The past few days on the trails have been hopping with nearly 20 conference championships taking place at various venues. This is the time of season when teams really start to take shape in preparation for the upcoming divisional state meets and All State Finals, and it was obvious by some of the performances by our MA athletes.
Here's a quick glance at some of the highlights. For complete results, just click on the league pages below.
Teammates Nasir Gibson and Colin Fitzpatrick led Lowell to its eighth straight title in Merrimack League with Gibson edging Fitzpatrick by two seconds with a time of 16-minutes flat. Lowell's Olivia Sheffield clocked a strong 18:48 to claim.
The Bay State Invitational saw two Division I contenders win their respective races. Newton North's Andrew Mah defeated an always-tough Lucas Aramburu of Brookline by 26 seconds with his winning time of 14:46 for three-plus miles. In the girls' race, Natick's Grace Connolly dominated from start to finish and blazed through the finish line at 16:48. Connolly was more than 300 meters ahead of runner-up Margaret Donahue of Wellesley, who was timed in 17:59.
Competing in his first big meet of the season, Arlington All-American Ryan Oosting coasted to his second consecutive title at the Middlesex League Championships. Oosting, who is entered in this weekend's Coaches Invitational, averaged five-minute pace with his time of 12:29.70 for the 2.5-mile course. Wakefield's Matt Greatorex was second (12:39.20) and Thomas Lingard of Lexington was third (12:42.80).
In our closest race of the bunch, Plymouth North's Elizabeth Marshall edged Plymouth South's Jillian Callahan to claim glory at the Patriot League Championship. Marshall was timed in 19:51.70 to Callhan's 19:52.30 effort. Nick McNamee won the boys' race in 16:23.50.
It was a 1-2 finish by cousins and Peabody teammates Claudio Rocha (16:21) and Shane Braz (16:40) at the Northeast Conference Championships. Beverly's Ashley Foley was No. 1 for girls, breaking the tape in 19:50.
Hopedale's Brandon Hall ran sub-16 for three miles to win the boys' crown at the Dual Valley Conference Championships. He was timed in 15:58 and was comfortably ahead of runner-up Trevor Mungeam of Douglas (16:21). Isabelle Doran of Hopedale won the girls' title at 19:52, while Douglas's Keely Mungeam was second in 20:19.
