History in the Making

It has been a great cross-country season for history buffs, as teams from Wellesley, and Weymouth have done things unthinkable only a few years before. Yesterday was no exception, as Weymouth's Lady Wildcats ended a lifetime curse by beating the perpetually great Newton North girls 28-30.

It was a strange meet in the sense that the Weymouth team resembled all those great Newton teams of the past, teams that won with relentless pack running and an endless supply of good runners to displace other teams' #4 and #5 runners. I well remember a meet I watched in 2000 in which Brookline took 1-2-4 against North and the Tigers won by taking the next six places. It was like that yesterday, as Jess barton, Haleigh Smith, and Carolyn Ranti took places 1-3-4, and then Weymouth opened the floodgates, taking the next five spots. Hall of Fame coach Peter Martin must have wondered where was that one senior to shore up the second pack and help the freshmen bridge the gap to the Weymouth pack.

But give credit to Weymouth -- they won with a team approach and placed eight runners before Newton North's 5th.

The boys meet was also thrilling, but with a happier outcome for the host Tigers. From the first moments of the race, it was obvious that the Weymouth boys were using the same game plan as the Weymouth girls: concede the individual win, but use superior numbers to pack in six finishers before North's #4 and #5. But Weymouth didn't fully appreciate the maturity and race acumen of North's underclassmen -- especially sophomore Seb Putzeys and Ben Chebot, and junior Peter Sun.

The race went out very fast, with David Polgar taking a rare turn at the front and hitting the mile in 4:53. Doug Brecher was holding on for dear life at 5:01, with Joe Ruvido, Sean Coleran, and Noah Jampol in a tight pack nearly twenty seconds back. Then another gap of 10-15 seconds, and another pack of three Weymouth runners, Putzeys, and Chebot. The Weymouth kids looked strained, the North kids looked comfortable. At halfway, nothing significant had changed except that Weymouth now had only two kids running with Putzeys and Chebot, and Peter Sun was moving up through the pack. It turned out that Weymouth's fourth man, Alex Bober, had to drop out with achilles tendonitis, but even had he finished with their third man, it wouldn't have made a difference.

Weymouth's fate was all but sealed when Jampol outkicked Ruvido in a 38-second PR of 17:04. It was a big-time race -- fast but under control -- from Jampol, who said his farewell to Cold Spring Park in memorable fashion. Forty seconds later, Putzeys came in 7th, and Chebot outkicked Weymouth's John Connolly for 8th. Whe Peter Sun (PR 18:04) placed 10th, Newton had done what Weymouth had wanted to do, put six runners ahead of the other team's 5th.

A few other notes: Polgar remains the only runner, male or female, in the BSC to be undefeated this year in dual meets. Polgar's 16:18 and Brecher's 16:31 were the 6th and 10th fastest times on the Cold Spring course in the last five years. Sean Coleran just missed becoming the 5th non-NNHS runner to break 17:00 on the course in that period. Jess Barton's 18:57 was one second slower than her best time from last year. Jess ran comfortably for the final 100 meters or would have certainly improved her time. As it is, she becomes the first girl ever to break 19 minutes twice on the course.

How would the 2005 boys team compare with the undefeated 2001 team? Coincidentally, Tuesday's meet was held on the four year anniversary of the final home meet of the 2001 season. Here's a comparison of North's top eight finishers from 2001 and 2005:

2001                     2005
Barnicle    16:58        Polgar      16:18
Heidlage    17:29        Brecher     16:31
O'Donovan   17:32        Jampol      17:04
Burkly      17:33        Putzeys     17:50
Ronfard     17:38        Chebot      17:59
Pierce      17:54        Sun         18:04
Robb        17:56        Krasnow     18:24
Lichtmann   18:00        Abbott      18:36

So the 2005 team would take places 1-2-4-9-12 vs 3-5-6-7-8 resulting in... a 28-29 win!