Division Championships Highlights

MIAA Eastern Division Championships

 

Coverage

 

Highlights  

  • It's not too often when the story of the day is a couple of 5th place teams.  Weymouth (Division 1) and Central Catholic (Division 2) both finished 5th in their respective divisions and were checking the team times to see who would advance on the wildcard.  A statistical anomaly happened and both teams finished with 1:26.44 team times.  According to the official results both will advance to the state championships.  
  • The Cape Ann League had a banner day.  Teams from the CAL won 1/3 of the EMass team titles, with Hamilton-Wenham (girls), Masconomet (girls), Ipswich (boys), and Newburyport (boys) all taking home first place hardware.  Seven teams from the league are advancing to next week's state championships.
  • Boys Division 1: Nick Christansen of Peabody is now #19 All-Time (15:46) on the Franklin Park course as he ran to a ten second victory over James Sullivan of Acton-Boxborough.  Nat Adams of Lexington and Mike O'Donnell of Methuen were locked in a good battle for third as the pack broke away from the field.  Adams eventually edged O'Donnell 16:02 to 16:03.  Brookline didn't put anybody in the top 10, but showed that a 24 second gap will win most meets.  The Warriors collected the team title over Lowell 75 to 83, and both were followed by Acton-Boxborough in 3rd (119 points) and Peabody in 4th (183 points).
  • Boys Division 2: Teammates Kevin Thomas and Joel Hubbard of Marshfield got out early and then cruised to a 1-2 finish; both in 16:21.  The battle for third was a good one, with Robert Massey (Chelmsford), Alex Sullivan (North Andover), Matt Barnes (Lincoln-Sudbury), and Eli Hoenig (Lincoln-Sudbury) all separated by just 2 seconds.  They would finish in that order with Massey crossing the line in 16:46.  Lincoln-Sudbury teammates Barnes and Hoenig would combine with Connor Daly in the top 10 to help their team to a 22 point win over Mansfield (86 points).  Chelmsford was third (94 points) and Marshfield was fourth (109 points).
  • Boys Division 3: Chris Allen of King Philip employed his usual race tactic of going out hard and challenging people to hang-on.  Allen won in 15:57 and was the only person in the field to dip under 16 minutes.  Pat Ryan of Whitman-Hanson was 2nd (16:19), and Zach Ganshirt of Walpole was 3rd (16:22).  Drew Beck finished 4th (16:26) to help Oliver Ames (102 points) to the team title over Whitman-Hanson (114 points).  Wellesley was 3rd (138 points) and Concord Carlisle was 4th (153 points).
  • Boys Division 4:  Wes Gallagher helped Pembroke make it three-in-a-row as the Titans posted 49 points to beat Bishop Feehan by just five points.  Gallagher won the race in 15:50, and was followed by Stephen Robertson (Wakefield) and Mike McConville (Hingham) who both finished in 15:54.  Sandwich finished 3rd in the team battle with 98 points, and Wakefield was 4th with 155 points.  
  • Boys Division 5:  Matt Herzig (Weston), Peter Hale (Swampscott), and Bobby McLaughlin (Westwood) were only separated by five seconds and finished 1-2-3, respectively.  Herzig earned the win in 16:41 and will advance as an individual.  Hale helped his Swampscott team to a 4th place finish (127 points), behind Martha's Vineyard (122 points), Westwood (95 points), and race winner Newburyport (70 points).
  • Boys Division 6: Tanner Picklus continued his winning streak; taking the event in 16:57.  Norwell teammates Owen Wiggins (17:21) and Tom Vafiades (17:30) finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Ipswich earned the team win with 119 points; followed by Norwell (135 points), Seekonk (136 points), and Dover-Sherborn (151 points).
  • Girls Division 1:  Catarina Rocha is now #14 all-time on the Franklin Park course after her dominant winning performance in 18:06.  Maggie Mullins of Andover was second in 18:41, and Christine Davis of Acton-Boxborough was third in 19:18.  Weymouth won the team title with 102 points but the remaining qualifying spots were close.  Lowell edged Peabody 117 to 118 for second, and Newton South ended-up tied at 122 with Haverhill.  Newton South would get the 4th spot based on their 6th runner, and Haverhill would get the wildcard bid to the state meet based on their team time of 1:41.53.
  • Girls Division 2:  The Franklin duo of Alex Giese and Lauren Hagen continue to impact the front pack of every race they are in.  Giese won the race in 19:14 and Hagen was third in 19:33.  It turns-out they would need those two impressive performances as Franklin took the last qualifying spot of the division in 4th (91 points).  Masconomet won the team title with 65 points; followed by Lincoln-Sudbury (75 points), and Chelmsford (83 points).  Masconomet put three in the top ten and was led by Mackenzie Shelgren who finished in second (19:20).
  • Girls Division 3:  Priyanka Fouda of Wellsley put a comfortable gap on freshman Lauren O'Neill of Falmouth to win in 19:15.  O'Neill was second (19:27) and was followed by Megan Ratcliffe of Concord-Carlisle (19:32) in thrid.  Whitman-Hanson put together a 35 second 1-5 gap that resulted in 48 total points.  There were plenty of gaps between the teams as Oliver Ames finished in second (105 points) and Concord-Carlisle finished in third (138 points).  That is.......until Wellesley edged Notre Dame Academy by five points (173 to 178) to take the last qualifying spot.
  • Girls Division 4:  Jordan O'Dea of Dennis-Yarmouth broke away from the field again to take the win in 18:34.  Her performance helped D-Y realize their dream of advancing to the state meet as they finished in second behind Bishop Feehan with 120 points.  Bishop Feehan posted a dominant performance by taking 3 of the top 4 spots and posting 36 total points.  Hingham was third (129 points) and Pembroke was fourth (179 points).
  • Girls Division 5:  Weston put three in the top five but it was just not enough as they lost by one point to a Hamilton-Wenham team that had a 36 second 1-5 gap. The bulk of H-W's damage came from Margaret Blatchford, Emily Weigand, and Emily Horgan who finished 6th, 7th, and 8th, respectively.  Olivia Brackett of Weston won easily in 19:09 and was followed by Rebecca Morse of Pentucket (19:23) who held off Kerry Phelan of Hamilton-Wenham (19:24).
  • Girls Division 6:  Sarah Keiran of Ipswich secured a nearly 30 second win over Lizzy McDermott of Austin Prep to take home the individual crown with a time of 19:13.  Dover-Sherborn got the win behind the third place finish of Lee Milne (19:44) and fifth place finish of Olivia Cannon (19:50).  Norwell finished second (104 points) with a 27 second 1-4 gap and Ursuline was third with 108 points.  Lynnfield grabbed the final qualifying spot in fourth with 157 points. 

