DCL Championships: Martin, Newton South roll while C-C packs it up for the win

MEET RESULTS 

Dual County League Conference Championship


Another year of racing at Franklin Park is gone, and the rain and cold at the Dual County League Conference Championship on Friday, Oct. 28 was a somber reminder that high school championship season is not going to grace the classic Massachusetts course for another four years.

Despite temperatures in the forties and rain that kept up all afternoon, MA #1 Claire Martin continued her remarkable season with yet another victory (18:45).

"I really only noticed the rain and cold at the beginning," Martin said. "Once I start running, I block my environment out. You heat up so quickly."


Martin and teammate Katherine Collins (2nd, 19:08) led Newton South to a commanding victory with 38 points, while runner-up Acton-Boxborough finished with 89 behind a 1-5 spread of just 27 seconds.

Concord-Carlisle junior Elina Laurent (4th, 19:20) stuck with Martin for the first mile, at which point Martin made her breakaway. Laurent, along with Collins and Wayland's Sarah Tully (3rd, 19:13), made up the chase pack for the second half of the race.

"I feel so honored," Martin said of her victory. "Last year, I was second to Ariel Keklak by two seconds, so it means so much to finally get the win. I'm so proud of our team. Seeing how the girls are finishing, we've hit our goal."

On the boys side, there was not a runaway victory in either the individual or team battles. After two years of domination by Cambridge Rindge & Latin, both titles were once again up for grabs.

A mile into the race, a pack of ten runners had gained some separation over the field. After passing over Bear Cage Hill, the leaders were down to two, Acton-Boxborough's Patrick Nero and Westford Academy's Jason Dolan. They would remain within a couple strides of each other all the way until the tape, when Nero edged Dolan for the win in 16:28.

"In something like a league championship, it really feels like the culmination of all these years of hard work," Nero said. "It's really important because these are all people that I race against all the time. It feels really good."


In the team race, Nero's Acton-Boxborough team would end up third in a tight competition for the victory. Placing four in the top 13 was good enough for a 66-point win by Concord-Carlisle. They ended up just five ahead of runner-up Lincoln-Sudbury and 11 ahead of Acton-Boxborough.


One final impressive performance of the day came in the freshman 3K, when Wayland's McKenna Kelemanik destroyed the field by an entire minute in 12:29.


Event 4  Boys 5k Run CC Varsity
==================================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Avg 1K     Finals  Points
==================================================================================
  1 #339 Nero, Patrick        12 Acton-Boxborough          3:18      16:28    1   
  2 #628 Dolan, Jason         11 Westford Academy          3:18      16:29    2   
  3 #496 Ensley, James        10 Lincoln-Sudbury           3:21      16:42    3   
  4 #456 McClure, Timothy     11 Concord-Carlisle          3:21      16:44    4   
  5 #448 Kessler, Zander      11 Concord-Carlisle          3:21      16:45    5   
  6 #678 Morris, Tyler        10 Weston                    3:22      16:49    6   
  7 #511 Lustig, Max          12 Lincoln-Sudbury           3:23      16:53    7   
  8 #634 Goldberg, Zachary    12 Westford Academy          3:24      16:56    8   
  9 #609 Macklin, Graham      12 Wayland                   3:25      17:02    9   
 10 #328 Grip, Colin          12 Acton-Boxborough          3:25      17:03   10   


Event 2  Girls 5k Run CC Varsity
==================================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Avg 1K     Finals  Points
==================================================================================
  1 #231 Martin, Clare        12 Newton South              3:45      18:45    1   
  2 #212 Collins, Katherine   12 Newton South              3:50      19:08    2   
  3 #267 Tully, Sarah         12 Wayland                   3:51      19:13    3   
  4 #117 Laurent, Eline       11 Concord-Carlisle          3:52      19:20    4   
  5 #165 DeFreitas, Sophie    10 Lincoln-Sudbury           3:56      19:37    5   
  6 #202 Barry, Caroline      11 Newton South              3:56      19:40    6   
  7 #257 Pinzone, Taylor      12 Waltham                   3:58      19:48    7   
  8  #77 Jackson, Annie       09 Boston Latin School       3:58      19:48    8   
  9  #81 Pease, Katelyn       11 Boston Latin School       4:02      20:06    9   
 10 #306 Eglinton, Emma       12 Weston                    4:03      20:14   10