Girls Race
The Weymouth girls are a strong team and currently ranked 5th in the MSTCA Div I poll, two spots ahead of Newton North. The Wildcats earned that ranking by placing third in the Bay State Invite on Sept. 30th, their highest finish ever in that event. Although they suffered an early season loss to Wellesley (27-30), they are undefeated against the rest of the league and are very, very determined to be at their best for the meet with North. The Wildcats hope to repeat last year's magic when they beat North and won the league title for the first time in living memory.
The Weymouth girls are led by junior Kristen Mahoney, a steady performer who never seems to have a bad race. Mahoney ran 19:28 at Franklin Park to place 3rd at the Bay State Invite. Not far behind is senior captain Nicole Pearce who ran 19:47 at the Bay State meet. After that, the team must count on big races from seniors Sam Sachetti (20:22 at Bay State) and Christine Connolly (20:53). If the team has a big weakness, it is the gap between their 4th and 5th runners (Sarah McCarthey and Heather Wiencko). At the Bay State meet, that gap was over a minute.
When Weymouth and North met last year, North took 1-3-4, but lost the meet when Weymouth took the next five spots. It seems highly unlikely that Weymouth will be able to pull that off this year, as North's top 4-5-6 runners are dramatically improved. I think that once again Newton has an advantage in the top spots. Mahoney is very good, but no match for Jess Barton. Haleigh Smith and Carolyn Ranti have been running very well, and should give Pearce a great battle. The race will almost certainly be determined by the 4th and 5th runners, and North holds the advantage there.
Might there be a home-course advantage for the Wildcats? Perhaps a slight advantage based on familiarity. The 2.78-mile course at Wompatuck is run entirely on pavement, with two sharp uphills, both of which come fairly early. The final 3/4 of a mile is flat with a couple of small turns, so there aren't any big surprises. The most important thing is to judge the amount of distance left, whcih can be tricky. Both Barton and Smith have run the course before. I'd guess the course won't bother the Tigers.
Overall, I like Newton's chances in this one.
Boys Race
The Weymouth boys are not as strong as their girls team, but they own a 7-2 league record, and the meet with Newton North is likely to be very, very close. Weymouth graduated its top two runners from last year, while Newton graduated its top three. On both teams, new faces have stepped in to take up the slack.
For the Wildcats, the fastest new face is senior Dan Pope who has been winning races and recording excellent times. Last week he broke 16:00 minutes against Brookline on the very difficult course at Larz Anderson. After Pope, the cast of characters shifts from race to race. Sometimes their second runner is sophomore Brett Julian, sometimes seniors Craig Myers or Mark Jordan. Like the Weymouth girls, the team has a significant gap from their fourth to their fifth runner (junior Ben Chasen). That gap could be the difference in the meet against North.
Weymouth is extremely motivated by the prospect of beating North for the first time in a decade. Senior captain Mark Jordan said this to the Weymouth News on the subject of racing against North: "we have not beaten them in my career...I have lost to them ever since I was an eighth grader and now I just want to beat them my senior year." Wow. That's monomania for you!
Anyway, the Tigers are very happy to have Seb Putzys back for this meet. Although he is not at 100%, he is still capable of a high finish against Weymouth. Putzys and sophomore Dan Hamilton must break up Weymouth's top three; after that, Newton's pack of Charlie Krasnow, Ben Chebot, Peter Sun, Alex Ribner, and Jared Forman must win some one-on-one matchups with Weymouth's 4th and 5th runners. Although it's always dangerous to predict a specific score, I could see the meet going like this:
Weymouth: 1-4-5-7-11 = 28 (Pope wins)
NNHS: 2-3-6-8-9 (10)= 28 (Putzys, Hamilton go 2-3)
...with North winning the tie-break! It would be very cool if the race came down to the sixth man, and it could happen!
3 comments:
Jon, I'm not sure I can run tomorrow. The little run today was awful-- my legs were shaky when I got back and hurt along the shins the entire way. I was just really slow and I don't want to bring the team down in an important meet. My health in general's not that great right now. I'll talk to you on the bus etc. though.
Hi Elie,
Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you more before the race, but you ran really, really well under difficult circumstances. Take care of yourself and I hope you get better soon!
I obviously underestimated the Weymouth boys team. They ran really well, executed a good race plan, and won all the tough battles. Congratulations to Weymouth.
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