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Today, I continue to celebrate the racing and competition from the Mini Meet at BU. Naomi Cass, Bridgewater State, 3000M William Krebs, Hampshire College, flying in the men's 200M 3000 M, Ryan Gallagher (54) Brick Layers Union, Declan Neary (45) Battle Road TC, Cameron Smith (209) Tracksmith Boston Men's 1 mile run, Kevin McBirney (81) Bridgewater St., Edward Mulder (99) CPTC - Tracksmith Women's 3000 M run start, from left to right, Emma Ford (Unattached), Ariana Thiel-Hasjilambrinos (Brown Running Club), Hailey Desmarai (Franklin Pierce), Elise Casso (Unattached), Naomi Cass (Bridgewater St) Mixed 3000 M run, Matthew Voynovich (307) unattached, Dawson Romito (297) unattached, Derek Pittorino (46) Battle Road TC, Ariana Thiel-Hadjilambrinos, Brown Running Club Mixed 800M, Meghan McEleney (125) Groton-Dunstable, Jaxson Fox (30) Austin Prep All smiles for Stephen Vercollone (50) Battle Road TC, Mens 1 Mile run Mixed 3000M Jackson Goings (265) unattached, Kiran Green (315) Waltham Track Club, Anna Burt (38) Battle Road TC, Kevin Sheehan (210) Tracksmith Boston, Aaron Lyubansky (136) New Hampshire End of the men's 3000M, job well done (and a little post-race carnage) Mixed 3000m, David Zhou (Wilbraham-Monson) on the heels of Kiran Green (Waltham Track Club) Women's 800M, Ellie Jackson (170) Ponaganset finishing ahead of Lily Lyons, unattached Men's 3000M run, Jarred Bekkering (247) unattached, Denzel Usman (97) Club Northwest, Brendan Carter (121) GBTC, Mitchell Parent (83) Bridgewater St. Mixed 400M run - Niyarah Joseph, Cambridge Jets Women's 3000M - Emma Forde (228) unattached, Hailey Desmarais (109) Franklin Pierce Mixed 400M run - Antonio Bearden (246) unattached, Paxton Allen (174) Ponaganset Men's 800 run - battling for the top spot, Owen Tobias (200) Team Goggins, Brendan Carter (121) GBTC Men's 3000M - Harry Steinberg (49) Battle Road TC Women's 3000M - Elise Casso, unattached Mixed 3000M - guns sounds! Dani Ramos (131) University of New Hampshire, Meghan Duffy (225) unattached, Willa Hudson (8) Amherst Regional, Victoria Tenreiro (22) Austin Prep Men's 3000M - Hayden Green (199) Suffolk, Daniel Blackman (168) Old Goat Track Club, Charles Gardner (43) Battle Road TC Mixed 1 Mile run - Dominic Defuria (258) unattached, Trip Williams (311) unattached, Conor Licklider (167) NU Club Running Women's 1 Mile run, Mia Bratti, Choate Rosemary Women's 1 Mile run, Meredith Barber, unattached

Today, I was able to photo the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association (MSTCA) Winter Festival at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center. I will be able to link results from today's meet here later.

What a GREAT start to the season! In several events, the competition was won on the winner’s last attempt or second to last attempt. I look forward to a thrilling indoor season with so many timely and clutch performances in the season opener!   Men High Jump Carson Thomas of Franklin Pierce won the men’s high jump event, clearing 6’ 5.5”, a half inch below his personal best. Carson’s teammate, Antonio Adams cleared 6’ 3.5” to secur second place. UMass Lowell’s talented multi-event athlete Camren Allian also cleared 6’ 3.5” locking down third place on count backs.   Men Pole Vault Vincent VanMaaren of Williams tied his person best to win the competition, clearing 14’ 11”. University of Maine’s Thomas McCormack cleared a personal best of 14’ 5.25” to place second in the men’s pole vault.  Maxim Lussier , representing Merrimack College, vaulted 13’ 11.25” to place third in the event.   Men Long Jump The University of Maine has a strong jumping squad, sweeping the podium for the long jump and claiming the top two spots in the men’s triple jump. Conor Morin soared close to his personal best on his last jump, winning the men’s long jump competition with a jump of 22’ 8”. Billy Albertson , multi-event competition had a solid long jump opening competition, placing second with a leap of 22’ 7”. Billy’s teammate Will Rush had a good jumping day, placing third with a jump of 22’ 6.25”. Will also competed in the triple jump, placing second in that event.   Men Triple Jump University of Maine teammates grabbed the top two spots for the men’s triple jump. Conor Morin won the event with a hop, skip and jump of 46’ 3.5”. Conor’s teammate Will Rush jumped to 45’ 2.5” for second place. Enson Enoch , representing the aptly-named Bounce Squad, jumped to a personal best of 44’ 11.5” to secure third place.   Men Shot Put Zanthius Collins of Bridgewater St. began his season with a win, putting the shot 48’ 1.25” on his second to last attempt.  Second place went to Ian Camerato of UMass Lowell with a mark of 47’ 8”. Matthew Charpentier ’s put (Bates College) won third place with his mark of 46’ 6”   Men Weight Throw Daniel Blatman of Merrimack College had marks over sixteen meters and won the competition with a throw 55’ 6.25”. His throw was a personal best with the thirty-five-pound ball. Jared Ptaszek of Merrimack College did not waste the offseason. He threw an indoor personal best, 54’ 6.5”. Assumption College freshman Jayden Wilkins placed third with a throw of 52’ 3.75”, securing third place on his last throw.