 

 

 

MIAA Central Division Championships
 

Coverage

 

Highlights  

  • Boys Division 1: Jonathan Green of St. John's ran away from a very talented field to win the individual title in 14:17 (2.9 miles).  Wachusett teammates Jeremy and Collin Bennie were 2nd (14:42) and 3rd (14:55), respectively, and the Nashoba trio of Miles Hodge (15:04), Reid Sullivan (15:14), and Forrest Hangen (15:15) took the next three spots.  That trio was good, but it was not enough to upset St. John's who won the event with 56 points.  Nashoba was second (59 points), and Shrewsbury was third (66 points).
  • Boys Division 2: Thomas Rodger of Whitinsville Christian had just enough to hold off Ross Mungeam of Douglas for the win.  Roger crossed the line in 15:24; followed by Mungeam (15:25), and Paul Maurais of Hopedale (15:28). Maurias' Hopedale team won the team title with relative ease by placing all five scoring runners in the top 10.  Their impressive score of 32 points was less than half that of second place Whitinsville Christian (67 points).  Bromfield finished third (115 points), and Parker Charter was fourth (124 points).
  • Girls Division 1: Colleen Sands led a Wachusett onslaught that resulted in Mountaineers taking five of the top seven places.  Sands won the event in 17:44 and was followed by teammates Laura Williamson in 3rd (18:07), Amy Collins in 5th (18:33), Rebecca Skodis in 6th (18:36), and Liz Reynolds in 7th (18:40).  Wachusett won the team title with 22 points, but Abby Hurd of Nashoba finished in second (17:55) helped her team advance with a second place finish (76 points).  The Shrewsbury girls matched the performance of their male counterparts by also finishing third (125 points).
  • Girls Divison 2: Jessie Cardin of Sutton posted the second fastest time of the day (17:47) in winning the Divison 2 individual title.  Freshman Kerri Keohane (17:50) and seventh grader Jaylan Fraser-Mines (18:07), both of Tyngsborough, went 2-3 to help their team win the title with 78 points.  Narragansett was second behind the 5th place finish of Anna Capps (18:36) and 8th place finish of Renee Capps (18:46).  Sutton finished 3rd with a 112 points and Notre Dame Academy (W) was 4th with 135 points.

