Brookline @ Amherst - Just the Facts

On Saturday, the Brookline H.S. boys cross-country team won the Amherst Invitational. Although it's an early-season meet, and doesn't tell us the future, I think Brookline's performance warrants a rational and clear-headed assessment. Let's not indulge in unsupported opinion or hyperbole, but stick to the facts.

In the previous five years (2002-2006), only three runners broke 16:00:

- In 2005, Mark Amirault (2005 state champion) ran 15:58
- In 2002, Dan Sullivan ran 15:53 and Ian Marcus ran 15:58.
(Marcus finished second to Victor Gras in the 2002 State meet, while Sullivan, who had beaten Mike Banks to win the Central Mass meet that year, had a bad race at States and placed only 9th)

Three guys in five years, who finished 1st, 2nd, and 9th, in their respective state meets.

On Saturday, Brookline's Robert Gibson ran 15:41 -- 17 seconds faster than Amirault. Mike Burnstein and David Wilson ran 15:54 and 15:55 -- faster than every other runner in the last five years except Sullivan.

Brookline was missing two of its top four returning runners from last year -- Elliot Lehane and Chris Mercurio, but replaced them with two underclassmen on Saturday.

Fourth for Brookline was junior Ryan Hardiman, who ran 16:31. In 2006, the runner closest to that time was Paul Norton, who finished 9th at States that year. In 2005, the runner closest to that time was Ian Schofield, who finished 33rd in the New England Championships.

Fifth for Brookline was sophomore Brendan Grove, who ran 17:00. The sophomore runner closest to that time in recent years was Chelmsford's Chris Brown who ran 17:01 in 2005. Brown went on to finish 47th in the State meet that year.

So -- and we're still sticking to the facts here -- Brookline now has 7 runners who have run 17:00 or better for 5K, three who have run 16:00 or better, and three of the top four times at Amherst over the past six years.

Brookline runs their first home meet today against Needham at Larz Anderson Park. I'd like to offer Needham some words of advice, but nothing comes to mind.