Random thoughts...

Why is it that Brookline always has such a good boys team, and rarely has a good girls team? The boys race at yesterday's meet was great, with four really strong runners battling throughout, and David Polgar taking the victory only 2 seconds off the course record. The girls race was boring, with Newton winning easily. Brookline didn't even field a complete team for the varsity girls race. What's up with that?

Brookline's sophomore class (boys) is really, really good. Robert Gibson, Mike Burnstein, and Eliot Lehane are the nucleus of a Brookline team that will be formidable through 2007.

Thanks to all who have left comments on previous posts. I really appreciate them! Unfortunately, I have also started receiving comment spam (automated comments with links to commercial web sites). To keep the blog free of this stuff, I've turned on "word verification." All this means is that when you leave a comment, you'll need to read a word from the screen and type it into a verification field. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Ben Chebot missed the Brookline meet because of a music trip. Don't worry, Ben, you'll get another chance to run the Larz Anderson course October 23rd, 2007. Unless the meet is postponed. Let me check the weather forecast.... no, you're good to go that day.

The League meet is on Saturday. The girls race has been the subject of some serious trash-talking between partisans of Wellesley and Weymouth. The Wellesley girls want to revenge their loss to Weymouth during the regular season (a loss in which they were missing their #1 and #3 runners). The individual race will be exciting, with Jess Barton getting another shot at Brielle Chabot. Newton North girls have finished second for the past three years. Can Barton break through and win the individual title?

The boys race will be the deepest in years, with runners from Brookline, Wellesley, Newton, and Weymouth dominating. Needham should also have one or two runners in the top 15. Brookline is aiming to have six in the top twelve, which would surpass Newton's record of 6 in the top 13 from two years ago. Brookline should win the team race easily, but Newton vs. Wellesley will be very close. Again.

Yesterday Wellesley beat Needham 21-36. Wellesley's Charlie Meade and Tom Mayell went 1-2 in 12:43 and 12:50, respectively. There is NO WAY that they ran exactly the same course that North ran against Natick.

Yesterday, someone mentioned to me that the Needham coach should be boys coach of the year. If I had a vote (which I don't) I would vote for Needham senior Charles Beard, who got his team to run all summer. The results speak for themselves.

Not to look too far ahead, but the organizational meeting for boys indoor track is Monday Oct. 31 after school. The meeting for girls indoor track is Thursday Nov. 3 after school.