Central Massachusetts Division 2 Girls
Since 2011, Tyngsborough has been our champion in this division. Could the Tigers win their seventh straight crown this fall? By the looks of it, the defending titlist should certainly be in the mix for the repeat, but you can't ignore Parker Charter and possibly a few others.
Tyngsborough has lost three of its top four finishers from last year's divisional meet, but will be relying on some underclassmen to return the hardware home. Junior Sophie Campbell appears to be the No. 1 harrier for the Tigers. She was 12th at the divisionals and was a runner-up at the Coaches Invitational where she clocked a solid 20:12 at Wrentham, site of this year's All State Meet. There's also sophomore Lindsey Panneton, who was Tyngsborough's No. 6 runner at the divisionals as a ninth-grader last year. Freshman Mollie Flanagan, a varsity member as an eighth-grader in 2016-17, could also give her squad some strength up front. She ran a 5K best of 20:44 on the fast terrain at the Twilight Invitational in mid October.
How about Parker Charter? Last year's runner-up will look similar will six of their top seven runners back on the trails, including defending individual winner, senior Phoebe Von Conta. Senior teammates Riley Korhonen and Emma Mchutcheon and freshman Sophie odell, who also finished among the top 20 at the divisionals, will also be toeing the line this fall.
Individually keep an eye of Von Conta to make it happen again. She had a strong season last year, placing fifth at the Bay State Invitational, fourth at the Coaches Invitational and 22nd overall at the All State Meet. But it was her sophomore year that really opened some eyes. During that year, she won the Coaches Invitational and was a runner-up a the All State Meet, finishing just 11 seconds behind individual winner Sarah Edwards of Bellingham.
Other runners that should be contending with the top pack are Douglas's Caroline Melzen (third in 2016), Holy Name's Sophia Masciarell (fourth), Douglas's Keely Mungeam (fifth) and Hopedale's Isabelle Doran (sixth) to name a few.