This fall will be a season of firsts for Foxboro sophomore Liz Holmes in her rookie year of cross country. A freshman phenom who ran a 4:54 mile last year, Holmes showed her talents go beyond the sterile track atmosphere at Saturday’s Frank Kelly Cross Country Invitational. Holmes was alone by the time she reached the mile in 5:44 and extended her lead over the new, soggy 3.1-mile Wrentham Developmental Center layout. She crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 29.3 seconds for a commanding win. Sarah Kieran of Ipswich took second in 18:50.4 and Lynnfield’s Lexi Buonfiglio was third with a time of 19:27.3. Holmes was pleased with the win but a little disappointed she wasn’t able to test herself against Dennis-Yarmouth standout Jordan O’Dea. The defending Div. 2 state champion, O’Dea passed on the Kelly meet after her easy win last Saturday in the Amherst Invitational. Holmes, though, knows she’ll get her shot at taking on O’Dea. “I thought she (O’Dea) was going to be here,” said Holmes. “I was looking forward to trying to stay with her. I was hoping to see what it would come down to and who the stronger runner was. I like the big meets in cross country and track because you see all the runners you know from the other divisions.” Holmes has no doubt that she’ll be stronger when the big meets in November roll around. “I feel stronger than I did running over the summer,” she said. “That’s a great race. Everyone ran really well. It was hard. I can really feel it in my quads. I’m not out of breath though. I liked the course a lot.”
Led by Maddie Wolf in seventh (19:51.9) and Meghan Grela in 10th (20:16.2), Ursuline Academy was an easy winner in the team competition with 62 points. Wakefield was second with 134 points and Newburyport took third with its 147 points.
As good as Holmes ran, it was Peabody’s Catarina Rocha who had the race of the day. Running for just the second time in Wrentham, the defending Div.1 state champion left the spectators and runners alike shaking their heads over her performance. Rocha had a clear lead with her quick 5:23 opening mile and never let up on the maze-like layout. She surged across the finish line far ahead of the pack with a brilliant 17:40.2. Rocha was more than 50 seconds in front of Acton-Boxboro standout Christine Davis (18:35.3) and Lowell’s Bryanna Allison (18:54.1). Rocha was as excited for Peabody’s win as she was for her own victory. The Tanners’ Sam Allen was also in the top 10, nailing down sixth place in 19:08.4. “It’s a great (team) accomplishment so early in the season,” said Rocha. “It’s a good starting point to see where we are. It was my first (Invitational) race so it was a little hard to get back into it. I’ve only run here once before and I really like the course. I like that it’s all grass. It’s a good course for people to watch and cheer you on.”
Methuen’s Mike O’Donnell was pretty confident that Brian Amaral of Tewksbury would be the runner to beat in the Div. 1 race. O’Donnell had defeated Amaral earlier in the week in a dual meet, although he pointed out with a smile that he had the “home field advantage.”
The race unfolded just as O’Donnell expected. He ran in a tight pack with Amaral and Patrick Coppinger of Lowell for more than 2 miles before finally separating himself from the duo over the final quarter mile. O’Donnell finished in a swift 15:56.4, again defeating Amaral who checked in with a 16:02.7 for second. Coppinger was a strong third in 16:03, and Nolan Parsley of Weymouth showed he is back in fine form with a fourth-place 16:07.6 finish after injuries sidelined him for the entire spring track season. O’Donnell felt strong early and didn’t find the 4:56 opening mile particularly taxing. “I felt pretty confident at that point,” he said. “I wasn’t really confident, but I felt better than I thought I would. I didn’t run here last year so I was open for the new experience. It’s not really hilly, but it’s rolling, which is good. You roll down the hills and work the uphills.”
Coppinger’s third-place finish led a commanding Lowell team to victory. Lowell had three runners in the top 10 behind Coppinger and won with 52 points. Michael Kalenoski was sixth in 16:23.2, followed by Nicholas McArdle (eighth, 16:24.1) and John Abraham (ninth, 16:25.9).
The Div. 2 race proved to be a tactical affair as Newburyport sophomore Nick Carleo kept the lead pack within striking distance before moving hard into the lead with 600 meters remaining. Carleo edged out Swampscott’s Peter Hale for the win in 15:56. Hale clocked a 15:59.7 and Paul Hogan of Burlington ran 16:00.2 for third. The Sandwich team won easily with its 65 points, well ahead of Newburyport’s 90 points and 130 points from Seekonk. Carleo had to play catch up at the start, but was close to the leaders by the mile mark, which he hit in 4:58. He decided to move hard with 600 meters left. “I was dying,” he said. “I went with 600 left and then just sort of held on.”
There was plenty of action and quality performances in the freshmen races over the shorter, 1.9-mile course. Cambridge was dominant in the Div. 1 race with an impressive sweep of the top-three places. Esitya Elemseged led the charge in 10:08.8, followed by Sam Stubbs in second (10:09.6) and Dan Aschale in third (10:11.6).
Marblehead, Blackstone-Millville and Bishop Feehan all had three runners in the top 10 of the Div. 2 race with Marblehead’s AJ Ernst winning by 16 seconds in 10:09.4. Newton South’s Rebecca Grusby left little doubt of the outcome of the Div. 1 race as she bolted into the lead and was never challenged. The Lions’ talent won in 11:13.7, well ahead of Whitman-Hanson’s Samantha Coletti (11:49.8). Kaley Richards of Lowell locked up third with a time of 11:58.9. Alison Wyman of West Bridgewater won the Div. 2 race with her 11:52.2, putting her comfortably ahead of Cassandra Hickie of Pembroke (12:04.9) and Isabella Kornitsky of Swampscott (12:19.5).
