BSC Meet Results

October 30 was the big day for high school and college conference championships all across the land. No exception to that rule, The BSC held its league meet at Norwood again this year, and both Newton North teams ran very well.

In the boys varsity race, Weymouth's Steve Sollowin (16:05) defended his title with a dominating win over Wellesley's Peter Krieg (16:26) and the rest of the field. Newton North junior Justin Keefe had a total break-out race, finishing third in the deep field in a personal best time of 16:30. It should be noted that Keefe finished ahead of five Brookline runners who had beat him only four days earlier at Larz Anderson (beating everyone on Brookline's varsity except Chernet Sisay, who did not run).

Seniors Ezra Lichtman (16:47) and Dan Ranti (16:62) also had all-star caliber races, finishing 9th and 11th, respectively.

Brookline won the team title convincingly, even without Sisay, as they placed five runners in the top twenty to score 50 points, well ahead of second-place Weymouth. After those two teams, the next three teams were separated by only three points, showing the new parity of the league. Walpole and Newton North both scored 101 points, with the Rebels taking 3rd on the strength of the finish of their sixth man, Dave Connors. I believe it was the highest place for the Walpole boys since the glory days of the mid-90s.

Results of BSC boys varsity race

In the girls varsity race, Margo Gillis also defended her title, but had her hands full with Wellesley's Priyanka Fouda, outkicking her by a mere 2.5 seconds for the victory. Overall, times were much faster this year than in 2009, where Gillis won by half a minute and was the only girl under 20:00. This year eight girls broke 20:00, and twenty broke 21:00 compared with nine last year.

The girls team race looked like it was all Wellesley, as the Raiders took 2-3-5-9, but the Carey champion Weymouth team placed all five of their scorers in the top 13, with Julie Tevenan and Molly Barker slipping in before Milton's Clara Heiden for the last two spots. Those places would be decisive, as Wellesley's fifth runner placed only 25th, and Weymouth won by a single point, 33 to 34.

In their best meet of the season, the Newton North girls earned an upset third-place finish over three teams that had beaten them earlier in the season. After Gillis, North's second finisher was Devika Banerjee in 26th. North's next four runners -- Emma Walter, Julia Schlossman, Julia Schiantarelli, and Meghan Bellerose -- blanketed the finish in 33rd-38th with a 13-second spread.

Results of BSC girls varsity race