The women's field events at the Early Bird Invite showcased personal records and strong early season performances. Apologies jumpers, vaulters and throwers: your intrepid photographer did a lousy job of capturing your action on Saturday. Hopefully I'll see some of you throwers at David Callum's Mini Meet at BU   Women's High Jump Macy Daigle won the women’s high jump event with a mark of 5’ 7”. Macy competes for the University of Rhode Island. Abigael Peterson of Boston, jumped near her indoor personal best, placed second, clearing the bar at 5’ 5”. UMass Lowell’s Avery Pitts also cleared 5’ 5”, placing third in the event on count backs.   Women's Pole Vault Emmy Gould cleared the highest bar of the competition to win the women’s pole vault competition with a mark of 11’ 5.75”. UMass Lowell’s Una Brice had an outstanding competition, setting a personal best of 10’ 11.75” to tie for second place with Zoe Li-Khan who also set an indoor personal best. Zoe competes for the MetroCobras Track Club.   Women's Long Jump Sonya Rybalko of the University of Maine started her season on the right foot with a winning competition jump on her last attempt of the day, posting 17’ 10.75”. Riley Paskow of Merrimack College placed second at 16’ 11.5”. Riley also set a personal best in the 200 meter race and ran a leg on the team’s 4x400. Riley’s teammate, Grace Bleyer placed third with a jump of 16’ 10”. Grace also competed in the 200 meters and triple jump.   Women's Triple Jump Lily MacDonald , University of Rhode Island, won the women’s triple jump on her final jump with a mark of 38’ 2”. UMass Lowell’s Alexandria Grasso placed second in the event with a strong showing at 37’ 6”. Erika Lawson from the University of Maine placed third with a solid effort of 36’ 7.5”  Women's Shot Put Joyce Nabagereka (UMass Lowell) won the women’s shot put competition with a near best of 40’ 7.75” on her final put of the competition. University of Maine’s Julia Bassi placed second with a personal best of 39’ 8.50”. Julia’s teammate, Rebeka Hunnewell-Dunphe placed third in the competion, posting a mark of 37’ 8”   Women’s Weight Cheyenne Figueroa from the University of Maine started the season with a winning throw of 61’ 0.75”. Bates College’s Carli Ciavarelli set a personal best with a final round throw of 54’ 6.75” for second place. Morgan Champi started the competition off right with a personal best on her first throw of 52’ 3.75” for third place.

Very good competition with good season opening times in the men's middle distance events posted at the Early Bird Invite at the TRACK at New Balance on Saturday. Men’s 800 The men’s 800m race was won by UMass Lowell’s Basit Iddriss in a time of 1:56.53 Not far behind Basit was Cole New, clocking in at 1:56.83. Williams College’s Charles Dybala posted the third fastest time of the meet with a showing of 1:56.84.   Men’s mile In the men’s mile, Bates college’s Andrew Mottur won the second heat and finished with the fastest overall time of the day, 4:18.69. Second place went to Andrew’s teammate, Nathaniel Aronson, with a time of 4:19.22. Williams College’s Keiyu Mamiya finished with the third fastest time of meet in 4:20.35.   Men 3000 M Run Boston College had a strong showing in the men’s 3,000 meters with Colin Shaver, finishing with the fastest time of the day (8:25.77) and his teammate Tommy Flynn finishing third (8:35.65.) Brendan Carter of the Greater Boston Track Club finished second (8:35.39)   Men 5000 M Run Teammates at the ready. Williams College’s Malcolm Oakes and Alex Kemp took the top two spots with time of 14:40.28 and 14:40.36. Matthew George secured the third spot with a good season opening time of 14:44.14.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to cover the Early Bird Invite hosted by the TRACK at New Balance. The sights and sounds of this indoor track meet were amazing! The following is a summary of the sprint events (tomorrow I will upload pics and clips from the middle distance events.) In the women's 60 meter final, Ryan Jennings outleaned Odette van Wyk in a time of 7.57, with Jayani Santos (University of Lowell) following closely behind in third place. Later in the meet, Ryan and Jayani ran closely again in the 200 meter race with Ryan edging out Jayani for the win. Cole Martin , University of Maine, won the men's 60 meters in an outstanding time of 6.90. Ara Kaya from UMass Lowell sprinted to second place in a time of 6.97, besting Joel Spaulding from Assumption. In the men's 200 meter race, the race was staged in multiple heats with the top time coming from separate heats. Josh Sewell of the University of Maine dipped under twenty two seconds, posting the fastest time of the day with 21.93 seconds. Truman Williams of Bates ran 22.01 in the 10th heat. Gordon College's Daniel Chewning set a school record, finishing in 22.08 for third place. Fast times so early in the season! The formula for 400 meters indoors - get out fast and hang on! The teammates from the University of Maine posted the top three fastest times of the day in the women's 400. Kelcie Horst dipped below fifty nine seconds with the fastest time of the day, 58.70. She ran a fairly even race with a 27 for the first 200m, followed by a 31.7 for the second 200. Catherine Primavera ran the second fastest time in 59.97 with Maddie Cur running just behind in 1:00.82. Those practices in Maine must be something else! In the 400 meters men's race, Andrew Card, of the University of Maine ran a very fast early season time of 48.08. Bates College's Truman Willams ran 48.53 to place second in the event, Conner Michaud from the University of Maine posting the third fastest time of the day, 48.75

