Granger and Jagelsky set records at Falmouth

Aug 13, 2011

Weymouth’s Jill Corcoran finished a spirited warm-up with the rest of the talented field before last evening’s New Balance Falmouth Road Race Mile. The Dartmouth-bound Corcoran had been preparing for her rookie season of collegiate cross country by packing in 55-miles per week the entire summer and knew it was hardly conducive to running a crack mile time..

There was no way, however, that Corcoran was going to miss the chance to race against a competitive mile field in one of the biggest running weekends of the year.

“I haven’t been training for this. I have no expectations,” said Corcoran. “I’m definitely here to have fun. My time is irrelevant. I’ve heard about this for so long. It’s nice to be part of the Falmouth Road Race and the tradition of it.”

Corcoran, the fourth-place finisher in 5:31.48, briefly held the lead in the early going against the eight-runner field. On the gun lap though, it was Belchertown’s Madison Granger (pictured right) who had the strongest kick to come away with the win in the prestigious event with a meet record time of 5:22.52. Weston’s Abigail Pohl pushed hard over the final 200 meters to take second in 5:26.57 and Colleen Sands of Princeton rounded out the top three in 5:31.05.

Granger was willing to run a patient race and hold back, even though the runners were all within two seconds of each other. “I was holding back a little in the beginning,” said Granger. “I like to start my kick with about 500 (meters) to go.”

Granger followed Sands and Corcoran through painfully slow splits of 88 seconds and 2:55 at the 800 before the fun started. Granger and Sands went through three quarters in 4:10 and immediately changed gears with Pohl in pursuit. Pohl went by Sands with 300 meters left, desperately trying to cut into Granger’s lead.

“I went into this without a strategy,” said Pohl, who added with a laugh, “I’m in summer mode, I’m a little out there. I haven’t seen a track in over two weeks. In the first 800 (meters) I wasn’t sure how I’d feel, but I really felt good.”

Granger has spent the summer racing and putting in 30-40 miles a week, one reason she believes she had plenty of spring in her stride to kick hard over the final 400 meters. “I’ve kept my racing legs for the summer,” she said. “This was such a fun race. It was a long trip (from Belchertown), but this was awesome.”

The boys were equally cautious in the early going. The deep, talented pack was tripping over each other through an opening 400 of 70 seconds. Pembroke’s Wesley Gallagher (fifth, 4:33.84) and Mike Giardina of Lowell (second, 4:29.55) were at the front at 800 meters in 2:22.

Marshfield’s Kevin Thomas and Giardina took the lead on the gun lap, but it was Rutland’s Alex Jagelsky (pictured left) who sprinted away from Giardina and Westboro’s Brendan Robertson (third, 4:30.80) for the three second win in 4:26.39 (also a meet record).

Thomas, who was fourth in 4:32.15, said the race was a good barometer of his conditioning from a steady diet of 50-mile weeks this summer. “The last 400 I kicked into gear, but it’s really hard to change gears,” said Thomas.

Thomas’ teammate, Joel Hubbard took sixth in 4:34.02 and put the race in perspective just minutes after. “It was just for fun really,” he said. “I was kind of in the back in the beginning.”