Westford's Ryan Kyle clears the competition, shattering his own state record in 400 hurdles at Meet of Champions

Boston Globe

06-06-2025

Squaring off against the state's top competition at Fitchburg State, Kyle left the boys' 400 hurdles field in the dust a stunning time of 51.72 seconds, finishing nearly two full seconds ahead of runner-up Luke Lamar of Pembroke (53.43).
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Kyle's time shaved another half-second off his own state record, and obliterated the previous Meet of Champions mark (53.53) set by New Bedford's Aaron Araujo in 2010.
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'These last couple years, I've learned not to put limits on the times I can run or the achievements I can get,' Kyle said. 'Once I beat the state record at the league championships, I knew I could keep climbing. I don't know if I thought I'd beat that time by a second, but it definitely feels good to do so.'
Natick's Nolan Cloutier clears 12-feet, 6-inches in pole vault, finishing seventh.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
The other state record Thursday came from Sharon junior Nina Kyei-Aboagye, who blazed to victory in the 200 (23.28 seconds) to edge out runner-up Breanna Braham of Dennis-Yarmouth (23.63).
The two sprinters both smashed the meet record of 24.31, which had stood since 2019. Kyei-Aboagye's time marked a half-second personal best, and eclipsed the previous state record of 23.32 by four hundredths of a second.
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'Breanna always pushes me in every race, so I just knew what I had to do today,' Kyei-Aboagye said. 'It really helps to have someone else at that level, because you know where you have to be. You know she's going to be right there.'
Central Catholic's Arianna DiPietro clears the bar in the high jump prelims.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
The punishing heat presented a major challenge for all the athletes, but no event faced a harder task than the 2-mile.
Marblehead's Nate Assa knew the entire field would be weary of burning out due to the heat — and he planned to be aggressive early on.
Sure enough, the race's moderate early pace played right into Assa's hands. He took the lead in the opening half-mile and gave it up, outlasting the pack in an impressive 9:14.52.
'I knew everyone would be kind of sluggish because of the heat, so I was really hoping to go fast off the gun,' Assa said. 'Coming off the turn 300 meters in, the clock was at 62 [seconds]. So I knew we were going slow, so I took over, and I led the whole race till the finish.'
Fitchburg, MA- 6/5/25- Nicholas Begic of Lincoln-Sudbury, center, wins the 200-meter dash during the MIAA's Meet of Champions at Fitchburg State University on June 5, 2025. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
After securing a double-victory in the 400 and 400 hurdles at last year's outdoor Meet of Champions, North Reading senior Giuliana Ligor entered her final MIAA meet with high expectations.
But Ligor knew she could not enter the 400 hurdles overconfident, especially given the recent emergence of Weston junior Solana Varela — who lost to Ligor by just 0.3 seconds at last week's Division 5 meet.
Valera broke well and held an early advantage Thursday, but Ligor slammed the door around the final turn to win in 1:00.06, with Varela (1:02.13) placing second.
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'She's a very talented athlete,' Ligor said of Valera. 'I was excited to race her here, because I know her talent and level . . . it's been good to have a buddy to push me all season.'
North Reading's Giuliana Ligor of North Reading races to a win in the 400-meter hurdles.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Joseph Case's Ben Deady (left) and North Andover's Aidan McGarry have their sights set on the finish line.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Milton's Chase Nixon of Milton arcs over the high-jump bar.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Billerica's Nyrah Joseph competes in the high jump.
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Matty Wasserman can be reached at