Nick Carleo walked through the finish chute, his face serene, the only sign that he had exerted himself was the beads of sweat that collected on his forehead. With just two or possibly three races left on the schedule this fall, it's inevitable that the Newburyport speedster will have to go all out in at least one of them.
That next gear is what separates Carleo from the rest of the elite cross country runners in Massachusetts
Carleo turned in another controlled masterpiece in the Div. 5 race at Saturday's EMass Cross Country Championships in perfect conditions on the 3.1-mile Wrentham Developmental Center layout. Carleo raced out through a4:38 opening mile and the race was essentially over. The defending Div. 2 All-State champion glided across the finish line in a swift time of 15 minutes, 36.9 seconds to make it two straight in Div. 5. Alex Demeule of Pentucket was a distant second in 16:20.3 while Seekonk's Nick Accardi clinched third in 16:27.8.
Carleo was out very quick and was able to relax after taking the lead for good just 800 meters into the race.
"I was just cruising waiting for next week," said a remarkably fresh Carleo. "I wanted the team to do well. I want to see how fast I can run next week and at Foot Locker. Some kid took it out in 2:14 for the first 800. We were flying. He died off and I just cruised. I want to go more aggressively next week. I almost feel like if I don't feel great I'll just settle and wait for Foot Locker."
Hamilton-Wenham's No. 5 scoring runner edged out Newburyport's to give the Generals the team title with 72 points. Newburyport put up the same score while Seekonk took third with 91 points.
Xaverian's Lucas Taxter was out to run hard and wound up with the fastest time of the day. Big, strong and smart, Taxter set the pace in a loaded Div. 1 race and crossed the finish line in 15:23.5. Peabody sophomore standout Marcelo Rocha had the best kick down the homestretch to capture the silver medal with a quick 15:35.9, in front of Jeff Reddy of Methuen (15:36.8) and Lexington's Benjamin Jacobson (15:41.1).
Taxter decided a strong start would save himself from possibly getting boxed in with a cluster of runners.
"I didn't want bunched with that pack because I didn't want to worry about getting pinned in on the turns," said Taxter. "I just took it from the start. It was hard. I'm pretty confident about next week after today. It was a perfect day to run."
The team competition was fierce as defending Div. 1 state champion Lowell put up 80 points to edge Cambridge (81 points) and Methuen (85 points).
The Div. 2 race featured a loaded field as well with four runners dipping under 16 minutes. Chelmsford's Quinn Cooney came out on top in 15:37.2 in front of Billerica's PJ Garmon (15:49.1). Mike Duggan, who led Mansfield to the team title with 79 points, had a big race to take third in 15:52.9. Wellesley's Tom D'Anieri was fourth in 15:57.2.
A pack of 15 runners went through the first mile in a somewhat conservative 5:00 and it whittled down to a two-man race shortly after.
"With about a mile left PJ took off," said Cooney. "I was lucky to stay with him. With about 800 to go I took off hard and didn't look back. This means a lot. This was one of my big goals for the year. I really want to run well at all states. I ran pretty poorly here last year so it was pretty sweet to win. I've put a lot of miles in and I'm a lot stronger than last year."
Austin Scola of Medfield outdueled Tewksbury's Mike Famiglietti of Tewksbury to win the Div. 4 race in a quick 15:43.2, just in front of Famiglietti's 15:46.3. Marblehead Andrew Ernst was third in 15:51.6 and Everest Crawford of Gloucester checked in at 15:58.9. Ernst led his crew to the team title with 63 points in front of Gloucester (97 points) and Melrose (108 points).
Reading's Mike Dynan was just shy of dipping under 16 minutes with his impressive 16:00.7 victory in Div. 3. Hingham's Michael Durkin took second in 16:08.3 and Jacob Zuch of Winchester was third in 16:13.6. Walpole ran away with the team title with 88 points, well ahead of Concord-Carlise (126 points) and North Attleboro (132 points).
Adam Petti of West Bridgewater was successful in defending his Div. 6 title, taking the crown in 16:09.8. Scott McCluskey of Coyle Cassidy was second in 16:26 and Nicolas Passarelli of Innovation Charter surged across the finish line in third with his 16:41.7. Manchester Essex's boys matched the girls' performance by winning the team title with 43 points.
"Last year I did something similar where I stayed with them and pulled away the last mile," said Petti. "I knew he (McCluskey) was a lot better than last year and would be closer to me. I waited a little longer to pull away and start actually getting a lead on him. I knew that he could stay with me distance-wise so I had to start picking it up to pull away from him."
Petti didn't make the mistake of going out too fast the opening mile. "The mile was about 5:06 and it was pretty comfortable," said Petti. "I've done a couple of races this year where I went out in 4:55 and that made me tired the entire race. Today I went out a little easier so I could keep it going later in the race."
