At the Brown Invite

As late as 9:30 Saturday morning, the NNHS Boys varsity XC team wasn't sure they were actually going to drive down to East Greenwich, RI, for the Championship Race at the Brown HS Invitational. The rain had been heavy overnight, reports from the course indicated huge puddles and mud, and several teams had already dropped out.

At the last moment, the decision was made to run, but Seb Putzeys (he of the ailing knee) was told to stay home to rest up for Weymouth on Tuesday.

All during the 90-minute drive south, there was hope that the skies would clear, the sun would come out, and the course might have a chance to dry out. Puddles? We weren't afraid of puddles. But when we arrived an inspected the course, it was obvious that rain or no rain, the major impediment to a fast race was the mud. Most of the course runs through the woods, and the rain had turned every soft spot into a bog of mud, sometimes 6-8 inches deep. No spikes on earth provide good traction in that much mud.

The NNHS boys were told to double- and triple-knot their spikes, to avoid having them sucked of their feet by the mud bogs. The rain did cease for a bit just before the championship race, and the temperatures were fairly mild for the introductions.

The race itself went out very fast. Tom Webb of Bishop Hendricken in RI took out the first mile in under five minutes, which, given the poor conditions might have been the physiological equivalent of a 4:40 mile in dry conditions. David Polgar established himself in 4-5th place early, with Doug Brecher lurking in the top 20. Also running were Noah Jampol, Peter Sun, Ben Chebot, and Charlie Krasnow. As the mud took its toll, Polgar faded back to 9th at the 2M mark, with Brecher in 17th only a few seconds back. Jampol still looked good at this point. Sun, Chebot, and Krasnow were running steadily towards the back of the very talented field.

The final 600m was on relatively solid ground, and that helped Polgar who had slipped to 13th, but rallied in the final 200 meters to outkick three other runners and finish 10th in 16:31. Brecher continued his strong run, and although he lost some places in the final mile, finished in 24th in 16:55, high enough to earn one of the prized race t-shirts. Jampol did not have a happy last mile, and finished in the low 18's (official results are not available yet). Sun was the 4th finisher for North, outdueling Brookline's Matt Stewart who figures to be a rival of Sun's in the 600 this winter. Chebot and Krasnow finished together.

Because of the mud, the times are misleading and not representative of what these runners will be able to do Tuesday. The Newton North team acquitted itself well.

There were a number of Mass. teams running. Brockton made a case for being the top team in the state, with Jr. Kevin Gill coming within a second of winning the championship race. His time of 15:57 in such awful conditions is very impressive and indicates that is in contention for the state championship. Mark Amirault of Xaverian and Jose DePina of Brockton finshed 4th and 5th, respectively. Brookline ran their varsity team, which looked strong even without their #3 runner Elliot Lehane. Matias Carrasco was top finisher for the Warriors in about 35th. Amherst, once ranked #1 in the state, was clearly not as strong as Brockton, but might be better on a different day on a different course.

At the end of the awards ceremony the rain started again. Nine straight days of rain in October. That was probably the only record that fell on Saturday.