East Coast Invitational Recap

Top-level performances were plentiful at the East Coast Invitational this weekend.

MIchael Browning of Rham (CT) jumped to No. 9 in the country in the shot put. Browning had a more than three-foot personal best with a meet record of 59 feet, 6.5 inches. In the girls' shot, Amanda Howe of Southington (CT) cracked 40 feet with a first-place toss of 41-4.75. Seekonk's Cameron Garabian was second at 39-3.5.

Two of the country's finest weight-throwers earned gold in their specialties. Ponaganset's Gianna Rao won the girls' title with a distance of 56-0.75. Lincoln's Garrett Doyle flirted with 70 feet once again with a heave of 69-1.5.

The featured mile races, which earned the winners a trip to the Junior Mile of the New Balance Grand Prix next month, were won by La Salle's Joseph dos Reis and Becca Durham of Milford (NH). Demonstrating his outstanding kick, the Rams' dos Reis blasted by teammate Max DiMuccio with 100 meter left to snare the title with a time of 4 minutes, 24.71 seconds. DiMuccio secured second at 4:26.24. Classical's Conor Murphy was third at 4:29.18.

Durham stayed among the lead pack in the early stages and took control before 600m and breezed to a dominating win, crossing the line in 5:07.10. Littleton's Sarah Roffman was second (5:09.58). Placing third was La Salle's Grace Connolly (5:10.28). Dunham also won the two mile, finishing at 11:00.16.

Central's  Gus Karweh matched his season best in the high jump by tying a meet record with a leap of 6-6. Kalli'anna Botelho of Griswold (CT) took the girls' high jump with a height of 5-4.

The girls' 400m dash featured three girls under a minute. Winning the individual title was Jillian Mars of Bloomfield (CT) with a time of 58.06. Fellow CT rival Jada Boyd of Hillhouse was second in 59.28. Medway's Ava Vasile was third in 59.87. Marcus Manson of Windsor (CT) broke the tape in the boys' 400m with a time of 50.84. He was followed across the line by Hillhouse's Manasseh Bekele (51.04).

Greater New Bedford's Dejury Amado came out on top in a fast 55m dash. Amado clocked a PB of 6.44 to move to No. 3 in the state. Oakmont Regional's John Caouette, another Bay Stater, was second at 6.47.

Last week's Dartmouth Relays' champion, Nikolas Reygadas of Toll Gate looked strong in capturing the 800m. After passing the opening 400m in just over a minute, Reygadas broke from the pack a posted negative splits the remainder of the way, finishing with a time of 1:59.72.

During Friday night's competition, Bishop Hendricken (8:19.97) and Barrington (9:51.52) won the 4x800m relays.