Without a doubt and to the surprise of no one, the 2010 cross country season belonged to Lincoln-Sudbury’s Andrea Keklak. The multi-talented harrier ruled the trails with an iron fist last fall, capturing both the Div. 1 EMass and state titles, before having huge indoor and outdoor campaigns.
Now that Keklak has taken her talents to Princeton, the stars looked to be aligned for Peabody’s Catarina Rocha to assume the Queen of the Trails title.
As a sophomore, Rocha didn’t budge against Keklak on the Gardner course in the Div. 1 State meet; the difference being the Warriors’ 2:06 800-meter speed, good for six seconds of daylight at the finish line.
With a solid sophomore year under her belt, there’s little doubt Rocha will only get better. She qualified for the FootLocker Cross Country Championships and went on to take the 2 mile Div. 1 and all-state titles in the spring. She’s the clear favorite to pick up wins in both the Div. 1 EMass race and state title in November, but that’s not to say she won’t have several talented returnees ready to take her on.
Three girls in particular weren’t near the front a year ago, but made great jumps in track that they simply cannot be dismissed. Lincoln-Sudbury’s Marika Crowe was 39th last year in Div. 1 while Camille Blackman of Longmeadow was consistent in both the mile and 2 mile. Madison Granger of Belchertown, with her 4:58.89 mile speed, should be able to drastically move up over the final 800 meters.
Nashoba’s Abby Hurd and Andover’s Maggie Mullins were very much in the state title hunt last fall and will be looking to challenge Rocha and improve on their third and fourth place finishes, respectively. Tewksbury has a terrific talent in Laura Patriarca while Wellesley’s Priyanka Fouda proved she could handle the pressure of the big meets with her sterling eighth place at Gardner. Masconomet’s Kim Cogrove, Colleen Sands of Wachusett and Alli Wood of Chelmsford made immediate impacts as freshmen and could challenge the top half-dozen girls in Div. 1. The same can be said for Franklin freshman Lauren Hagen, who along with teammate Alex Giese, finished in the top 25.
Defending champion Weymouth lost Jillian Corcoran to graduation, but returns a pair of tough competitors who should follow Corcoran’s lead. Juniors Morgan Fitzgibbon and Molly Barker were both among the top 25 last fall and head coach Mike Miller has plenty of young talent that should help the Wildcats make a run at defending their title.
The always-tough Christine Davis of Acton-Boxboro had somewhat of an off day in the state meet, but still nailed down a superb 12th-place showing. Erin Donovan of Lowell should also be able to make a move into the top 10.
While Rocha is the clear favorite in Div. 1, the Div. 2 field has a number of girls who have legitimate chances to capture the state title on the Franklin Park layout in Novermber.
Junior Jordan O’Dea of Dennis-Yarmouth is the highest returnee after taking second to Bishop Feehan’s Viviana Hanley at Gardner. The Shamrocks are looking to defend their state title of a year ago with the solid 1-2 tandem of Katie Powell and Erin Svensen, Abbey MacBeth should also pick up big points for Bishop Feehan come November. Kerry Phelan will head the always-strong Hamilton-Wenham team, while Rebecca Morse of Pentucket and Hingham’s Julie McConville will be setting the pace for their respective schools. Western Mass standout Natalie Mako of Frontier Regional is another talented harrier who bares watching this fall.
More Links
2010 All-State Championship Results
2010 Cross Country Stats
2011 Track Stats
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