 

 

 

 

MIAA Western Division Championships
 

 

Coverage

 

Highlights  

  • Boys Division 1: Dan Crowley of Ludlow conquered the Northfield Mountain course in 17:01 to win the individual title.  He was followed by Blake Croteau (Westfield) in 17:13, and Sam Coates-Finke of Northampton in 17:14.  Coates-Finke had to hold off Ben Gagne-Maynard of Longmeadow who was just .56 back in fourth place and qualified for the state meet as an individual.  Amherst won the team title by putting all five scoring runners in the top fifteen.  They finished the day with 52 total points; followed by Ludlow (82 points), Westfield (90 points), and Northampton (109 points). 
  • Boys Division 2: Scott Carpenter blistered the field and won the individual title by over 35 seconds!  The Lenox High School junior covered the 5k course in 16:47 and was followed by Matt Cheung of Mt. Greylock (17:22), and Cathedral teammates Sam Burke (17:30.17) and Mark Hegarty (17:30.56).  Mt. Greylock and Cathedral were locked in a heated team battle after both teams put three runners in the top 10.  Mt. Greylock would eventually pull away on the strength of their 5th man to win 49 to 55.  Lenox was third with 118 points and Hoosac Valley was fourth with 121 points.
  • Girls Division 1:  Camille Blackman (Longmeadow) continues to dominate Western Massachusetts and won the individual title in 19:20.15.  Audrey Gould (Amherst) also had a very nice race and finished in the runner-up spot with the second fastest time of the day.  She clocked-in at 19:55 and was the only other girl to post a time under 20 minutes.  Madison Granger of Belchertown was third (20:39) and Mel Devoney of Amherst was fourth (20:48).  Gould helped Amherst win the team title by just five points over Longmeadow (51 to 56).  Pittsfield was third (113 points) and Ludlow was fourth (128 points).
  • Girls Division 2: Emily Kaegi led her Mt. Greylock team to a decisive championship over Lenox (35 to 81).  Kaegi finished first in 20:29 and was well supported with teammates Mackenzie Hitchcock finishing 5th (21:36), Laura Nolan finishing 7th (21:45), and Kat Chenail finishing 8th (21:48).  Natile Mako of Frontier finished 2nd overall in 20:47 and Holyoke Catholic finished 3rd in the team competition with 96 points.

 

 

 

 

NEPSTA Division II Championships

 

Coverage

 

Highlights  

  • Varsity Boys:  Matthew Kline destroyed the Groton School 5K course record of 16:40 set in 2010 by Ted Leonhardt.  Kline covered the course in 16:14 and posted a 21 second win over second place Sean McLaughlin of St. Mark's.  McGlaughlin combined with teammates Cash Armstrong (16:51) and Peter Duffy (17:18) for top 10 finishes and a winning team score of 63 points.  Hopkins finished second with 94 points, and The Governor's Academy was third with 126 points.
  • Varsity Girls:  Nicole Marvin of Kent also set a course record; winning the event in 19:09.  The old record of 19:11 was held by Emily Stark of Middlesex after her performance last year.  The Hopkins trio of Hannah Springhorn (19:32), Isabel Balcezak (19:36), and Lucy Balcezak (19:59) finished 2-3-4, respectively, to help their team to a 52 point win over Winsor. Suffield was third with 105 points and Groton was fourth with 168 points.