The New Balance Nationals have arrived.
For four straight days beginning Thursday, The TRACK at New Balance will play host to The Fastest Party on the Planet. Few will argue, and some might add the furthest, highest and longest, too — though that doesn’t quite have the same ring.
But you get the picture.
As they always do, the nation’s finest track & field athletes will put on a show in Boston, and several Rhode Islanders are expected to do the same. Here’s what we consider the top events on Sunday.
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Mile Run
While we don’t expect either runner to contend for the podium, keep an eye on La Salle’s Alyssa Parenteau in the girls race and Barrington’s Brooks Mello in the boys race Sunday.
Parenteau appears to be chasing a sub-five-minute performance. The Rams junior certainly has the ability, as evident by a pair of 4:42 efforts to win the 1,500-meter run at the Class A Championships and the State Meet. Parenteau has already raced once this weekend – running a 2:18 anchor leg on La Salle’s 4×800-meter relay that finished 11th overall with a season-best 9:20.14. She’ll be well rested and ready for this one, and we expect she could dip under that milestone.
Mello has competed twice already this weekend, running a 1:58 leg on Barrington’s 4×800 squad that clocked a season-best 8:02,06 on Thursday. He followed that with an impressive 9:15.83 in the two mile Friday. Look for him to cap his strong weekend with a PR effort in the mile. His current best is 4:18.68 from the Beantown Winter Classic on Dec. 20.
Boys’ 4×400-Meter Relay
La Salle has already broken two state records this weekend with its third-place finish in the sprint medley relay (3:26.40) and its performance in the prelims of the 4×200 (1:27.27). The quartet of Eamon O’Brien, Antonio Bearden, Ibrahim Ghamrawi and Garrett Giroux-Pezzullo could add another state mark in this event.
The current record is 3:22.76, set by the Rams at the recent New England Championships.
Bishop Hendricken will also be in the race and should manufacture a strong performance. The Hawks own a season best of 3:27.36 from the Yale Track Classic in January.
Shot
One big throw could make a difference for North Kingstown’s Tayla Schneider.
Several top-ranked throwers in the national field are not competing this weekend. By the looks of it, a throw in the 45- to 46-foot range could be enough to make the podium.
That’s a range Schneider is just a few feet shy of with her current best of 43-6.75.
As we said, sometimes all it takes is one big throw.
