Two of the most dominant athletes of the indoor season have their eyes on new personal bests this spring.
Carver high jumper Cam Allain had an electrifying win at the Adidas Nationals when he soared to a personal best of 6 feet, 8 inches. With a national title in his back pocket, Allain now has his sights set on clearing 7-feet and he believes it is well within reach.
In the shot put, Jacob Cookinham of Bishop Stang had the best throw in the country and thoroughly dominated New England competition. Breaking the 70-foot barrier is high on Cookinham’s list of goals outdoors.
Cookinham is in a class by himself, but Allain could face some competition from Arlington’s Rowan McConkey, who had a breakthrough winter campaign after placing eighth in last June’s All-State meet. Zachary Traficante of North Andover, Stoughton’s Matt Singletary and Drew McStay could also be in the mix.
The 400 should be a loaded event once again with a field of sub 50-second athletes that include Austin Prep’s Tristan Miller, Quincy Scott of Newton North and Natanael Vigo Catala of Haverhill, Malden’s Johnny Emmanual and Nashoba’s Gabriel Merrow all returning.
Sean Golembiewski of Hopkinton looks like the clear favorite in the 110 hurdles while Newton North’s terrific sprinter Everton Muir could pull off a 100/200 double at All-States, but he’ll have to deal with Alex Arbogast of Tewksbury and Acton-Boxboro’s Alex Landry to do it.
The mile and 2-mile are always intriguing events and this season is no different. Defending 2-mile champion Nathan Lopez will have to fight off what is shaping up to be the best All-State field in years with the likes of Framingham’s Sam Burgess, Paul Bergeron of Westford Academy, Ryan Connolly of North Andover, Rithikh Prakash of Burlington, Concord-Carlisle’s Harrison Down and Ryan Sarney of Oliver Ames. Burgess is the lone 2-miler to break 9 minutes, which he had done three times, but All-States could have a handful of runners joining Burgess.
Indoor All-State champion Tyler Tubman of Newton North looks to be the favorite in the mile, but will face stiff competition in Lopez, Aidan Ross of Uxbridge and Camden Reiland of North Andover. The 800 will have plenty of talent with Duxbury’s Jake Boudreau, Zach MacLure of Lunenburg, Colin Kirn of Andover and Westford Academy’s Austin Desisto.
Noah Stegmeier of Acton-Boxboro will be tough to beat in defending his All-State title in the 400 hurdles. Jayden Bai of Lexington and Ipswich’s Keith Townsend look to be the two athletes who could challenge Stegmeier.
Nathan Shultz of North Attleboro seeks to add a gold medal in the All-State long jump to go with the one he captured during the winter. The top-five finishers of a year ago all graduated, but the field still includes Wellesley’s Tyler Yen, Nathan Donahue of Middleboro and Stoughton’s Alex Huynh.
The triple jump should come down to defending champion Stephon Patrick of St. John’s Prep and runner-up Bolu Sotonwa of Middleboro, while North Attleboro’s Mark Etienvre and Parker Charter’s Theo Puterbaugh are the top returnees in the discus.
A strong field that includes Mason Briggs of North Attleboro, North Reading’s Garrett Arden and Logan Miller of Apponequet will be zeroed in on defending champion Edward Webb of Wellesley in the javelin.