Weekend Preview: State Coaches Meets, Hartford, College Meets

There's a lot of track and field happening this weekend, so without further ado, here's a preview:

Mass State Coaches Meet (Boys: Wilmington HS; Girls: Plymouth South HS Saturday) - This is a great showcase meet, focusing on individual, rather than team competition. After a month of dual meets, you often see terrific performances at the State Coaches meet. I believe the Newton North girls are not attending. I would expect the boys to be out in force.


Hartford Public Meet (New Britain, CT, Saturday) - It was at this meet in 2004 that Chris Barnicle ran 8:50 for the 2M, defeating Victor Gras for the first time and leading five runners under 9:00. This year might not produce times quite that fast, but will once again feature a matchup of the best Mass. two-milers, including Ryan Collins, Keith Gill, Mark Amirault, and Robert Gibson. On the girls side, Newton North's Jess Barton is entered in the 2000m steeplechase.

Men's start lists (PDF)
Women's start lists (PDF)

Andover Invitational (Andover HS - Saturday) - This is a more team-oriented meet for teams that aren't keen on splitting up the boys and girls for separate trips to the State Coaches meets. I believe Newton South is attending the Andover meet.

NEIAAA (College) Championships (Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, all weekend) - Some of the NNHS alumni that we follow will be competing this weekend at the All-New England meet at Dartmouth, including Simone Weisman and Doug Brecher.

ECACs and other College Conference Championships (various, all weekend) - A number of conferences are having their championship meets this weekend. This includes the SEC championships, where Chris Barnicle is seeded fourth in the 5000m (to be run Sunday).