Weymouth, Brookline Are State Champions

Hearty congratulations to the Weymouth girls (and coach Mike Miller) and the Brookline boys (and coach Mike Glennon) on their championship performances in the State Meet at Gardner yesterday!

Weymouth, which earned the school's first-ever state cross-country championship, had to fend off a strong challenge from "home team" Wachusett Regional, which had dominated the Central Mass meet on this same course a week ago, and Bay State rival Wellesley, which had won the EMass Div 3 race at Franklin Park and was competing at the State Div 1 level for the first time.

It seemed that the new alignment (and expanded field from the six EMass divisions) helped create a terrifically well-balanced race at the front. The top fifteen runners in the girls Div 1 race were from 15 different schools. In the end, Weymouth had the most depth, and was the only school to place five runners in the top forty. As it so often turns out, their fifth runner was the difference, as Bridget Jaklitsch crossed the line well ahead of any other team's final scorer.

Taking individual honors, Lincoln-Sudbury's Andrea Keklak repeated as state D1 champion, running 16:37 to best Peabody sophomore Catarina Rocha by five seconds. This was Keklak's second time running at Garder. As a freshman in 2007, she finished 7th and led her team to the championship. Let us take a moment to appreciate how good Keklak has been over the past four years. In that time she has won three EMass D1 titles and two individual state championships, also finishing second as a sophomore.

(An interesting side note: one of Keklak's teammates from her sophomore season -- then senior Jennifer Gossels who now runs for Williams College -- won the individual title was second at the NCAA Div III championships yesterday.)

Speaking of appreciating runners, in her final XC race for Newton North, Margo Gillis finished 15th overall in a time of 17:33.

MIAA Girls D1 State Cross Country Results

And now to Brookline.

The last time time the state meet was held at Gardner, Brookline dominated, placing four runners in the top ten and scoring a mere 25 points. On that day, the Warriors' top FIVE scored fewer points than any other team's top THREE, and fewer points than 13 of the 15 other teams' top TWO, which is about as dominant as any team has been at the state level.

This year's D1 race was a lot more competitive. Brookline had finished second to Lowell at EMass, and was also facing defending champ Mansfield and Central Mass champ St. John's of Shrewsbury. In the Emass race, Brookline had not run Evan Sternstein, but it was Sternstein who stepped up big to finish 5th for the Warriors -- a step behind teammate Mark Perry -- and seal the victory.

Shrewsbury's John Murray won the individual honors, running 14:06, which happens to be about three seconds faster than Chris Barnicle ran when he won in 2004. Chris, it will be remembered, went on to win the Footlocker Northeast Regional and finish 6th at Footlockers. I'm just saying. Murray was 12 second ahead of Weymouth's Steve Sollowin, who finishes his Mass. XC career with an EMass D1 win and a state runner-up finish.

Newton North's Dan Ranti, who qualified as an individual, finished 50th overall in a fine time of 15:14.

MIAA Boys D1 State Cross Country Results

In Boys D2, Pembroke Brookline-ized the competition, finishing 1-3-5-11-15 and beating runner-up Hamilton-Wenham 35-114. Pembroke junior Wesley Gallagher won a sprint finish over Old Rochester's Dana Dourdeville, 14:20.5 to 14:20.8

In Girls D2, Bishop Feehen was clearly the best team on the course, going 1-4-14-17-25 to defeating Hamilton-Wenham 61 to 85. Feehen's Viviana Hanley was the individual champion and had the fastest time of the day, running 16:28.