New England Championships Girls' Preview


Some of our finest athletes from the upper east coast will be at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center this Saturday for the New England Championships. We have already featured the best of the best for the boys.  Now we take a look at the girls. Who are the top athletes to look for this weekend?

It's anybody's guess who will win this weekend. Every event appears to be loaded with no clear-cut favorite to earn individual gold.

Meet record-holder and two-time Massachusetts' 55-meter state champion Brooke-Lynn Williams of Norton will be seriously challenged for the first time this season inside her home venue. The race appears to be a match-up between Williams and Cassidy Palmer of Bloomfield. Palmer, a multiple state champion, owns the fastest time this season among New England athletes with her best of 6.99, which she did to win her State Open On Feb. 20. Williams goes into the meet with a season-best of 7.0. But the Norton standout is certainly capable of going faster if pushed. She established the meet record in 2016 with a career best of 6.87. This is one of those races that could come down to a lean at the line.

In the 300m dash, Oakmont sophomore Alyssa Madden earned the top seed after winning the MIAA All-State Meet last week with an all-time best of 39.56. Madden is the only runner in the field that has cracked 40 seconds this winter. She will certainly have some company as there are a number of sprinters that are knocking on the door of a sub-40. Connecticut's Aisha Gay of Hamden (40.27), Medway's Ava Vasile (40.30) and Connecticut's Caroline O'Neil of Hand (40.35) all were just a few strides from hitting that mark. O"Neil did it twice last year, including winning the Yale Track Classic with a PB of 39.76 last year.

The runner to keep an eye on in the 600m is New Hampshire state titlist Corinne Kennedy of Lebanon. The gifted senior is ranked No. 6 in the country with her best of 1:32.62 from the Armory Track Invitational on Feb. 3.  Massachusetts boast the next six seeds in the event with the 1-2 finishers from last week's All- State Meet, Woburn's Avery Leydon and Acton Boxborough's Samantha Friborg, appearing to be her biggest threats from the crown. Friborg owns the second best time in the field with winning 1:33.69 from the Division 1 meet a few weeks ago. Leydon did 1:34 flat to take the Division 2 title.


Two-time New Hampshire state champion Leya Salis of Bedford owns the No. 1 seed in the 1,000m with her 2:52.42 (US #12) winning effort from the Div. 1 State Meet a few weeks ago. She also captured the Dartmouth Relays back in January and was third in this race last year as a junior with an all-time best of 2:52.11. Salis's main competition will come from fellow state rival Kristie Schoffield of Merrimack Valley, who clocked 2:53.78 to win the Div. 2 state crown. You can't ignore Milton (MA) teammates Bridget Mitchell and Colette O'Leary, too. Competing in the unseeded heat, Mitchell won the All-State Meet last week with a solo 2:54.31 clocking. O'Leary took the seeded section and was second overall with a time of 2:55.81. MItchell and O'Leary are used to running together and familiar with their home digs at Reggie Lewis, two things they'll use to their advantage for a possible 1-2 finish this weekend.  Looking to finish near the top of the podium will be Emily Philippides of Greenwich (CT) who has run 2:53 or better four times this season with a New England best time of 2:50.75.

Look for a very tight race in the mile where you have several that have either broken five minutes or come close. Natick (MA) sophomore Grace Connolly is among the top seeds. She did a season best of 4:56.10 to place fourth in the Junior Mile of the New Balance Grand Prix in January. Last year as a ninth-grader she clocked 4:55 to take runner-up honors at the outdoor state meet. If the race is close the final 200m, she could be the one breaking the tape at the end. She's a gutsy competitor that doesn't like to lose, something she proved this past weekend at the All-State Meet where she captured the mile and two mile. Tewksbury's Rachel Sessa, who was second to Connolly is both her races, is certainly capable of making things happen for the eight-lapper.  She won the outdoor state meet last year in 4:53 and has done 4:57 this season with her victory at the Div. 4 Championships. The fastest in the field is Jacqueline Gaughan of Exeter (NH), who won the Junior Mile at New Balance with a 10-second PR of 4:52 on the same oval as this weekend's meet. Mia Nahom of New Milford (CT), Tia Tardy of Bar Harbor (ME), Nikki Merrill of Portsmouth (NH)and Randi Burr of Westerly (RI) are all runners capable of podium placements.

