By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
The 37th Annual New England Indoor Track & Field Championships have arrived and will take place at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center in Boston this Saturday with the first events to begin at 1 pm with doors opening at noon for spectators. Let’s check out some of the top CT athletes who just might be competing for a medal.
First of all it must be noted that the order of events is different at New Englands than each state championship for the six states that send athletes. Massachusetts runs their relays at the end of the meet and their athletes might be fresher in the 4x200m and 4x800m that are held at the beginning of the program. Also at New Englands, the 55m and 55m hurdles are held on the infield before the events on the oval take place so that may allow the athletes in those events to not run the 4x200m before like they do here in CT. Take out the sprint medley relay and several CT 4x400m should become stronger. Also, Rhode Island allows athletes to compete in four events, so the races are often more tactical since many of the top athletes may not lay it on the line to run their best times; instead their focus might be on team points. This is a long way of saying, there should be plenty of surprises and more than any other meet anything can happen on Saturday.
Girls 55 dash
Lauren Kropo tried to do the impossible on Saturday. Not only did she show off her incredible range by competing in the 55m, 300m and 600m, she also tried to win the 55m final with only 19 minutes of recovery after winning the 600m. That was a tall order against any field, but one that includes defending State Open champion Samiya Eady of Manchester makes it even more of a challenge. The Naugatuck junior ended up third in that race but when you consider the New Englands run the 55m prelims and finals before the start of the oval races, that should give her a chance to run even faster than her 7.07 season best. Winning might be an entirely different story. As long as she shows up healthy on Saturday, Lisa Raye of West Warwick, RI is the overwhelming favorite. At the Millrose Games on Feb. 8, Raye set the current national 60-meter record with a sizzling 7.13. En route to her victory, she passed through the 55m in 6.63, also a national record. For the solo 55m, her best is 6.77. The only other person who has gone under 7 seconds is her older sister Xenia,…
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