The Newton North boys compete against Milton on Thursday in a battle of unbeaten teams and Bay State divisional champions. Milton had a great meet last Thursday, knocking off Wellesley to clinch the 2007 Herget title. Can Milton end Newton North's nine-year win streak in indoor dual meets?
The two teams are very evenly matched. Milton has Eric Wornum, the fastest runner in the league, who is likely to win both the 55 and 300. North dominates the shot put, and has depth in all events. I think the meet will be won or lost in the battles for 2nd and 3rd places, and of course, it could very well come down to the relay.
Here's a preview of each event along the way:
1M: Seb Putzys is running extremely well and will be the favorite to win the mile. The only Milton runner who has a time within 10 seconds of Seb is Kevin Manning, but he will most likely stay in the 1000m. Instead, Milton will probably run Stephen Connors in the mile to try to nail down 2nd place. If Greg Cohan or Alex Ribner can come through to take 2nd it would be a huge swing in favor of North, but it would be a long shot. My projection: 6-3 Newton.
1000m: Assuming he runs this event, Kevin Manning is the favorite over Peter Sun, but the battle for 3rd will be significant. Matt Gornstein has had two great races in a row, and has excellent finishing speed. He'll most likely be battling Aaron Nemzer for the last scoring place. My projection: 5-4 Milton.
600m: Alex Lee ran a PR last week and looked very strong. Nothing is certain in the 600, but he is the favorite over Milton's Shane Setalsingh. Once again, the battle for third will be fierce, with four runners having PRs within a second of each other. My projection: 6-3 Newton.
300m: Wornum is the clear favorite in one of the best races of the day. Newton North's Avery Mitchell is also very strong and could conceivably pull off an upset. However, Mitchell must make sure to get second ahead of a hard-charging Paul Connor. My projection: 6-3 Milton.
55 dash: Wornum again. He has the fastest time in the league and is the favorite to win, although Gordon Forbes can't be counted out. If North doesn't get the victory, they'll be looking for Forbes and Hymlaire Lamisere to take 2nd and 3rd. The race for the last spots will be very close, though, decided by a lean. My projection: 5-4 Milton.
55 hurdles: One of the most important events of the meet. Milton's Chris Moore is the clear favorite, having run 8.33 last week. AJ Nelson had a great race last week and is a definite threat to take 2nd ahead of North's Ryan McCarthy. Will Hui is also in the hunt, as he went under 9.00 last week. If McCarthy can take second it will be a huge gain for North. My projection: 8-1 Milton.
2M: Milton's Ryan Connors owns a 10:31 from last week, and if he can duplicate or improve on that it will be tough for Alex Gurvitz and Ben Chebot to catch him. Still, Gurvitz and Chebot are great competitors and will make a race of it. My projection: 5-4 Milton.
SP: On paper, this is the most one-sided event of the meet, as Milton hasn't had a shot putter over 38 feet and North has three who have thrown 44. They all have to get off legal throws, though. My projection: 9-0 Newton.
HJ: Along with the hurdles, the high jump is a huge swing event. The favorite has to be Milton's Marcus Kohlman who has been clearing 5-11 consistently. Eric Wornum has cleared 5-7, giving Milton a good 1-2 punch. But Newton's Sam Arsenault is capable of jumping 6-1 on a good day. If he wins, it bolsters North's chances considerably. David Smith will also jump for Newton. Could he possibly take 3rd? My projection: 6-3 Milton.
And that brings us to the relay with the score at 41-40 Milton. I'm not going to make any predictions about the outcome of that race, but I will predict that if the result of the meet hinges on the relay, the entire building will be ROCKING.
Good luck to both schools, and may the best team win!
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5 comments:
Jon, have you heard anything about Collins?? He was supposed to be back from his broken foot issue in late January and Jan. 31st is about as late as you can get. If he's in sometype of decent shape maybe it'll influence the points in the 55. Will he be racing?? Also, although Reggie Lewis SHOULD be "rocking" at such circumstances, it has a tendency to quiet down instead since it is the last event and many fans/athletes/teams leave before then unfortunately. Norths had quite a few meets where the meet came down to the relay and the crowd was smaller than ever before...then again, maybe this time people will stay like they ought to and the place will in fact be ROCKING!!
You mean Cailean Robinson? I haven't heard whether he is back or not, but it's hard to imagine he could be fit enough to challenge Wornum who is running really well. But maybe it would affect a third place in the 55 or even 300. It's all speculation on my part, though, since I don't know whether he's even running.
As for the crowd noise, I was there last week when the Milton-Wellesley meet came down to the relay, and the Milton team was going absolutely nuts. They have great team spirit and I have to believe that they will raise the rafters!
If it comes to the raly, Milton cant hold NN's jocks, so that meet will be over. Milton had better get it done early to have a shot.
If it comes to the raly, Milton cant hold NN's jocks, so that meet will be over. Milton had better get it done early to have a shot.
Sheesh...and some of my readers think *I'm* cocky...
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