How Good is Wellesley?

Only one program in the BSC has two undefeated teams. The Wellesley girls and boys have not lost a meet through the first half of the dual meet season. Wellesley has yet to face Brookline or Needham or Newton North, but both their teams beat strong Weymouth squads, and have demolished lesser competition.

This Wednesday, Oct. 4, Wellesley, Newton North, and Walpole will race a tri-meet at Wellesley's new course at Elm Bank Park. Wellesley and North have identical 5-0 records, and the meet will likely decide the league championship.

So how good is Wellesley?

Their girls team lost their #1 runner from 2005 to graduation, but have found a new #1 in freshman sensation Faith Richardson. Richardson has won three meets already, and lost narrowly to Weymouth's Kristen Mahoney. At Braintree, Richardson ran 19:48 for 3 miles, and she holds the brand new course record on her home course, having covered the 2.7 miles in 16:47. After Richardson, Weymouth relies on veterans Marlis Gnirke and Anna Lukes. Gnirke finished just ahead of Haleigh Smith at last year's BSC league meet. Lukes finished 15th, about 40 seconds back. Another returning veteran, Krysten Hartman, who finished 5th at the BSC meet and is the #3 returner, has been recovering from knee surgery and it is not known if she will be running. Wellesley is very deep, and their next pack of runners will not be far behind. They include sophomore Ali Griswold and Senior Mari Oye (a soccer convert?), who have been running in the top five all year.

I don't think any of the Wellesley girls can run with Jess, but Richardson and Gnirke can run with anyone else on Newton's team. It should be a real battles for places 2-6. I think North's depth through their top six will be the difference in the meet, although it will be close.

The Wellesley boys don't really have a number #1 runner. Their senior captain and top returner, Tom Mayell, has been coming back from injury and hasn't returned to the form he had as a sophomore. However, the rest of the team constitutes a tight pack with Will Volkman (17:19 at Braintree), Greg Stravinsky (17:25), Andrew Wagner (17:35), and Nick Carroll (who didn't run against Braintree), but probably the #2 guy on the team. In 5K terms, Wellesley has five guys who can run 17:00-18:00, and Mayell is sub 17:00 when he's healthy. That's going to be tough for the Newton North boys to handle without Seb Putzys, who continues to make progress recovering from Mononucleosis.

But the North boys have surprised me already this season, so they might be able to pull off an upset, and should certainly make the meet close one way or the other.

As for the course, the Wellesley coaches have added a 1K loop to the beginning of the old course that takes runners down a semi-steep hill, along a grassy stretch in the shadow of the woods, and then back up a short but very steep embankment. The course then rejoins the old course for a long loop on the roads and in the woods. I think the hill comes too early to be much of a strategic factor in the race, but again, running it every week might give the Red Raiders an edge in competition.

It should be a very good, very competitive meet.