X-C NEWS & NOTES
Invitational Meet Season Continues- Methuen's boys took 2nd place overall at the Nashua Invitational in New Hampshire on Saturday, showing off a tremendous sophomore class in the process. Senior Mike O'Donnell was runner-up (16:03) in the varsity race, while sophomores Cameron Pavao, Matt Marchand, Devin Allen, John St. Hillaire, and Will McGrath all finished in the top 32 for the Rangers. Unranked Methuen, a team not given a whole lot of hype coming in, could be right behind #3 Lowell from the MVC in the next poll.
Speaking of the MVC, action got under way in the state's best boys conference. #8 Chelmsford, #3 Lowell, Central Catholic, and Andover kept their resumes clean with wins, meaning the top 5 teams, including Methuen, are undefeated. For Lowell, Pat Coppinger and Mike Kalenowski led a pack of five under 14:44 in the 2.85 mile race. Without knowing much about conversions, this is only a quater-mile short of 5K, meaning these guys are in shape to run in the low-16:00's already. Coaches Maia and Ouelett should be pleased.
· On the girls side in the MVC, #8 Chelmsford, #19 Haverhill, and Central Catholic all had easy wins, and #12 Lowell survived Billerica 24-31, thanks to a 1-2 punch from Brianna Allison and Marissa Richards. The girls side of things should come down to a great battle between Lowell, Haverhill, and Chelmsford, with any of the three capable of going undefeated.
In the DCL, the best girls league in the state, #5 Lincoln-Sudbury fought past Westford, #7 Newton South was a winner over Boston Latin, and #17 Concord-Carlisle opened up victorious over Wayland. However, the meet of the day was a tight contest between #5 Weston and A-B (honorable mention), in which Weston pulled off a narrow win over a nearly fellow-ranked team in the milesplit.ma poll
·The Bay State League went to chalk on the girls side, with top teams #23 Brookline, #18 Needham, Newton North, and #9 Weymouth each opening up at 2-0. Brookline and Weymouth knocked off Walpole and Wellesley, respectively, the top two teams from the Herget Division, and North beat a strong Natick squad. With Weymouth and Needham facing off this Wednesday at Milton, the party will break up and the first team of the four will be voted off the island. One thing will be true, three pretty good teams will not win a Carey title this fall.
The boys weren't quite as simple in the BSC, as #17 Wellesley fell to unranked Weymouth at Framingham. Weymouth was led by Nolan Parsley, one of the state's top boys, and Matt Murphy, who sandwiched Danny Palladino to help seal the victory. #5 Brookline cruised past Walpole, as did #12 Newton North over Natick and #24 Needham over Braintree and Dedham. Weymouth and Needham should be another great meet this week.
Other notable wins on the girls side included #2 Hamilton-Wenham taking down Newburyport for its 89th straight win (congrats to Coach Sawyer- one of the nicest guys in all of Mass.!). Staying with the CA, #14 Masconomet took down Triton 20-39 on Wednesday. #16 Hingham improved to 2-0, led by a scorching performance from Julie McConville, who ran 16:58 for 2.9 miles, 20 seconds faster than the boys winner. #1 Whitman-Hanson continued its cruise through the Patriot League, with seniors Gianna Cacchiatorre and the Fabulous Baker Twins being joined by freshman Samantha Coletti in the tempo tour. What's that sound... it's the sound of every girls coach in the state gasping for air. Unranked Franklin also looked very impressive while dispatching North Attleboro.
On the boys side of things, it was a strange week in Central Mass. as #21 Wachusett beat #4 Shrewsbury, led by Colin Bennie in 16:58, but with the Colonials resting much of its squad, this meet tells us little about either team. Bennie then came back on Friday to beat #7 St. Johns' pack, but they got the better of the Mountaineers 22-34. #2 Pembroke easily handled Scituate, #18 Mansfield had little trouble with North Attleboro, and #20 Hopedale beat Douglas, leaving the rest of the top 25 unscathed. Rest assured, now that the pollsters have seen real results, there will be plenty of movement in the polls, the next of which comes out a week from today.
Looking ahead... the boys dual of the week is Tuesday with #22 BC High taking on Xaverian at South Boston's Moakley Park. This will almost serve as an elimination match for the conference title, as both teams still have to face a tough St. John's Prep going forward. The best girls matchup might be #9 Weymouth vs. #18 Needham on Wednesday at Milton's Houghton's Pond. Looking ahead to the weekend, we'll see Brookline, Needham, NDA, Newton South, Longmeadow, Haverhill, Dennis-Yarmouth, Concord-Carlisle, and Wachusett traveling to face the hosts at the Amherst Invitational, a total of 10 ranked girls teams (out of 25!) On the boys side, #5's Brookline and Westfield should break their tie, as fellow ranked teams Wachusett and Needham take the stage out west. Expect fast times on the flat track, and with Danbury (CT) in the mix, a shootout.