Newton North vs. Weymouth Preview

Fresh off outstanding performances at the State Class A Relays on Saturday, the Newton North Tigers travel to Weymouth on Tuesday for what promises to be a very close, very competitive meet for both the girls and the boys.

Girls Preview

Like the Newton North girls, the Weymouth girls are undefeated so far in dual meets, and have strong performers in almost all events. They are one of the few teams (Wellesley and Natick come to mind as the others) that match up fairly well in the middle distance events, and they have excellent strength in the sprint and field events.

According to posted performances in the league to date, the Weymouth girls have the best shot putter (Michelle Bruce at 33') and best 4x400 relay team (4:19). Their 4x100 team beat Newton North by a half second at the State Relays, running 52.96, and they also placed with their 4x200 team. In other words, they have some good sprinters!

However, Newton North has really come into its own over the last week, and it's hard to see Weymouth amassing enough points to topple the Tigers, although anything can happen. in the sprints, Newton should stay even with Weymouth in the 100, 100H, 200, 300H, and 400. I'd give a slight edge to Newton for those events. In the middle distances, Ranti and Barton will win two of the events, and North will pick up some additional points with their depth, so they get a slight edge there as well. In the horizontal jumps, the discus, and the javelin, Newton looks stronger. I think Bruce will win the shot put, and Weymouth will take six points in the high jump.

The only area where Weymouth has an advantage is the relays, and that would be a huge swing to win both! Although Weymouth has the edge for the 4x100, I think Newton North will somehow find the runners to win the 4x400 (If they run Brown, Chiong, Ranti, Kornetsky, I think they post a time under 4:15).

It should be a barn burner!

Boys Preview

Another close meet. All I can say is that if James Endres could compete in seven events, I'd have to pick Weymouth! Unfortunately for the Wildcats, he is limited to four. I'll take a shot in the dark and say he wins the Long Jump, Javelin, and 300 hurdles, and scores somewhere else as well.

Newton looks good in the 100 (Robinson) 200 (Mitchell), 400 (Mitchell), and mile (Putzys). Newton should get some points in the 800 and 2 Mile, and take no worse than 2nd in the 110 hurdles, and 2nd and 3rd in the long hurdles. I think the two teams will split the relays, with Newton winning the 4x100 and Weymouth winning the 4x400.

On balance, I think Newton is stronger in the field events, as they showed against Brookline. Although Endres will win the LJ, Newton should limit the damage by taking 2nd and 3rd. Assuming he doesn't triple jump, Newton could go 1-2 there. The shot put belongs to Newton, and the discus is also a big strength for them. Endres will win the Jav, and Weymouth could win the high jump as well, although that's not a given.

Does Weymouth have a shot? Absolutely! It doesn't take much to swing the balance of a meet when you have good performers in most of the events. The meet gets underway at 5:00 in Weymouth and should be great!