Special Contributor: Ned Haan
Friday, October 28th, 2016, all the buses depart early from the small schools around central mass, there was an exciting meet upon us. The Colonial Athletic League (C.A.L.) may not be seen as some of the best competition in the state from those who don't know it. The athletes who raced knew that it was going to be tough and competitive, though.
Assabet, Abby Kelley, Main South, Bay Path, Nashoba Tech, Monty Tech, Keefe Tech, Advanced Math and Science Academy, Blackstone Valley and Parker comprised the 43rd annual C.A.L. XC Championships. 45 degrees, raining and 15+mph winds would not stop these athletes from racing their hearts out for 3.11 or 2.2 miles in Marlborough's Ghiloni Park.
(Note: There is no division 1 teams in the C.A.L.)
Boys Division 2 Varsity race (3.1 miles):
All 10 teams toed the line in a large, soaking wet field. The race favorites seemed to be Nico Agosta (Parker), Zack Bergeron (Blackstone Valley) and Quinn Cantrill (Parker). As they have all raced very well this season and seem to be in very good shape. Kevin Luna-Torres (Keefe Tech) and Trevor Fields (Nashoba Tech) had also run really well and were my personal dark horses to go win this race. The gun went off and the runners all instantly got soaked in mud and locked in. A large pack emerged early in the race (as usual) but it started to thin out quickly. Nico Agosta and Zack Bergeron went way ahead after coming down a large and treacherous hill in the wet conditions. But then came Quinn Cantrill and Kevin Luna-Torres afterwards and their competitive spirits were clearly taking over as they began to surge. Crowd cheering, coaches yelling, the rest of the racers were coming through and racing well, it became clear that Parker was emerging as the best team here though. The runners went around the course and came to the home stretch looking like mud-soaked warriors in battle. Banging down the home stretch was Nico Agosta and Zack Bergeron, and Nico unleashed an incredible finishing kick to win the race and take the title of league champion for his own. Zack Bergeron came in right behind and they finished in times of 17:07 and 17:09 respectively. Quinn Cantrill gapped Kevin Luna-Torres in the finishing stretch, and came in 3rd place with a time of 17:36. Kevin capped off an incredible race with a 4th place finish in 17:49 right afterwards. Trevor Fields (Nashoba Tech), Sam "Smoochie" Wallace (Parker), Kai Ludden (Parker), Januario Carreiro (Keefe Tech), Jonathan Williams (Advanced Math and Science Academy) and Asher Brownson (Parker) capped out the top 10 in the Boys varsity race!
I attempted to interview Quinn Cantrill for his amazing performance, but he was so tired from racing his butt off that he was speechless!
The team battle was one that was right neck and neck for most teams! Assabet came in 10th place but with a very tight team split that could lead to future dazzling performances. Abby Kelley made an improvement by one spot on last year's league championship finish and came in 9th place. Main South won the battle of Worcester and came in 8th place. Bay Path sported their super sweet looking jerseys and came in 7th place. Nashoba Tech did very well and shows to be making big improvements in their cross country program as a whole, they came in 6th place. Monty Tech came in 5th place and had a dynamic duo upfront that shocked the world today with how amazing they did. Keefe Tech is making huge improvements in their cross country program and came in a very elite 4th place this year. Advanced Math and Science Academy and Blackstone Valley were in a tight team battle and it came out that Advanced Math and Science Academy came in 3rd place with 87 points and Blackstone Valley came in 2nd place with 75 points! The winner of the C.A.L. XC championship again was the boys of Parker though! They really loaded up on pasta and it showed as they came in 1st place with an astounding 27 points! Congratulations to every boy who raced, as this was a tight and competitive race!
Nico Agosta was quoted before the race saying "I want to win today," and he and his panthers did just that, for the 8th year in a row!
Girls Division 2 Varsity Race (3.1 miles):
The 7 girl's teams approached the start line with great confidence and soaked sweats from their rainy warm-ups. Phoebe von Conta (Parker) and Megan Scott (Advanced Math and Science Academy) have been running fantastic for their teams and looked to be the favorites. Riley Korhonen (Parker) and Emma McHutcheon (Parker) were huge dark horses for this race as they both looked primed for an amazing race though. The gun went off and the ladies flew from the start line. The girls thinned out quick though and all 4 of the girls I just mentioned instantly separated themselves from the pack. Seemed like great news for the Parker Panthers! Phoebe began to separate herself early, she really had a commanding lead after the first time down the super tough "heartbreak" hill and just went from there. Megan Scott followed and had a 15 meter gap on Riley Korhonen, Emma Mcutcheon followed soon after and looked strong and composed. The team battle is long from over after the first 4 girls though, and Amanda Stahl (Advanced Math and Science Academy) and Kate Scott (Advanced Math and Science Academy) were following those top 4 girls with great races of their own! The girls continued to race and Megan Scott and Riley Korhonen were starting to get into an incredible race with each other. Megan led the whole time of the 2 until the final little hill before the final straightaway and Riley (who had been closing that gap between them the whole time) busted out in front of Megan with a huge surge! The final stretch was coming and Phoebe von Conta was the only one in sight as she emerged onto the final stretch of running, she kicked it in and finished her incredible race with a 1st place finish in a time of 20:14. For the 3rd time in a row Phoebe had captured the title of league champion. Riley Korhonen was next and she was still surging down the home stretch, she finished with an incredible 2nd place with a time of 21:01! Megan Scott was flying down the final straightaway too and she finished with a great time of 21:20. She took 3rd place to kick off scoring for her lady Eagles of Advanced Math and Science Academy! Emma McHutcheon was having herself an incredible race too and finished with a very nice time of 21:41 and a 4th place finish! Amanda Stahl and Kate Scot finished in 5th and 6th places respectively, this team race was not going to end in a landslide. The Eagles and the Panthers were in a fight to the finish for team title. Sophie Odell (Parker), Molly O'Mera (Blackstone Valley), Tegan Young (Parker) and Christ Cavalcanti (Advanced Math and Science Academy) rounded out the top 10 in this girl's race. The team battle was bound to be a close one!
