Fast times were the order of the day as the PVIAC Championships were moved to Holyoke Community College because of last week's storm. Mark Hegarty led a pack of 9 runners that all dipped under 16 minutes on the 5,000 meter course. Heagarty won the race in 15:33 with a comfortable seven second cushion, but the next seven seconds would produce four runners that crossed the line. Blake Croteau of Westfield finished in second (15:40); followed by Cody Hodgins of Holyoke (15:43), Sam Coates-Finke of Northampton (15:44), and Dylan Wright of Amherst (15:47).
Amherst took the team title by placing all five scoring runners in the top 20. The Hurricanes combined for 54 total points and a 43 second gap in a field of 265 runners. Holyoke finished second with 89 points and Northampton was third with 90 points.
The Varsity Girls race was just as fast; with five girls running under 19 minutes, and Camille Blackman of Longmeadow almost breaking the 18 minute barrier. Blackman ran away with the race, finishing in 18:02. She was followed by Madison Granger of Belchertown in 18:16, and Amherst teammates Audrey Gould (18:23) and Mel Devoney (18:38). Natalie Mako of Frontier finished in 18:42 to round-out the top five.
Amherst also won the girls' team title, after placing three runners in the top 10. Their 62 total points put them ahead of Longmeadow by 14 points and ahead of Mohawk by 97 points. The Amherst gap was fairly large (almost 2 minutes) due to the stellar performances of Gould and Devoney in the front pack, but the team still managed to put all five scoring runners in the top 28 in a field that contained 251 runners.