Caitlin Kaprelian of West Bridgewater High School running at the MIAA All State Finals. Kaprelian finished 28th in the State Division 2 race. Photo by Maddie Jones.
Our top teams heading into the 2019 Cross Country season is based off of where the top 5 returning girls from each team rank in the Eastern Division 6 girls returners rankings. These top 5 girl's placement in the rankings is then added into a team score and then is compared to their placement last year at the MIAA Eastern Division Championships. The top three teams from the divisional championships stayed in the top three, but swapped order. Furthermore, only one team that finished in the top 10 at last year's divisional championship, Georgetown High School, fell out of the top ten. Georgetown (7th last year) was replaced by Sturgis East in the rankings.
The top Eastern Division 6 girls team heading into the 2019 season is West Bridgewater High School. By having the top returning runner, Caitlin Kaprelian, along with two more top returning girls in the top 10, West Bridgewater appears to be the clear favorite before the season starts. Kaprelian already won the MIAA Eastern Division Championships last year before finishing 28th in the State Divison 2 race at the MIAA All State Finals the following weekend. Beyond her, West Bridgewater only graduated two of their top seven and is looking strong heading into the 2019 season.
Taking up the second spot on our rankings is the Eastern Division 6 reigning champions, Bishop Fenwick High School. After winning the the 2018 MIAA Eastern Division 6 Championship last year, Bishop Fenwick lost three of their top five runners. Fortunately, Bishop Fenwick retained their top runner from 2018, Ava Mahoney. Mahoney finished third in the MIAA Eastern Division 6 Championship race last year and is looking to lead the Bishop Fenwick High School girls to a back-to-back Eastern Division 6 championship.
Ranking third on our list, just 4 points ahead of Austin Prep School, is Ipswich High School. The Ipswich girls finished second at the 2018 MIAA Eastern Division 6 Championship, but did graduate two of their top three runners. Now rising Senior, Annika Brink is Ipswich's fastest girl XC runner with a personal best time of 21:43.60 - which she ran in her 8th place performance at the MIAA Eastern Division 6 Championship race. After finishing 4th at the MIAA Eastern Division 6 Championships last year, Austin Prep School is right on Ipswich's heals to wrap up our close top 4.
Make sure to check out the rest of the list below:
| TEAM SCORES | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | LAST YEAR | |||
| 1 | West Bridgewater High School
| 62 | 1+6+8+19+28 | 3 | |||
| 2 | Bishop Fenwick High School
| 94 | 5+20+21+22+26 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Ipswich High School
| 109 | 7+12+17+31+42 | 2 | |||
| 4 | Austin Prep School | 113 | 4+9+13+36+51 | 4 | |||
| 5 | Sturgis East | 256 | 38+39+54+56+69 | 14 | |||
| 6 | Bourne High School | 268 | 23+35+52+77+81 | 6 | |||
| 7 | Lynnfield High School | 298 | 32+45+57+76+88 | 5 | |||
| 8 | Monomoy | 338 | 41+48+65+89+95 | 10 | |||
| 9 | Cohasset High School | 368 | 15+33+40+131+149 | 7 | |||
| 10 | Sturgis Charter West | 389 | 38+39+103+104+105 | 9 | |||