The pressure was on the Weymouth girls in Saturday’s Div. 1 EMass Championship race, but Mike Millers’ Wildcats were primed and ready to turn away their competition over the 3.1-mile Franklin Park course.
The Eastern Massachusetts divisional meet is the best meet of the cross country season. Dozens of teams have high hopes for this day. Of course teams will be gunning to be the champs of their divisions, but in some ways the real excitement will be in the battle for the final all-state qualifying berths. It's a lot like the Olympic trials. Being the US champ is huge, but the real agony is not in finishing second, it is reserved for the athlete who is left home.
It was a busy day across Massachusetts as we witnessed an extra team advance to the state meet on the wildcard bid because of identical team times.
Peabody’s Nick Christansen crossed the finish line after turning aside the Div. 1 EMass field and hardly broke stride as he raced through the chute and out the back. The Tanner standout had good reason to be excited. His time of 15 minutes, 46 seconds was a personal best on the 3.1-mile Franklin Park course and Christansen accomplished what he had set as a goal during the summer months.
For just one minute let’s dabble in the hypothetical. What if the EMass meet was one big race for each gender? Since it will never happen, the closest we can get is merging the results and rescoring it. Now, before your traditionalists get in an uproar, we understand that weather, course conditions, and racing tactics vary from race to race. Remember…….it’s hypothetical.
John Keklak was on-site at the MSTCA Coaches Invitational and captured Hundreds of photos from each level. Click on the picture to view the album from that race. You can view all of John's work at http://johnkeklak.smugmug.com.
The cameras were rolling Saturday at Franklin Park and nobody was safe; that included fans, coaches, and athletes. Beyond the races takes a look at the lighter side of our sport and demonstrates why so many are willing to wake-up on a Saturday morning and stand in the mud for six hours. Thanks to Coach Rooney for always being at the right place at the right time. Enjoy!
