B.C. High Dominates the CCC Meet, Again !

Boys Catholic Conference Championships

  

It was a cold Wednesday afternoon, on the last Wednesday of October which meant the cross country teams of B.C. High, Saint John's Prep, Catholic Memorial, Malden Catholic, & Xaverian Brothers gathered for an afternoon of cross country racing and food.


The afternoon started with a 3k at 2:40 when the first gun went off for the 2nd Annual Middle school division race.   A battle between Noah Wilson(XAB) and Patrick Hosman(SJP) unfolded that ended in Wilson winning in 11:36 and Hosman taking second in 11:54.  Luke Baltay(BCH), Peter Crapsey(SJP), Stephen Crowley(BCH), Jackson Musical(SJP), Dylan Fitzpatrick(BCH), CJ Disciullo(BCH), Ryan FeiJoo(SJP), and Owen Duggan(BCH) rounded out the top ten.  BC High won the team competition in 33 points, while SJP came in second with 35 points.


Next came the freshman race where last year's middle school winner, Sean Sullivan(XAB), looked to defend his title, and he did exactly that.  Sullivan and Steven Jackson(SJP) went at it from the gun jostling back and forth for first place.  But coming off Bear Cage and onto the home stretch, Sullivan was able to out kick Jackson to take home the crown for the second consecutive year in a 10:37.  The chase pack of Scott Hogan(XAB), Sam Poleretsky(SJP), Charles Anderson(SJP), and Luke Babicz(XAB), came down to who could kick fastest as well.  The rest of the top ten were Yixin Hu(BCH), Nick Maddison(SJP), Joe Willet(BCH), and Sean Donahue(CM).  The team battle was tight and resulted in Xaverian winning in 34 points over Saint John's 37 points.


Then came the JV race.  From the gun the BC High runners took control.  Coming through the mile in 5:23 the BC High pack of William Cole-French, Marcus Lespacio, Jake McNeill, Jack Murray, Giacomo Coraluppi, and Stephen Recupero were far in front of the rest of the field.  Down the backstretch and up bearcage the sophomore duo of William Cole-French and Marcus Lespacio surged and separated themselves from the pack.  Cole-French utilized his long legs up and down the big hill so that by the time they returned to the playstead he had built himself a lead and was out in front all by himself.  Cole-French ran through the two mile at 11:15.  He ran through wilderness, making short work of it and came back onto the playstead with a sizeable lead and was meet with the support of parents, teammates, coaches and opponents as he turned the corner and kicked down the home stretch winning the race in 17:45.  Marcus Lespacio crossed the line at 17:55, Junior's Jake McNeill and Jack Murray crossed at 18:08 and 18:18, and Sophomore Giacomo Coraluppi crossed at 18:26 to complete the BC High sweep.  Juniors Stephen Recupero(BCH), Chris Herndon(SJP), Simon Moreira(BCH), Kian Roy(BCH) and Drew Curtain(BCH) rounded out the top ten.  BC High won in 15 points and Saint John's came second with 60 points.


Finally came the varsity race, in which junior Tristan Shelgren (SJP) was heavily favored to win and he did exactly that running a 16:08 running far and way ahead of the field.  The senior from BC High Joe Stover took second in a 16:48 also running way ahead of the field.  The battles in this race weren't fought at the front, they were fought behind the top two runners.  The battle for third started at the gun, it included seniors Jack Flavin(BCH) and Joe Tzanetos(XAB) and sophomore John Mariano(XAB).   All three went back and forth throughout the first two and a half miles of the race, but coming out of wilderness, Jack Flavin put the hammer down and separated himself from his Xaverian opponents.  Coming onto the playstead and down the homestretch Flavin kept pushing himself to move faster, and he ran a 16:59 to get third place.  Tzanetos took fourth in 17:10 and Mariano took fifth in 17:14.  But not far behind them another battle for position took place between Junior David Nagle(BCH), Sophomore Derek Walsh(SJP), Senior Josh Turk(SJP) and Senior Joe Resca(BCH).  From the gun, Turk and Walsh took it out hard behind the pack in front of them while Nagle and Resca trailed close behind.  Coming off Bear Cage Nagle had taken a couple steps over Turk and Walsh while Resca was a couple steps behind.  It stayed that way through the wilderness with Nagle finishing sixth in 17:18, Walsh seventh in 17:22, Turk eight in 17:24, and Resca ninth in 17:27.  The tenth place finisher was Trevor Hu(BCH) in 17:31.  BC High won the team competition in a very low 30 points, and Saint John's Prep came second with 46 points.  BCH took five of the top ten and ten of the top fifteen, as well as the league meet champion plaque in a dominate performance in all divisions except the Freshman division.  Thus another Catholic Conference Classic ended and another season at Franklin Park finished.