On Saturday there were fast early season times in the women's middle distance events at the Early Bird Invite at the TRACK at New Balance. Women’s 800 Meters The Cambridge Jets’ Serena Hooker began her indoor campaign with a solid effort in a winning time of 2:17.59. The University of Lowell’s Nia Mainer-Smith ran in second place with a time of 2:18.24. University of Rhode Island’s Lindsay Turgeon ran 2:18.27 for the third best time of the day.   Women’s One Mile Lily Yampolsky of Williams College ran just a little over five minutes, 5:00.71 to post the fastest time in the women’s 1 mile run. Boston College’s Kayla Schramm ran 5:02.06 to place second for the day. Gabriella Bachiochi of Boston College posted the third fastest time of the day with 5:05.22.   Women’s 3000 Meters Jamie Cicciu of the Battle Road track club ran 9:35.83 to win the women’s 3,000 meter race. Williams College’s Kate Tuttle ran 9:51.43 for second place. Bentley’s Caitlin Burmester ran the third fastest time of the day, posting a time of 10:06.38.   Women’s 5000 Meters Jessice Donohue sped to the fastest time of the day in the women’s 5,000 meters,17:21.14. In second place, Williams College’s Kate Swann ran 17:25.35. Kate's Williams' teammate Morgan Eigel ran the third fastest time of the day in 17:35.25.

Highland Park in Attleboro MA Another splendid day for cross country on Sunday. We had sun all day with a slight breeze and temperatures in the low 60's. The course is great for spectators (and photographers) with the course loops intersecting in several places, ideal for viewing and capturing the runners. Steve Vaitones at USATF-NE writes a good summary of the USATF New England Cross Country championships

Additional pictures from Friday's NCAA Northeast Regionals women's championship

World Athletics announced the latest "game changer" event in track and field. It does appear that the World Athletics "Ultimate Championships" will have a little field with their track and field. One of my favorite events (as a spectator and photographer) will be set aside: steeple for men and women. Everyone I know loves the water jump. It seems that the discuss and shot put will not be contested. But pole vault and the hammer throw are in. Mixed 4x100 relay is an event? I reserve my right to make dropped baton jokes later... World champions sometimes can be motivated by slights and disrespect. The story of Julius Yego, 2015 world champion in the javelin, is a familiar one: the national team denies the athlete admission to the international event because officials do not think the athlete can medal. That story should sound familiar to anyone that follows UK athletics. More on Julius Yego's story here. Forbes magazine has complete coverage of the NCAA cross country championships but complete coverage appears to be Division I coverage? Harvard's Graham Blanks gets some press. Citius magazine also has coverage of this weekend's championship event with race analysis. FloTrack shows some Division III love here and here .

Madison Wisconsin BYU rules the day with team wins in the women's 6K and the men's 10K at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The powerful women's team from Providence College finished the team competition in third place. They were led by senior Kimberley May , who finished just behind her (9), in tenth place. The women's teams from Harvard and Boston College finished 28th and 29th, respectively. (Note, I watched the competition on ESPN-U and the channel suffered from video technical difficulties at the end of the race.) Harvard's Graham Blanks (Senior) won the men's 10K competition, successfully defending his title from last year. The Crimson men finished 27th in the overall men's team event. NCAA individual and team results

Headed into the indoor track season, we take a quick look backwards at the top New England US Women's Shot Put marks and competitors. For the 2024 indoor season, the top NE women's shot put performances were separated by less than three feet. 50' 5.5"    Kendra Ezeama (Brown)-  01/20/2024 at the URI Invitational            Kendra had the 112th longest throw indoors in the US 50' 4.75"   Martina Mkwantah (UMASS Lowell) -   03/03/2024 at the ECAC/IC4A Indoor Championships,  Martina had the 113th longest throw indoors in the US 49' 7"   Alexis Boykin  (MIT) - 02/23/2024 at the NE DIII Indoor Championships              Alexis had the 133rd longest throw indoors in the US 48' 8.75"  Kasey Thomas (Bryant) - 02/19/2024 at the America east indoor championships, Kasey had the 161st longest throw indoors in the US 47' 11.25"   Juliana Nakouzi  (BU)- 01/20/2024 at the BU Battle in Beantown                Juliana had the 203rd longest throw indoors in the US Chase Jackson notched the top overall US performance at the USATF Indoor Championships with a put of 65' 8.25".