NN vs. Weymouth Girls Preview

It's funny to think that only a few years ago, the Weymouth girls were annual underdogs against Newton North. That all changed in January 2008, when the Wildcats dominated the sprint events on their way to a 56-30 deconstruction of the Tiger track machine.

The Weymouth girls repeated as Carey and BSL champs in '09, taking down NN along the way, 49-37. They look to be narrow favorites for this Thursday's match-up, too, but the two teams are pretty even. I don't remember a NN-Weymouth meet ever coming down to single digits, but I think this year it will.

So with the usual disclaimers that I have no idea what either of the teams are planning, and with apologies in advance if I inadvertently offend someone, here's what I will be looking for in this showdown meet...

Beginning with the distance events, Weymouth has the deeper team and should score more points in aggregate across the 1M, 1000, and 2M, but the deployment of runners will be a little tricky for them.

NN's best distance runner is Margo Gillis, and Weymouth's best is Jill Corcoran. Both runners have excellent range -- from 600 to 2M -- and both are likely to be needed for the 4x400 relay.

So who runs what? It seems to me that Weymouth's lineup will look something like this:

1M: Molly Barker, Julie Tevenan
1000: Jill Corcoran, Morgan Fitzgibbon
600: Bridget Jaklitsch
2M: Shayna Albanese, Andrea Hicks

Some major footnotes here: Corcoran could run anywhere, and might actually be more valuable in the mile or 600. Naturally, moving Corcoran would shift the rest of the lineup.

I think North's lineup will look something like this:

1M: Margo Gillis
1000: Maggie Heffernan
600: Ariana Tabatabaie, Meghan Bellerose
2M: Susannah Gleason, Sarah Perlo

Gillis has not run the mile much this year, but having her in the mile seems to optimally distribute North's talent across the races. The 1000 will be a pivotal race, and could feature a fierce battle for second.

With the above lineups, I think the points go this way (NN-Wey):

Mile: 5-4
1000: 1-8 (key event!)
600: 6-3
2M: 1-8

Total: 13-23

On to the other events:

300 - Carla Forbes should win, but Melissa Darling will give her a run for the money. I expect Steph Brown to run for North, but I'm not sure who will run for Weymouth. I think Emily Clark will be busy in the 55 and 55 hurdles. Madeline Manning? Anyway, I think this goes 6-3 to North.

55 Hurdles - This is one of North's strongest events, and I think Amy Ren and Kayla Wong will take 1-2. Third place is definitely in play. Clark has run 9.24 and anything can happen in the hurdles. I'll score this 8-1 NN.

55 Dash - Carla Forbes has the fastest time in the league this season, but Weymouth's Melissa Darling and Emily Clark look like they'll be able to take 2-3 ahead of Steph Brown and Kayla Wong. 5-4 NN.

High Jump - This might be North's strongest event, and while nothing is ever certain in the high jump, I think Emily Hutchinson, Amy Ren, and Lucia Grigoli have an excellent chance to sweep. 9-0 North

Shot put - Weymouth counters with the shot put, where Rachel Ivil and Emily Clark have throws over 30 feet this season. The NN shot putters have been coming on strong in recent weeks, but I think Weymouth's Brittany Brown will nail down 3rd place and the sweep for the Wildcats.

If my math is correct, that brings us to the relay with the score 41-40 in favor of North. The two relay teams are very evenly matched, and both schools have run 4:11 this season. I would be crazy to predict the outcome, but I will go out on a limb and say that for the first time in MY memory, the outcome of the meet will be determined by the final race.