Romano Tops Field at Catholic Memorial Invite

                

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 On a perfect sun-splashed Indian Summer morning, it seemed almost poetic that Mansfield's Dan Romano wrestled away the lead for good on the leaf-covered trails of the tranquil Wilderness.

Racing for the first time on the 3.1-mile Franklin Park course at yesterday's 54th Annual Catholic Memorial Invitational, Romano jockeyed for the lead with Methuen's Jeff Reddy and Marcelo Rocha of Peabody through a 4:56opening. The elite threesome was still within yards of each other as they went through 2 miles in 10:21 in the varsity race.

Romano, who was 12th in the Div. 1 All-State race last November in Gardner, began to put distance between himself and the two challengers with a surge a half-mile later. Romano never faltered as he crossed the finish line a tick under 16 minutes in 15:59. Reddy was just five seconds back in 16:04 and Rocha clocked a 16:15 to lock down third place. Anthony Rodriguez of Lowell was fourth in 16:27 and Methuen's Matt Marchand clinched fifth place, also running 16:27.

The Pinkerton Academy squad made the trip from New Hampshire and dominated the team competition with 65 points. Methuen edged out Peabody for second with 79 points.

Romano needed just one surge to put the race away for good. "I took it and just went with it," he said. "It's winding (in the Wilderness), but you really have the adrenaline going. That really helps."

Romano was glad to have Reddy and Rocha to duel with up front. "I had a few guys to run with," he said. "It's a nice course. I jogged it once a couple of weeks ago, but it's my first time racing here. There's a lot of history."

Rocha, who was also racing on the course for the first time, liked the layout's rural nature. "I like the course," he said. "It's cool how it went through the woods. Not many courses are like that now."

Ipswich's Emily DeMarco held a three-second lead over Tiffany Simione at 2 miles and extended it from there to win easily in 19:27 in the girls' varsity event. Simione was 14 seconds back in 19:41 while Tia Patterson of Lynnfield took third in 20:06. Central Catholic's Avery Hayes was a second back for fourth in 20:27 and Lauren Barrett of Peabody ran 20:35 for fifth.

Central Catholic had three harriers in the top 10 to easily take the team competition with 46 points in front of Haverhill (74) and Nashua North (90).

DeMarco, who is undefeated in the Cape Ann League this fall and prepping for next week's league championship race, had no intention of taking an early lead. She ran with a pack of 12 through a 6:08 first mile. By 2 miles (12:29) DeMarco was forcing the pace with Simione just three seconds back. She was home free and alone in the lead on the final Playstead loop.

DeMarco plans to run more aggressively over the quirky course come state meet time. "I think I'll push it harder after the first mile," she said. "I feel like it will be faster at the state meet with so many really good girls. My coach told me (today) to take it out with the pack the first two miles and to stay comfortable and go the last mile. I just executed it. I really like this course. (Bear Cage) hill wasn't bad. I've run worse hills.

"The pace felt really slow. It was comfortable and I really wanted to go faster, but my coach just wanted me to preview the course in this meet."

Shannon Kelley of Archbishop Williams was 10 seconds clear of the freshman field at the mile (6:08) and lengthened her lead on the 1.9-mile course for a convincing win in 12:22. Central Catholic took the next three places as Katie Dankert (13:13), Kathryn Montgomery (13:18) and Ally Jerrett (13:21) ran together in the chase pack. Lowell's Olivia Seffield was fifth in 13:41.

Kelley's original plan was to run with the pack for the first mile and then forge ahead. The pace, though, was slower than than she expected so she went to the front and was never challenged the rest of the way.

"I started off wanting to run with the pack, but then I just wanted to get ahead," said Kelley. "My coach told me at a mile and half that they were 25 seconds behind. I wanted to get into the top five (coming in). I was kind of suprised by the win. When I was coming down (Bear Cage) hill I knew I had it won."

Remember the name Tristan Shelgren going forward. The Saint John's Prep freshman has the makings of a dominant harrier after destroying the field in the boys' race. The smooth-running rookie was alone and looking comfortable through a swift 5:02 opening mile and went on to clock a quick 10:13 for the win. Shelgren's time was a whopping 22 seconds in front of Lowell's Chris Galarzo (10:35). BC High's David Nagle was a strong third in10:42 and Lowell showed its presence in the top 10 with Matin Mangai (fourth, 11:00) and Nasir Gibson (fifth, 11:01) running smart races. Lowell had an impressive five harriers in the top 10.

Shelgren went out hard, but controlled and had ran strongly over the second half of the shortened layout. "I wanted to push it on the second lap," he said. "The hill wasn't too bad because we practice on a lot of hills. We run Mohawk Hill (in Danvers) and I wanted to push on the hills because I knew it would be hard for the other runners.

"I really got pushed in middle school so I decided that I would train over the summer. I started off low (mileage) and worked myself up. I did an eight or 10 miler for a long run on Sundays. I was running around 50 miles by the end of the summer."