So Close! North Boys Fall to Brookline

In a race they must have all thought about since pre-season, the Newton North boys were within 200 meters of beating Brookline on the Warriors' challenging home course, and winning the league title for the first time since 2004. With the finish line in site, North had five runners in places 3-7, and a good 15 seconds back to the Brookline pack.

But the course took its toll, after all, and North's fifth runner, Ezra Lichtmann, collapsed within site of the finish line and couldn't continue. In an instant, the score "on the course" was reversed from a 25-30 advantage, to a 27-30 deficit, and Brookline was the league champion -- undefeated for the fourth straight year. The Tigers finish the season at 10-1, knowing that on this day they had the defending state champions on the ropes.

Still, the Tigers have to be extremely proud of the way they competed in this race. Brookline's Brendan Grove (15:13) and David Wilson (15:14) took the top two spots, as expected, But Dan Hamilton (15:29), Mike Goldenberg (15:47), Jared Forman (15:54), Dan Ranti (16:00), and Lichtmann ran strong races on the tough hills of Larz Anderson Park. Ranti's time of 16:00, only 31 seconds behind Hamilton is especially impressive.

Here are the top ten:

1. Grove           BRK  15:13
2. Wilson          BRK  15:14
3. Hamilton        NN   15:29
4. Goldenberg      NN   15:47
5. Forman          NN   15:54
6. Ranti           NN   16:00
7. Pratt-Otto, L.  BRK  16:13
8. Pratt-Otto, S.  BRK  16:15
9. Sklar (?)       BRK  16:17
10. Connely        BRK  16:20   

Congratulations to both teams for a tremendous effort in the regular season finale. Congratulations to Brookline for the win and their fourth straight league title.

These results and photos are courtesy of Henry Finch. You can see more of Henry's photos of the meet at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeTToad/NewtonNorthVsBrookline30oct08#