The gun went off at Saturday’s Hockomock Cross Country Championships and Liz Holmes of Foxboro was gone, baby gone.
Holmes was an easy winner over the Borderland State Park’s scenic 3.1-mile layout. Her time of 18 minutes, 39.15 seconds put the Foxboro sophomore well ahead of Attleboro’s Shelby Cuddeback (19:19.56) after taking command of the race at 800 meters and passing through the opening mile in 5:44.
The Div. 2 state title race, though, became a little less intriguing after Holmes announced the Hockomock League win was the last competition of her season. Holmes has been experiencing burning pain in both her calves and doctors believe it is nerve-damage related. Rather than risk missing any of the indoor season with a nagging injury, Holmes and her mother and coach, Ellen Gallagher, decided to opt on the side of caution.
“I’m not going to be running in Eastern Mass (Championships). This is it,” said Holmes. “I’m done. It’s kind of a relief because it’s been a long season and it’s really draining. At the same time, I didn’t want it to be over because the adrenaline to race is really flowing.
“It’s not about winning anymore. I just don’t want to feel absolutely awful in the middle of a race. It feels like I have cinder blocks on my feet. I don’t want it to go through the winter. That would be devastating. I have high expectations of myself for the winter and the spring. Julie (McConville of Hingham), Jordan (O’Dea of Dennis-Yarmouth) and Catarina (Rocha of Peabody) live for cross country. I’m just out to have fun.”
Holmes exhibited no visual discomfort in winning the league title. “I thought I’d go out with the pack,” she said. “But then I went out and just took the lead. I wanted to go out, run it and keep the pace. I’d never want to have it come down to a kick.”
Led by Lauren Hagen in fourth place, Franklin won its fourth consecutive team title, putting up 59 point to edge out Oliver Ames (68). King Philip was a solid third with 112. The Panthers were aggressive at the front, putting sixs runners in the top 20. The five scoring harriers finished within in a span of 1:14. Hagen clocked in at 19:38.43 while Caroline Knous took eighth with a 19:55.53. Sarah Vetrano was 14th in 20:35.46 and Elaina Rebello nailed down 16th in 20:45.44 and Nicole Mucciarone was 17th at 20:52.52. Katie Doherty ran a strong race for 20th in 20:58.68.
Owen Gonser of King Philip turned the boys race into a burner from the gun, tearing through 800 meters in 2:18 and the mile in 4:50 with a huge, 12-runner pack forming 30 meters behind.
The pack kept Gonser in sight, but he was never challenge, taking the win in 16:07.14. Oliver Ames’ Dan Moverman was second in 16:23.62 and Ian Flanagan of North Attleboro was a strong third with his 16:33.58.
The hard start by Gonser wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. The junior wanted to push the pace after a sixth-place finish in 2011. “I wanted to really get out there,” said Gonser. “This is always such a great meet. I felt comfortable at the mile. I wanted to push the first and second mile the most and count on the adrenaline to get me through the last mile. I felt strong and the hill was good.”
Gonser plans to skip this Saturday’s Coaches Invitational and come back strong for the Eastern Mass Championships on Nov. 10 on the grassy layout at the Wrentham Developmental Center. “There are a lot of tough runners (in Div. 3), but it’s worth a shot,” said Gonser. “
Mansfield owned the team competition by putting four harriers in the top 10. Julie Collins’ squad put up 42 points for the victory. Oliver Ames was second (79), followed by Taunton (133). The Warriors’ Val Madonna-Lendvai was fourth in 16:34.14 and teammate Dan Caughey was fifth in 16:36.44. Mike Duggan (seventh, 16:38.88) and Dan Romano (ninth, 16:42.81) also cracked the top 10 for Mansfield. The top five for Mansfield finished in a span of just 52 seconds, a number that becomes so important as the big meets of November get underway.