Hockomock League: Mansfield Takes Both Titles !

                   

 

WRENTHAM - Mononucleosis sidelined Mike Duggan for all but three meets so far this season, but the Mansfield senior showed he is back at full strength at yesterday's Hockomock League Cross Country Championships on the sun-splashed Wrentham Developmental Center layout.

Duggan, who was a strong 15th in last fall's Div. 1 All-State race, was never challenged as his lead grew from 40 yards at the mile to more than 100 yards at 2 miles. With no one near him to do battle with, Duggan cruised across the finish line of the 3.1-mile course in a swift 16 minutes, 7.6 seconds. The race was a runaway as Duggan finished more than 40 seconds ahead of runner-up Connor Donovan of Oliver Ames (16:49.53).

Mansfield owned the league once again with Duggan's win, Julie Romano capturing the girls' title and both boys' and girls' teams copping wins.

Duggan, who was fifth in last year's meet, was taken off guard shortly after the gun when North Attleboro's Teddy Nolan (eighth, 17:10.82) didn't challenge him at the front. "I thought he was going to be with me the whole time, but I felt pretty good on the first downhill so I picked it up," said Duggan. "I could see the other runners right across from me on the finger loops. I was able to figure out how much of a lead I had. My coach didn't want me to go all out. She just wanted me to get a feel for racing again. I was really tired from leading. If I was running behind someone I think I could have gone ten seconds faster."

Mansfield dominated the team competition with its five scoring runners finishing in the top 20. Tyler Rizotti was third behind Donovan in 16:55.46 and Andrew Simons finished sixth in 17:03.36 as the Hornets put up a lean 41 points. Oliver Ames was second with 70 points to edge out North Attleboro's 72 points.

Romano found herself in the lead at 2-1/2 miles when Foxboro's Liz Holmes, the league champion in 2012, was forced to drop out with breathing problems. Romano, who missed qualifying for the Div. 1 All-State championships last year by just one place, cruised home in 19:37.17 to lead the Hornets to the team title with 47 points. Canton's Catherine Song was a distant second to Romano in 20:13 and North Attleboro's Ann Roberts clocked a 20:29.69 for third.

Romano was surprised to see Holmes struggling and then collapsing. "I saw her on the ground," she said. "She was probably about 200 meters ahead of me. I felt really good at the beginning and then I realized I had enough left that I could win. I feel a lot more confident going into the class meet."