Boys Preview: NNHS vs. Brookline on 12/14

It seems a shame that the first meet of the indoor season pits two of the top teams in the Bay State League. It's also noteworthy that Brookline and Newton North finished first and second, respectively in the All-State championships last winter, separated by a few hundredths of a second in the 4x400 relay.

Newton North hasn't lost an indoor dual meet for a long, long time, and they will be tough to beat again this year. Their strength figures to be the sprints and shot put. In the 55m dash, they have the top two returners from last year -- Cailean Robinson and Gordon Forbes. Robinson set a school record 6.51 in the semi-final of the NE championships last winter, and went on to finish 2nd in the finals. This duo should place 1-2. Brookline's Michael Bennett ran 6.91 last year, but I wouldn't be surprised if North comes up with a third good sprinter. I'll call this one 8-1 for Newton. In the 55 hurdles, North will miss Brendan Rooney and Nick van Niel, but Ryan McCarthy returns and unless Brookline has an up-and-coming star, I'll give him the win. 5-4 Newton.

I would expect North to use Avery Mitchell in the 300, where he should dominate. I don't know who else will run for North. Brookline has no outstanding returners, so I'll call this 6-3 for Newton. In the 600, the situation is reversed with All-State champion Matt Stewart poised to dominate for Brookline. I'll hazard a guess that Jared Plotkin will run for Newton, and be good enough to take second. Score it 6-3 Brookline.

In the distances, Brookline has tremendous depth, and North will have to claw for points. In the 1000, I'm guessing Brookline will run Chris Mercurio (who will win), and North will counter with Peter Sun (who will take second) and Rojay Wagner. 6-3 Brookline. In the mile, look for Robert Gibson to win easily over Seb Putzys, with Brookline's Eliot Lehane in 3rd. 6-3 Brookline. In the 2-mile, Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot and Mike Burnstein will take 1-2 easily, with North's Jared Forman and Charles Krasnow battling for third. 8-1 Brookline.

So according to that analysis, the runing events (minus the relay) go to Brookline 34-29.

The field events, and particularly the shot put, will be huge (no pun intended) for Newton, as they have the dominant thrower in the State in David Smith, plus several returners, including Marvin Chan. I'll give North a 9-0 sweep in the shot put. The high jump is always a guessing game, with neither team having a great jumper. Assuming Gordon Forbes wins, I'm guessing Brookline will come up with someone to take second and third. But really, it's anyone's guess. I'll say 5-4 Newton.

Adding it all up, that would make it 43 Newton 38 Brookline, with the five points from the relay to decide whether North wins again, or Brookline earns a 43-43 tie. What a scene that would be!

Anyway, it seems to me that the keys to the meet are the HJ (because of the big potential swing, plus it comes early in the meet), the 55 hurdles, Newton taking care of busines in the SP, and Brookline taking care of business in the distances. And the relay of course.

Now, I've based this all on last year's returners. If someone from either team wants to fill in the gaps with inside information (fast newcomers, overlooked underclassmen, injured stars), please leave a comment.