Worth the Price of Admission

Two years ago at the Weston Twilight meet, four state champions raced each other in a spectacular girls two-mile. After a quick, but relatively calm first mile, Emily Jones started dropping the hammer, running faster with each lap. Incredibly, even though Jones ran her last mile in under 5:10 and finished in 10:34.78, she was chased all the way to the line by Newton North's Jess Barton, who ran an astonishing 10:37.11, a 20-second PR. Bridget Dahlberg ran 10:52 -- her first time under 11:00 -- and finished a distant third. Colleen Wetherbee (11:08.02) and Rebekah McKay (11:08.42) finished 4th and 5th.

It was a wonderful race, perhaps the best of the season.

Last year at Weston, Jones and Dahlberg met again, this time at the mile, and Dahlberg outkicked Jones to take a one-second victory, 4:58.07 to 4:59.15. Canton's Alysse Rocco ran 5:04 for third.

In a few short years, Weston has had a knack for bringing together some of the top female distance runners in the state for memorable races. If the weather cooperates, this year could serve up another show-stopper, as the effervescent Dahlberg takes on a field that includes 13 girls who have run under 5:20, including teammates Kathy O'Keefe (5:04) and Melanie Fineman (5:08), L-S star Andrea Keklak (5:02), and new kid on the block, Newton North's Margo Gillis, who fears nothing.

On paper, it's an incredible line-up, one that might turn out to be as deep as the state finals later in the season. Moreover, with Gills in the field, it seems unlikely to be a purely tactical race. It should be worth the price of admission.

By focusing on the mile, I don't mean to demean the other events. The two-mile features Framingham's Camille Murphy, the 2009 indoor state champ in the 1000 and owner of a sub-11 2-mile this, Newton South's Kelsey Karys, who ran 10:58 indoors, and her teammate Madeleine Reed.

The men's two-mile field has 14 boys seeded faster than 10:00, including Newton North's Dan Hamilton and Mike Goldenberg.

And on and on...

Here's a link (PDF) to the meet schedule and meet records

WESTON TWILIGHT INVITATIONAL 2009, May 2, 2009
Order of Events (girls run first unless otherwise noted)

4:00 PM Pole Vault
4:30 PM Field Events

4:30 PM
Unseeded 2 Mile (heats as necessary)
Unseeded 1 Mile (heats as necessary)

6:00 PM
100 Meter Hurdle Trials (girls)
110 Meter Hurdle Trials (boys)
200 Meter Trials
100 Meter Trials

6:45 PM
1 Mile Run (seeded heat only)
400 Meter Run
800 Meter Run

7:30 PM
110 Meter Hurdle Final (boys)
100 Meter Hurdle Final (girls)
200 Meter Final
100 Meter Final
300 Meter Hurdle Final
2 Mile Run (seeded heat only)

8:30 PM
4 X 800 Meter Relay
4 X 100 Meter Relay
4 X 400 Meter Relay