Must-watch events at this Saturday's Semifinals.
With only 8 finalists in the laned races, the margin of error is quite small for the qualifiers in those events. Even with 12 making the final in other events, the competition should be terrific so here are the events that are must-watch.
Boys 400 relay
The first event that really stands out to me is the boys 400 meter relay race. Archbishop Mitty is the class of the field as the only team to dip under the 42-second mark but after them is a whole slew of teams all with dreams of racing under the lights the following Friday. 15 teams dipped under the 44-second mark at their league meet which means the timer should have a tall task in separating some of the close finishes.
Boys Distance Races
With the emergence of the St. Francis cross country team in the fall, the distance depth in this section has gone up significantly. In the boys' 1600, you have the defending champion Alex Scales of Bellarmine. You also have Jorge Estrella of Andrew Hill who finished in 6th place at last year's state meet. Add impressive Carlmont senior Ryan Wilson and perhaps the top 9th, 10th and 11th graders in the section, Colin Peattie Bellarmine, Juan Pablo Garcia St. Francis and Colton Colonna St. Francis respectively.
In the 800, you have the top three finishers from last year's section meet back in Alex Scales, Jason Gomez and Ryan Wilson. They finished in 2nd, 4th, and 9th respectively at the state meet. While they will be favored to contend again, a couple of other runners should also be considered like Euan Cairns (1:55.91), Trevor Paulbitski (1:56.36), and Reed Foster (1:54.09).
Last year's semifinal 3200 race was run under warm temperatures which eased the at-large mark for this year. This enabled several runners to qualify for this meet but surpassing the softer mark. That said, this race will be quite competitive with the top two finishers, Robert Miranda and Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau back to clash once again for the section title. They will have plenty of competition with five (yes FIVE) St. Francis runners (Eric Eng, Shyam Kumar, Naren Karur, Colton Colonna and Juan Pablo Garcia). Along with the St. Francis team, don't forget Henry Saul, Owen MacKenzie, and Jorge Estrella.
Girls 800
The team battle for the girls appears to be between Silver Creek and Santa Cruz. The best 800 meter runner in the section is Santa Cruz senior, Mari Friedman. She has qualified for the state meet for three straight years while winning the last two section titles. Friedman will be favored to win her 3rd section title in this event but it appears that she might be attempting a challenging quadruple with 1600, 800, 3200 and 1600 relay. She will still be favored to win the 800 but the chase for the last two state qualifying spots should be quite exciting. Among the candidates will be Isabelle Cairns (2:13.01), Charlotte Tomkinson (2:13.19), Maya McCabe (2:13.61), Erin Moss (2:14.29), Anaya Ward (2:14.59) and Kyra Pretre (2:14.85).
Girls Triple Jump
When it comes to field events in this section, the best trio that we will send to the state meet will be in the girls' triple jump. At this moment, Silver Creek senior Arianna Fisher (Nhat V. Meyer photo) holds the top mark in the state at 42'9". Leigh's Hawa Kamara is ranked 3rd at 41'8.25" while Fisher's teammate, Jazlynn Shearer, is ranked 9th at 40'6". It's very possible all three jumpers could all surpass the 40-foot mark at the trials which is something that may not have happened at our section meet before. I will have to do some research on this.
If there are other events that you think should be included as well in our must-watch list, please comment below in the section below.