The two mile will be an interesting race as three of the top competitors - Connolly, Gaughan and Sessa - are also scheduled to compete in the mile. If the trio decides to double, the race could develop into one that has a sizable pack still in contention with a few laps remaining. Gaughan, a Foot Locker and New Balance National 5K All American, owns the top seed with her best of 10:31.27, which is converted from her 9:44.51 3K triumph (US #4) at her indoor state meet a few weeks ago. Freshman Caroline Fsicher of Bishop Guertin (NH) and  Grace Connolly of La Salle Academy (RI) - not to be confused with the Bay State's Connolly - Sessa and South Kingstown (RI) junior Ellie Lawler, are all sub 11-minute two-milers.  While Connecticut only runs 3200m, Wilton's State Open champion Morgan McCormick has run a time that converts to a sub 11 two miler as well.

The 55m hurdles could be an event dominated by Connecticut athletes, who enter the meet with the top four seeds. Bloomfield's Zaidra James owns the fastest time in the field. She has a best of 8.25, which she did to capture her first State Open title on Feb. 20. In what was a race separated by just .11, the next three finishers from that meet will also be competing this weekend - Simsbury's Vickie Milledge (8.26), Norwalk's Penda M'Bengue (8.27) and Danbury's Bridget Chiaravalle (8.33). Also in the field is Massachusetts' state champion Ava Vasile of Medway (8.44), Kristen Hohenstein of Chelmsford (8.56) and two-time R.I. titlist Tereza Bolibruch of North Kingstown (8.57). 


The high jump should create some excitement. Among some of the top competitors are last year's winner Nyago Bayak of Westbrook (ME), Zoe Dainton of Hingham (MA) and Julia Jordahl-Henry of Wellesley (MA). Dainton has the best height in the field with her 5-8 performance from the Div. 3 state meet. Bayak did 5-6 this season and captured her 2016 title with a PB of 5-7 and Jodahl-Henry has a best of 5-6.5. New Hampshire's Molly McCoole of Bedford and Sydney Lewis of Nashua South are also 5-6 leapers.  Add in Oxford's (CT) Kelly Ward who has a PR of 5'7 into the mix and you have the makings of a very good competition.

The long jump features an abundance of 17-plus footers, including No. 1 seed and defending champion Adja Sackor of Worcester Tech (MA), who had a region best of 19-2 this season from the East Coast Invitational in R.I. back in January. Sackor was fourth this Tuesday at the Eastern States Championship in New York where she did 18-8.75. She has an all-time best of 19-7.75 from 2016. Her top competition appears to be fellow rival Joanna Kennedy of Wellesley, who has a best of 18-1.

Two-time CT state indoor champion Brittany Jones of Bloomfield will be looking to win her first New England shot put title. She leads the field with her best of 45-8.25 from the CCC Championship. There's also Abbie Mokwuah of Longmeadow (MA) and Daija Misler of Hampden (ME), who has both tossed the shot more than 40 feet.  The top returner in the event, Samantha Stevens (CT) has also broken 40 ft four times this season and will be hoping to duplicate her effort from last year.

In the relay events, Bloomfield could threaten the meet record of 1:41.47, held by fellow rival Danbury in 2010. The Connecticut school has a best of 1:40.66 from the North Shore HS Pre-National Invitational last Saturday. Natick, Lowell and Marshfield are the next three seeds with times in the 1:45 range.  Danbury girls also just ran 1:44.35 at the North Shore meet which should put them in the mix as well even though they are seeded 7th.


Tewksbury (MA), Woburn (MA), Bloomfield (CT), Andover (MA),  Milton (MA) and Hopkinton (MA) have all run faster than 4:02 in the 4x400m relay.

It should be a close race in the 4x800m with Newton South (MA), Ridgfield (CT), Fairfield Ludlowe (CT), Glastonbury (CT) and Franklin (MA) all with times in the high 9:20 and low 9:30 range.  An interesting twist would be if Greenwich puts Philippides, a 2:13 800m runner into the line up and the Cardinals are able to improve on their 9:21 time they ran at the Yale Invitational.