Newton South Edges Lincoln-Sudbury at DCL Championships

For those who thing league meets are merely distractions on the way to bigger and better races, yesterday's girls varsity race at the DCL championships should change your mind. No, actually it should BLOW your mind.

In the most competitive girls race of the year in Massachusetts since their tri-meet earlier in the season, two of the best teams in state history battled for DCL supremacy. L-S had taken Round 1; now it was South's turn. Although there were twelve teams competing, you couldn't tell from the front pack, as the top 8 runners and 12 of the top 13 represented Newton South or Lincoln-Sudbury.

Reading the results, it's hard to find the words to put the performances of this meet into context. Kelsey Karys won the race in 18:27, which is by my reckoning the second fastest girls time of the year at Franklin Park. Lincoln-Sudbury took 2nd and 3rd, as Ellie Hylton and Andrea Keklak ran 18:30 and 18:31. Either runner would have been half a minute in front of the Girls D1 WINNER at the BayState Invitational. But that was just the beginning. Five more runners broke 19:00 -- eight runners in all -- four from Newton South, four from Lincoln-Sudbury, and they were so evenly spaced that the teams were tied in points with one runner left to score.

When South senior Olga Golovkina crossed the line in 10th (19:07), it was all over.

Newton South's top five averaged 18:44. Lincoln-Sudbury's top five averaged 18:47. Remember that Haverhill averaged 19:40 to win the Bay State Invitational easily. Oh yes, Concord-Carlisle ran a fine race for third -- averaging 20:17.

And lest we forget for even one minute, NS and LS will run against each other at least once, and likely twice more at Franklin Park -- first at the EMass championships on Nov. 8, and then again at the All-State championships Nov 15.

Here are the results from Cool Running:

DCL Championships - Girls Varsity

Meanwhile the Newton South boys, perhaps thinking about the many hard races to come, ran a controlled race to win the league title without undue strain. The Lions ceded the top four places, and then took 5th-9th for a tidy victory. Bedford's Jon Gault won the race in 16:18. Andrew Wortham was South's top runner in 16:32.

Here are the results:

DCL Championships - Boys Varsity