Emass Championship Recap: Lowell Takes 2, Rocha 17:27 !

MIAA Eastern State Championships
Mike Miller

Girls Emass Divisional Meet Recap

East Division I

The number 17:27 should be easy enough to remember- it'll be the Wrentham course record for girls for what I estimate to be many, many years. Catarina Rocha set that mark today, besting a deep field and Newton South freshman Rebecca Grusby (18:18) by a great amount. Rocha runs like a bull going after its red flag, with purpose, focus, and intensity, and never seems to take a field or a race lightly. She has Footlocker champion type makeup, and could very well shock the country in a few weeks. But for her Peabody teammates, favored to win DI East, it was heartbreak instead of elation when the smoke cleared. Lowell and Lexington were simply too good to beat. Bryanna Allison (4th; 18:27) almost came back on Acton-Boxboro's Christine David (18:24) for 3rd, and her teammates seemed to rally behind her. The Richards's, Marissa (12th; 19:18), and freshmen Kaley (13th; 19:19), and Alexandra (14th; 19:20) never left each other's side, leading families around the Commonwealth to begin training siblings at a young age to pack together during day care yard races. Lowell's 83 points outdid upstart Lexington (106), a team that used yet another freshman, Paige Lawler (15th; 19:20) and Grace Vogelzang (18th; 19:38) to bring them to 2nd overall. Peabody got another amazing race from Heather MacLean (5th; 18:53), but ended up 3rd with 117 points, ahead of Newton North (126), who was led by an impressive kick from Sonya Jampel (8th; 19:09). The race for 5th was compelling, because it would decide the wild card spot, and while Newton South had Grusby and Lucrecia Aguilar (19th; 19:39), it would be defeated by Weymouth 146-150 for 5th. Ashley Betts hung on for 10th in 19:12, and teammate Morgan Fitzgibbon (17th; 19:39) passed 6 runners in the final straight to seal the team's trip to All States. It should be noted (by a very biased writer-coach) that Weymouth does not move on if not for the heroic work of another senior captain, Molly Barker, whose 34th place 20:17 result might not inspire awe in the untrained eye. But the untrained eye doesn't know that this young woman suffered a bicycle accident in August that led to a mandibular fracture and a neck subluxation, and a heroic season that ended with her team making it to All States, despite its fearless leader never being able to run more than 2 times per week, due to the pain she experienced. It's these little stories that make this sport what it is, and makes heroes out of those we might not otherwise notice. In what will be a strange race to predict next week, there are teams from this race who should not be taken lightly on that mountain. Peabody is certainly one of those.