NBON: GIRLS EVENTS TO WATCH

GIRLS 2-MILE (Friday, 7:30 p.m.): Aisling Cuffe is planning to make history at the national championships again. Indoors, the Cornwall senior became the second high school girls in history to break 10 minutes. On Friday, she will attempt to become the first to break 10 minutes outdoors. The Stanford-bound star showed her strength Friday when she topped her own state record in the 3,000, when she won her second consecutive state title in 9:16.63. Cuffe ran the second-fastest 2-mile in U.S. history indoors at the NB Indoor Nationals in 9:56.85. The outdoor national 2-mile record is 10:01.08 held by former Notre Dame-Elmira star Molly Huddle.


GIRLS 4X800 (Friday, 9:30 p.m.): Bronxville is one of four teams in the country to break 9 minutes in the 4x800 relay this season. The Broncos will be a wildcard with sophomore Meredith Rizzo and freshman phenom Mary Cain, who can split 2:05 or better on the anchor. Bronxville is loaded with incredible talent and not much experience. Where the team lands on the medal stand will have much to do with much to do with freshmen Courtney Campbell and Emelia Hoffer. And yes, you read that right, Bronxville could win a national title with three freshman and a sophomore on the squad.


GIRLS 4X1 MILE (Saturday, 8 a.m.): There isn’t a team in the country that has two top flight milers quite like North Shore. The team features Samantha Nadel and Brianna Nerud, who are both capable to breaking 4:50. They have seen improvement in senior Emily Osman and sophomore Elizabeth Caldwell. North Shore will be aiming at the national record of 19:56.75 set by Suffern in 2006. But North Shore could nonetheless, become the third team in nation history to break 20 minutes.


GIRLS 2,000 STEEPLECHASE (Saturday, 11:55 p.m.): Ward Melville’s Mary Kate Anselmini already broke the national record two weeks ago and the senior has shown that she’s poised to do it again. Anselmini, who is headed to Stanford, is the defending national champ and claimed the national record in 6:33.01 at the Section 11 state qualifier. Then she clocked 6:33.14 to win her second state championship.  The national final will look a lot like the state final. Brianna Nerud of North Shore, who broke earlier Anselmini’s Long Island record when she ran 6:40.7, will have her rematch. The junior was second behind Anselmini at the state meet in a personal best 6:38.27.


GIRLS 400 (Saturday, 5:50 p.m.): Keep an eye on Sandrae Farquharson. The Medgar Evers junior has saved her best races for the end of the season. She has run a season-best in her last two races and posted a US #9 53.83 at the state meet. It will be her most competitive races since bursting on the scene this winter season after becoming a high school star in her native Jamaica.


GIRLS MILE (Saturday, 6:10 p.m.): All eyes will be on Bronxville freshman Mary Cain. The rising national star astonished everyone when she broke the national freshman 1,500-meter record Saturday in 4:17.84, the seventh-fastest performance in United States history. There’s nothing that doesn’t suggest that Cain can’t become the ninth high school girl to break 4:40 in nation history. Not to be forgotten, Harborfields junior Kelsey Margey will in the in race. She ran 4:23.82 at the state meet in the 1,500.


GIRLS DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY (Saturday, 6:45 p.m.): Fayettevile-Manilus (Stotan Racing) has owned the DMR this year.  The team showed up with little racing under their belts and snatched the indoor national title then ran 11:34.46 to win Penn Relays in April in the fifth-best performance in the nation all-time. The DMR puts New York’s distance dominance on full display with North Shore in the race, which clocked 11:36.10 at Penn. Anselimini-led Ward Melville will also be featured in the race, as well as Shenendehowa and Saratoga Springs, which always fields a competitive squad.


GIRLS 4X400: (Saturday, 7:10 p.m.): Here is an opportunity for Medgar Evers to complete its fantasy season by defending its indoor national championship. The Cougars, who clocked a US #4 3:42.60 to win the state championship Saturday, appear to be the favorites in the field Saturday.



Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisHuntArmory