DIVISION 2
It certainly is exciting when you have a division that will be featuring three girls who can all be considered the best in the state. That's the case for D2 this fall, as Ariel Keklak, Margie Cullen, and Sarah Armstrong are all entering their senior year and will be looking to provide fireworks all season long. Not only will Cullen and Armstrong be pursuing individual honors, but they will also be trying to lead the Needham Rockets to a successful team title defense at Eastern State Champs and All-States.
TOP CONTENDERS:
Senior / Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
We really don't know if you'll be able to find a more talented runner in all of Massachusetts than Ariel Keklak of Lincoln-Sudbury.
In 2014 and the start of her junior year, Keklak was hot out of the gates and ready to put together an impressive fall campaign. We got our first taste of this at the Twilight Invitational when she handily won the D1 race in 18:06, recording the fastest time of the evening. A few weeks later, Ariel once again dominated the field in the D3 Eastern State race and won in a blazing 17:48. On that day, she wasn't just the only person to break 18:00, she also held the fastest time by over 14 seconds. Keklak was undoubtedly the favorite entering All-States last fall, but she met her match with Kayley Richards of Lowell. The two battled well over the Franklin Park 5K course and in the end, Richards pulled away with the win in 18:16--Keklak took 2nd in 18:18. This slight bump in the road didn't seem to affect Keklak too much, as week later she took 11th at Footlocker Northeast and unfortunately just missed qualifying for the national meet.
Keeping the fast times rolling, Keklak took to the oval this past indoor and outdoor seasons to really let the wheels spin. During the winter, one of Keklak's top performances came when she won the 1,000 at All-States in an extremely fast 2:51.1. Another great highlight of Ariel's indoor season was when she dropped a 2:12 800 at NB Indoor Nationals and recorded one of the fastest 800 times in Massachusetts running history. After a highly successful indoor season, there appeared to no letting up for Keklak as she entered the spring season. Her best racing certainly came at the biggest stages--her mile PR of 4:53 to win All-States and, a few weeks later, an even faster 4:49 race to take 2nd at NB Outdoor Nationals and earn All-American Honors.
After a tremendous junior year on the track and great performances last fall, Ariel Keklak will certainly be the #1 Girl in all of Massachusetts. She will have her eyes set on avenging her All-States loss and will also be looking to punch her ticket to either Footlocker or NXN.
Senior / Needham High School
Once again at the reigns of a very competitive Needham Rocket squad, Margie Cullen will be poised and ready to make the most of her senior year.
For a good stretch last fall, Margie Cullen was without Sarah Armstrong and was solely responsible for leading the team. Her finest moments came in early November when she took 3rd at Eastern State Champs and another 3rd place a week later at All-States. On both occasions, Cullen's strong individual finishes helped propel the Rockets to team victory at States and All-States.
Cullen definitely had a strong indoor season, as her top performance came when she won the All-State two-mile in a very big (9 second) PR time of 10:51. The Needham harrier really let it fly during the spring though, as she shattered her already respectable mile PR in addition to her two-mile PR. At the end of May, Margie took 3rd at States and broke the 5:00 barrier for the first time to clock in at 4:57. Still riding the PR train a week later, Cullen took to the track at All-States in the two-mile and won the race in a 10-second PR of 10:41.
Margie Cullen will begin her senior fall as the top returning two-miler in the state and will be hoping to make it the top cross country runner in the state by seasons end. We are very excited to see Cullen hit the trails and especially go up against rivals such as Ariel Keklak and Kayley Richards of Lowell.
Senior / Needham High School
Hoping to make a very strong 1 -- 2 punch for the ladies from Needham, Sarah Armstrong will be looking to join Cullen at the front of every race this fall.
Despite missing a few meets in the middle of last fall, Armstrong still showed she has what it takes to run with the top runners in the state. It was evident early on in the season when she won the competitive Amherst Invitational in 17:57. But we didn't get to see Armstrong again until she toed the line at Eastern State Champs in early November. Though she had been sidelined for a bit, Sarah still put up a great performance of 18:29 and took 4th overall. Without skipping a beat, Armstrong was back at it again a week later when she ran 18:45 and finished in a very fine 6th place at All-States.
While Armstrong didn't necessarily see any big breakthroughs on the track this past year, she still had strong performances and finished with a season's best of 5:00 in the mile. Despite the lack of PRs during her junior year, Armstrong has lifetime bests of 2:15 and 4:56 on her resume and those can't be overlooked.
We would love to see Armstrong coming off of a healthy and productive summer, as she should be a big player in Easter Mass. and the entire state.
Sophomore / Beverly High School
This young Beverly runner is one to keep an eye on this season and in the years to come.
Despite the limited race action last year, Julia Curtin made the most of any opportunity that was presented. Competing in and winning a few early season freshman races, Curtin eventually took on the top competitors at Eastern State Champs in early November. In a pretty stacked field, Curtin held her own, running 19:19 to finish as the top freshman in 17th place overall. A week later, Emily performed quite well once again and ran 19:36 to take 31st at All-States.
After a solid freshman cross country season, Curtin popped off some big time performances this past indoor and outdoor. During the winter she clocked in at 2:58 for the 1,000, and just missed breaking 5:00 when she ran a PR of 5:00.7 at the Coaches Invitational in early May.
Curtin will be going up against some very fast ladies this fall and it will be a tall order to overthrow these girls (who were previously mentioned). Though Julia was a solid competitor last fall and after a strong outdoor season, she should be in the mix for a top 5 finish at Eastern State Champs and top 15 finish at All-States.
Senior / Billerica High School
Abby Fisher of Billerica was someone who stepped up to the plate at the biggest occasions last fall. She had been in the mix at meets such as Bay State (29th in merge) and the Twilight Invitational (43rd in merge), but we saw her turn over a new leaf during the first two weeks of November. At Eastern State Champs, Abby put up a career race when ran she 19:02 (she ran 21:01 at Wrentham in September) and took at 11th place. Fisher's fine form continued into All-States when she ran 19:16(she ran 20:02 at Bay State) and took 19th overall.
Over the course of indoor and outdoor, Fisher saw significant improvement in both the mile and two-mile. Starting the indoor season off with a PR of 5:25, Abby closed out her junior year with a 5:16mile at her conference meet in May. In the two mile, Fisher went from being a 11:34 two-miler in December to an 11:07 two-miler by the end of spring.
Fisher has really improved over the course of one year and while she may not be in contention for an individual victory, we definitely expect her to be more of a constant fixture in the lead pack this fall.
KEEP AN EYE ON:
Daniella Pascucci Needham High School (Senior)
Eve Driver Wellesley High School (Senior)
Taylor Pinzone Waltham High School (Junior)
Sophia Haywood Chelmsford High School (Junior)
TEAM RACE:
At both Eastern State Champs and All-States, the Lady Rockets of Needham rolled over all that stood in their way. In terms of numbers, at Eastern State Champs we saw Needham put all five scoring runners in the Top 20. A week later at Franklin Park, Needham had three girls in the top 15 and all of their scoring five in the top 40 finishers. This fall, the Rockets will return 5 of 7 from last year's championship squad and will once again be the favorites for #1 team in Massachusetts. The squads from Wellesley and Lincoln-Sudbury will be in a fight for the remaining top spots. Despite not having a big #1 runner, Wellesley has a very solid 1-5 pack and that could give them the edge over L-S, who has a fantastic #1 runner in Keklak but will need some 3 -- 5 runners to really step up.