After racing a solo 1:21.08 over 600m while sick at a dual meet last week, Joe Luongo knew he was ready to roll.
The St. John's Prep senior broke a 13-year-old meet record at the MSTCA Elite Meet in racing 1:20.21 for the win and the third-fastest time in the country this year. Watch the race video here.
Even so, Luongo is looking for more. The defending New England Indoor Champion for 600m wants to break his personal record of 1:20.05 with a sub-1:20 clocking.
Luongo's run highlighted a day filled with national caliber middle distance performances as the MSTCA Elite Meet combined with the MSTCA Coaches Invitational for a marathon day at the track on Sunday, January 25. The Coaches Invitational was originally scheduled for Saturday, but severe weather forecasts pushed the open meet to Sunday.
Luongo's record-breaking run led two more athletes to top ten national times, as Rodney Agyare-May (Burncoat, MA) ran US #6 1:21.6 and Allen Vance (Amherst-Pelham, MA) raced US #8 1:21.69 for second and third places.
In the Girls 600m, Northeastern University signee Amy Piccolo (Ursuline, MA) ran 1:34.93 for the fifth-fastest time in the country this season. She won the event by nearly three seconds.
The 1ks for both genders were loaded with talent. Sophomore Gianna Mastrometteo (St. Peter Marian, MA) continued her assault on the event with a US #6 2:55.21, leading a total of seven girls to run 3:00-flat or faster. Fellow soph Clare Martin (Newton South, MA) finished runner-up with a US #14 2:57.38. On the boys side, P.J. Garmon (Billerica Memorial, MA) led John St. Hilaire (Methuen, MA), US #6 2:29.91 - US #9 2:30.4.
The 300m dash saw both the girls and boys winners clock US #12 times as Ashley Lewis (Boston Latin Academy, MA) went 39.90 and Kiambu Gall (Paul Robeson, NY) ran 34.78. Lewis' time is good for No. 3 All-Time in Massachusetts prep state history.
Kaley Richards (Lowell, MA) raced to US #4 11:02.68 for full Two Mile.
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