Eastern Massachusetts Division 1 Boys
Let's begin with the boys' race. The last time that Tristan Shelgren and Andrew Mah faced each other was at the Frank Kelley Invitational where Shelgren posted a 24-second victory. As we expected, it was a closer affair this time around but the results were the same. Mah set the tone early in the race and held a few-second gap over Shelgren at the mile, which were told was passed in 4:40. The two are nearly side-by-side by the two-mile mark. Shelgren was able to make his move with less than a half-mile remaining to get the all-important win. He crossed the line with his season best of 15:14 with Mah coming across the line at a very respectful 15:21, the second fastest time of the day in all divisions! This race was loaded with four other harriers under 16 minutes, including Brookline's Lucas Aramburu (15:47.54), Newton North's Ian Horsbugh (15:49.52), Needham's Cameron McLeod (15:50.98) and Westford Academy's Jason Dolan (15:56.29).
It was business as usual for Lowell. Under first-year coach Scott Ouellet, the Red Raiders won their sixth consecutive team crown with a 66-101 victory over runner-up Newton North. Lexington was right behind in third with 102 points. Lowell demonstrated the effectiveness of pack mentality to the extreme with its top five scoring runners separated by just 15 seconds! Colin Fitzpatrick (eighth, 16:02.34) and Jadiel Pinales (tenth, 16:07.88) led the charge with top-10 finishes.