Riley Korhonen was quoted after her race saying "My only goal was to race well, I wasn't really thinking anything beyond that." She certainly raced well and stepped up big time for her Parker team.
Phoebe von Conta was quoted after her race saying "My goal was to stick to the top girl and try to use the hill as an opportunity to pass, then, essentially just wait it out and make a move." She did just that, and is leading the Parker Panthers into the district championships looking fearless.
Both Riley and Phoebe agreed that the conditions were heavenly for them. This can be key coming into big races down the stretch, as historically Mother Nature has not been too kind to big November races.
Riley and Phoebe both are very confident that the upcoming district championships are going to be one to remember for the Parker girl's squad.
"I think the team is in a really good spot right now, and if we get everyone healthy we totally have a shot at winning districts," Riley exclaimed!
"I think that the team is in an amazing spot right now, and if we keep doing what we're doing we will have an awesome chance to win at districts!" This was Phoebe saying this.
Megan Scott was quoted after her race saying "Honestly it was a tough race, I don't particularly run well in the cold, but I think I ran well," she certainly did and led her Eagles of Advanced Math and Science Academy.
She wasn't done talking there though and stated later that "we want to go to states this year," which is a huge step forward for her team!
The 7 girl's teams in the varsity team battle were (just like the boys) right neck and neck! The Nashoba Tech squad finished in 7th place. They looked good with a good mixture of upper and lower classmen with a bright future ahead. Abby Kelley came in 6th place with a couple very strong frontrunners and nice depth as well. Keefe Tech and Monty Tech were right neck and neck vying for the 4th place spot and Keefe Tech came in 5th place and Monty Tech in 4th place. Monty Tech beat them out by 4 points! Blackstone Valley had an incredible day for their teams and came in a very nice 3rd place! The fight to the finish between the 2 top teams had come to a 13 point differential. Advanced Math and Science Academy and Parker were 70 points or more ahead of the rest of their competition. It was Advanced Math and Science Academy in 2nd place with 36 points! Parker Panthers are champions of the C.A.L. again with their 1st place finish for the 6th time in a row. On this tough course they had a team average time of 21:50! Congratulations to all the girls who competed in this race, it was certainly a job well done.
Boys Division 2 JV race (2.2 miles):
These boys had themselves great races as well as the varsity races. Sam Mayer-Svarskopf (Parker) ran an astounding 13:30 time to win the race and made a statement on how fit he is right now. This can be huge for Parker's November championship season seeing somebody like Sam knocking on the door of the varsity team! Mik Masterson (Parker) came in 2nd place with a time of 13:56! Matthew Papineau (Blackstone Valley) came in 4th place with a time of 14:16 and his teammate Nicholas O'Mera followed in 5th place, with a time of 14:20! These boys are in striking range of those Varsity teams, awesome job everybody! Everybody in this race seemed to race to their potential and tackle this course!
Girls Division 2 JV race (2.2 miles);
These girls has themselves incredible races and a lot of future talent shine through as well. The Cespedes girls of Main South came in 4th and 2nd place with times of 16:15 and 16:10 respectively! Asha Ramachandran (Advanced Math and Science Academy) came in 3rd place and had a time of 16:14. But the winner of the girls JV race hailed of Parker Charter Essential School, it was Thalia Cohen with a time of 16:10! It would be a total injustice to close out this recap without mentioning how Simone Tricca (Parker) came in 5th place with a time of 16:15, the first year runner is blossoming into a star. These girls made sure people didn't leave without a kick for the ages. All of the top 5 girls were right neck and neck when they made a wrong turn, and started to go in every which direction. Like magic though, they all realized where the finish was and just kicked it in all the way for and incredible finishing kick! What a race! Congratulations to all girls who competed in this JV race!
... And Congratulations to everybody on another successful and fun C.A.L. XC Championship meet!
Special shout out to Zachary Williams (Advanced Math and Science Academy) for splitting my birthday (6:18.9 mile splits).
Here comes Districts, tune in to MileSplit MA for more coverage on the upcoming Central Division District Championships. Where you can see all these teams and plenty more compete for the chance to go to the MIAA All-State Championships!
I will leave you with a quote from the legendary Steve Prefontaine.
"A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they're capable of understanding."