What you can say is that Newton North had its day to measure itself against the best team in the league, fought bravely, and fell to a Brookline team that was too fast, and way too deep for the Tigers.
The Brookline boys came to Cold Spring Park yesterday with an unbeaten streak dating back to the days when Gibson, Burnstein, et al. were skinny freshmen. Newton North defended its home course with a team that made the state meet last year, and had trained since then for this day. The results of the meet between two 10-0 teams would decide the league title, and it attracted a big crowd that included family and friends, runners and coaches from other Bay State teams, athletic directors, a school mascot, and the press. Although the result, a 20-39 win for Brookline, wasn't what the Tigers were hoping for, it was a great meet and an exciting day that elevated the profile of cross country.
Brookline's Sisay Chernet won the individual race in 16:22 after battling with North's front pack for much of the race. Christian Sampson took 2nd for the Warriors in 16:34, two seconds ahead of North's Ezra Lichtman in 16:36. Mark Perry outkicked Mike Goldenberg for fourth, 16:39 to 16:40, and at that point, the floodgates opened with six runners finishing between 16:45 and 16:59. Unfortunately for North, it was a flood of red and white, as Brookline's top seven all dipped below 17:00. Jake Gleason (16:54) and Dan Ranti (16:56) finished 9th and 10th, respectively for the Tigers, and Mike Weinfeld (17:31) was North's fifth man in 16th.
Both teams' top fives averaged better than 17:00. The Warriors top five averaged 16:37, while the Tigers averaged 16:55.
And lest we forget, there was a girls meet yesterday at Cold Spring Park, and the NN girls won a close meet, 25-31. Margo Gillis won the race in 19:00, with seniors Susannah Gleason fourth in 21:06 and Jaya Tripathi fifth in 21:20, and sophomore Becca Trayner seventh in 22:08.
Thanks to Henry Finch for the all the photos. You can see more at Henry's Picasa Web Album
1 comment:
Saw that the fighting Chameleons of CA fell to PA yesterday 23-33. Hopefully the team performed well and left it on the course just as the Tigers did in their defeat. Best of luck for the rest of the season.
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