Four Teams, Four Happy Coaches
All season long Saint John's has been listed as one of the top contenders to win the Division 1 title at the All State Meet. All season long, the Pioneers performed like a team worthy to be hoisting that trophy at the end. It began back on Sept. 23 when the team won the Division 2 race at the Bowdoin Park Invitational. It continued with impressive victories at the Bay State Invitational and the Central Division State Championships. At the Bay State meet, the Pioneers top three runners broke 16 minutes! While Saint John's seemed destined to win the school's first-ever state crown, and not always an easy task to fulfill on race day. Against some strong contenders such as Lowell and defending champion Wellesley, the Pioneers were able to get it done this weekend by scoring just 81 points, 23 ahead of Lowell.
Dedication has been the keys to his team's success, says head coach Mark Murray, who took over the program four years ago.
"They believe in themselves<' he said. "From four years back, they believed in themselves. They stuck with the program. They worked hard. There were peaks and valleys. There were good patches, bad patches. There were injuries. They stuck with it. This is the ultimate team sport and this is the ultimate team."
Mount Greylock won its fifth state crown in Division 2. The Mounties, last week's Division 2 Western Division champion, was a convincing 38 points ahead of second-place Nauset. It could be much of the same next year. The Mounties' varsity squad consists of two eighth-graders, two freshmen and a pair of tenth-graders.
Parker Charter put an appropriate bookend to its special season this fall by winning its first-ever team title. The Panthers, led by a third-place finish from Nico Agosta and a tenth-place showing from Quinn Cantrill, held off runner-up Pentucket, 90-95. Afterwards, head coach Ben Benoit prioritized his team's victory in the most appropriate (and safest) manner.
"I couldn't be happier, certainly one of the best days of my life," he said. "I tell the kids, my wedding day, the birth of my child, if we could win something significant like this today it's a top-three day of my life, much more than anything I achieved as an athlete in my day."
Head coach Hanna Bruno admitted at the beginning of the season she didn't envision that her team winning a state crown.
"I really didn't," she said. "Even today I wasn't sure we could do it. My assistant coach and I were talking about it and we were like, 'We just got to have faith, and it just see what happens.' We had no idea. The kids worked hard all season. It was great."