EMass Division I Meet Preview

As I'm sure everyone knows, Saturday is the day of the Western Mass, Central Mass, and Eastern Mass Divisional Meets, also known as the "Class Meets." The EMass Division I meet (or "Class A" meet) will be held at Cawley Stadium in Lowell. The filed evens get underway at 9:30, and the running events start at 10:00 with the Girls 2-Mile. The schedule of running events is:

TWO MILE RUN
800 METER RUN
300 METER HURDLES
400 METER RUN
100 METER DASH TRIALS
100 METER HURDLES TRIALS
110 METER HURDLES TRIALS
200 METER DASH TRIALS
ONE MILE RUN
100 METER DASH SEMI FINALS IF NECESSARY
110 METER HIGH HURDLES SEMI FINAL IF NECESSARY
100 METER HURDLES SEMI FINAL IF NECESSARY
200 METER DASH FINALS
100 METER DASH FINALS
100 METER HURDLES FINAL
110 METER HIGH HURDLES FINAL
4x800 METER RELAY
4x100 METER RELAY
4x400 METER RELAY

The complete info can be found here.

The Division I Performance Lists contain a few surprises:

For the girls, the biggest shocker is that Carolyn Ranti, owner of one of the fastest girls' 800 times in the state this year is not entered in the 800, but in the mile, where she will have to contend with Bridget Dahlberg, among others.

Jess Barton is in the 2M, where she will be the favorite in Div I. In Central Mass, Emily Jones is entered in the 2M, so the odds are in favor of a rematch of the tremendous duel between the two runners earlier this month at the Weston Invite.

Emma Kornetsky and Kat Chiong are both entered in the 400, but it will be interesting to see whether they run, given that they are both valuable for either or both of North's 4x400 and 4x800 relays.

The girls 4x800 team should be very strong. With a likely line-up of Ranti, Kornetsky, Chiong, and Barton, the team could run sub 9:30.

Hester Breen is seeded first in the Discus, where North has four competitors.

For the boys, there are no real surprises. Avery Mitchell is seeded third in the 400m, where he will get a rematch with L-S's Nick Colontuono and Lexington's Meikle Paschal. Cailean Robinson is seeded third in the 100m. Gordon Forbes will be running the 110 hurdles, where he is seeded fifth.

David Smith is seeded first in both the shot put and discus, with Marvin Chan seeded fourth in the shot.

Seb Putzys will have his hands full in the mile, which is the deepest event on the track. Seb will be facing no fewer than THREE all-state title holders at the 1M distance (Mark Amirault - 2006 indoor, Kevin Gill - 2006 outdoor, Robert Gibson - 2007 indoor).

The boys 4x100 team is seeded first based on their meet record 43.09 at the State Coaches meet.

Unfortunately, I will be out of town for the Class meet, so I am hoping that EVERYONE from North qualifies for the state meet, so I can see them compete one more time before the season ends.