Looking Back on a Decade of Duals

Two undefeated teams. The final league meet of the year. Runners knowing that this race could define their season. Yes, today Concord Academy meets Portsmouth Abbey to determine the top team in the Eastern Independent League. Oh, was there another important meet scheduled for today?

Of course everyone knows that today is the annual showdown between the two dominant XC programs in the Bay State league. Newton North (undefeated at 10-0, ranked 10th in MSTCA's D1 poll) hosts Brookline (undefeated at 10-0, multiple defending league champions, ranked 4th in the D1 poll) at Cold Spring Park. It will be merely the latest in a long series of titanic struggles between the two schools, a see-saw history in which the two programs trade off stretches of dominance.

I watched my first Brookline-Newton race in October 2000. The Brookline team won with ease, carrying themselves with an imperial confidence. That team -- with Jordan Conover and George McArdle leading the way -- would finish 5th in the State Meet.

In 2001, Brookline fell early in the season to Braintree, ending a five-year unbeaten run. However, the Warriors were still in a position to earn a share of the league title in the final meet of the year against North at Larz Anderson. In that meet, McArdle won, but North freshman Chris Barnicle took second and senior Ben Heidlage took fourth to break up Brookline's front pack. That allowed North's depth to prevail, and the Tigers won 27-32.

For the next three years, North enjoyed its own run of dominance. Led by Barnicle, the Tigers would not lose a dual meet or league meet title. But Brookline was never an easy meet. Well, maybe in 2002, when the Warriors struggled and ran a sub-par race at Cold Spring. But in 2003 and 2004 Brookline was very tough, even for a North team that would go on to win the State Championship in 2004. Those meets, and the league meets, were never taken for granted.

The see-saw shifted again in 2005, with the graduation of seniors Barnicle, Dan Chebot, and Clayton Lloyd. North's unbeaten streak came to an end at the hands of a very good Wellesley team, and although the Tigers ran a brave race at Larz Anderson, Brookline's team that featured super sophs Rob Gibson, Mike Burnstein, and Eliot Lehane, along with Adam Kaye, and Matias Carrasco. The Warriors would finish 2nd in the state meet that year, beginning a new run of dominance that has lasted for four years, and counting...

In 2006, Brookline was unstoppable, scoring a perfect 15 at the league meet. In 2007, with the super sophs now seniors, and with the addition of state runner-up David Wilson, the Warriors won the state championship and earned their place as one of the best teams in Massachusetts history.

And while this was happening, as surely as the seasons turn, Newton was rebuilding, dreaming of the day when they would bring an end to the Brookline streak. It very nearly happened last year, as a surprising North team came oh-so-close to beating Brookline on its home course in the showdown meet. With North leading on points late in the race, a North runner collapsed with less than 150 meters to go and Brookline's streak survived another year.

Which brings us to today, and the final meet of the first decade of the 21st century. Newton has been running extremely well, but Brookline is loaded with a mix of tough vets (Brendan Grove, 24th in the All-State meet two years ago as a sophomore) and new talent (Sisay Chernet, 3rd at the Amherst Invitational in 16:19 earlier this year).

So it comes down to today, where the two best teams in the league will write the latest chapter in one of the state's great rivalries. Good luck to both teams, and may the competition bring out the best in the runners who have inherited the legacy of this exciting event.