Post State-Meet Thoughts

Well, the prediction business ain't easy.

I went on record as saying that Amherst could take down Brockton in the Boys Div I race. Oops. Big mistake. Brockton looked dominant. Amherst looked like they were never in the chase, and finished a somewhat distant fourth. Brookline finished second (I predicted them fourth), and Mansfield finished 3rd.

In the individual race, I picked Steve Czupryna to win -- but he finished third. It looks like I was, as Noah Jampol said, overrating the difficulty of the Western Mass course when I made my picks.

Here's how my other individual predictions went:

   My picks                 Actual
1. Czupryna                 Amirault
2. Amirault                 Gill
3. Polgar                   Czupryna
4. Gill                     Andrews
5. Collins                  Collins (I got that right!)

1. Amherst 98               Brockton 58
2. Brockton 101             Brookline 93
3. St. John's 121           Mansfield 99
4. Brookline 138            Amherst 117

Not a very good showing. Perhaps St. John's would have bailed me out if their top runner had not had to drop out. As it is, they finished 7th.


In the girls race, I did somewhat better:

   My picks                 Actual
1. Kasper                   Kasper
2. Barton                   Wetherbee
3. O'Laughlin               Barton
4. Bourdeau                 Karys
5. Karys                    Pancoast
6. Wetherbee                Smrcina

1. Amherst 98               Amherst 85
2. Newton South 127         Newton South 88
3. Dennis Yarmouth 148      Dennis Yarmouth 92
4. Haverhill 171            Westford Academy 147
5. Wachusett 178            Haverhill 162

The big over-achievers were Newton South and Dennis Yarmouth. Wachusett didn't do so well, just as St. John's didn't do so well in the boys race. Maybe I over-estimated the difficulty of the Gardner course!