Needham v NN v Walpole Today

The most interesting Bay State matchup today takes place in non-BSC territory Sharon, as Walpole hosts Needham and Newton North. The Needham girls are on a roll, having beaten Weymouth and Brookline in their last two meets. The Needham boys sloshed their way to victory over Weymouth and then lost narrowly (30-27) to Brookline at Larz Anderson park.

The Newton boys are 3-0, with a convincing win over Wellesley in the first meet of the year, followed two days later by a sweep of Braintree and Norwood. The Newton North girls lost to a very deep and talented Wellesley team in the opening meet, and then swept Braintree and Norwood.

Walpole has good boys and girls teams, but probably not good enough to be competitive in this meet.

In the boys race, Needham's Sam Miller takes on Seb Putzys. This is a terrific match-up, pitting the true harrier (Miller) against the track guy (Putzys). I happen to think that Seb will win, as he has made huge improvements over last year and knows how to win close races, but it will be a battle. After the top two, Newton has Dan Hamilton and Ben Chebot, and Needham counters with Kevin Potterton, Brett Riley, and Liam Gluck. I'll pick Hamilton for third, but after that, almost anything could happen. For fun, here's a prediction for the top eight finishers (excluding Walpole's Chris Lotsbom, who will be in there somewhere):

1. Putzyz (NN)
2. Miller (N)
3. Hamilton (NN)
4. Riley (N)
5. Potterton (N)
6. Gluck (N)
7. Chebot (NN)
8. Krasnow (NN)

That would be 17-18 Needham, with the fifth runner still to finish. might it be one of North's fab freshmen? It should be an exciting race.

On the girls side, both Newton and Needham have exceptional top runners in Carolyn Ranti and Emily Lipman, respectively. After that, Needham appears to have a strong 2-5, as shown by their win over Weymouth. Newton has a strong 2-4, but their fifth is a question mark at this point. The race might come down to whether North's 2-4 can outrun their Needham counterparts and build enough of a lead. Again, it should be a very close, very exciting race.

Other Bay State matchups to watch:

Brookline hosts Weymouth and Dedham today. Although the Brookline boys are not expecting to be tested by the Wildcats, the girls meet will be a real battle. Brookline has numbers this year, and although Weymouth's Kristin Mahoney is likely to win the race, Brookline hopes to score with depth.

Norwood hosts Framingham and Milton. I expect the Framingham girls to sweep, although the meet with Norwood will be close. I think the Norwood boys will take both meets.

finally, Braintree hosts Natick and Wellesley. Wellesley boys and girls should dominate both meets, although Braintree's Kyle Higgins is a good bet to win the boys race.