2009 Indoor Div I Girls Preview

The Div I meet (Class A's) is this Saturday, starting at 2:30 PM at Reggie. Performance lists have been posted here:

Div I Performance Lists (Girls and Boys)

Projecting scores based solely on seeds (obviously not always accurate), here are the projected team scores for the top teams:

Newton South 61
Haverhill 50
Newton North 36
Lincoln-Sudbury 34
Andover 26

And then there are half dozen teams projected around 18 points. among them, Weymouth has significant upside in the hurdles and 600.

Looking beyond the seeds, Newton South still looks like the odds-on favorite to win the team title, with reliable scorers in at least seven events, including the 1M, 2M, and shot put, where Bridget Dahlberg, Kelsey Karys, and Nalis Mbianda are strong favorites.

Haverhill and Lincoln-Sudbury will put up a good fight, though. If everything breaks Haverhill's way, including strong performances in the 4x8 and 4x4 relays, they could certainly win. And i think Lincoln-Sudbury will score more than their projected 34 points, since Andrea Keklak should finish no worse than 2nd in the mile.

Newton North would be in a stronger position, but with Carolyn Ranti and Margo Gillis both entered in an insanely competitive 1000m, they will need some kind of good fortune to be in the top two teams. First of all, they'll need great performances from Michelle Kaufman in the hurdles and long jump, some difficult points in the high jump, and most importantly - Ranti and Gillis have to go no worse than 2-4 in the 1000, which will be very tough.

Andover could score big points in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays, but it doesn't look they have enough individual scorers to make a run at Newton South and Haverhill. We'll see.

In addition to the 1000, the 4x800 relay will be very strong, and the 55 hurdles is up for grabs with the top 6 runners seeded from 8.60 to 8.73.

Good luck to all competitors!