and Bloomfield (3:27.97) – should make this a very competitive race.
In the 4x200m, La Salle’s quartet of Jalen Moseley, Giroux-Pezzullo, Jackson Alves, and Antonio Bearden is among several teams in the 1:30–1:31 range. The Rams won the Boston Holiday Challenge with their current season-best of 1:30.38. East Providence is seeded ninth with its PR of 1:31.86, set during its runner-up finish to La Salle at the state meet.
Boys’ High Jump, Long Jump and 55-Meter Hurdles
We’re listing these events together because the includes La Salle’s Jalen Moseley, who capable a placing high, or even winning, in each of them. Moseley ranks No. 4 in the 55m hurdles (7.45), No. 2 in the high jump (6-8) and No. 2 in the long jump (24-2.75)
Above photo by Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack
