Acquaviva rolls to Bay State win
WRENTHAM — Sam Acquaviva spent the 2016 cross country season chasing teammate and Division 2 All-State champion Jack Carleo in races and workouts.
With the graduation of Carleo, Acquaviva has taken Newburyport’s No. 1 position and, no pun intended, run with it.
The Clippers junior captured the first big race of his career yesterday, roaring away from a small pack halfway through the 3.1-mile Wrentham Developmental Center layout to bury the Class A field of the Bay State Invitational in 15 minutes, 54.88 seconds. Acquaviva finished well ahead of Steven O’Driscoll (second, 16:13.0) and third-place finisher John Riley of BC High (16:17.64).
“I had the opportunity to go earlier than I thought,” Acquaviva said. “It wasn’t really my plan but I ended up in front. The weather was awesome and it’s a good course to get a fast time on.”
Riley paced the Eagles to the team title with 53 points as they put their top five runners into the top 25.
St. John’s of Shrewsbury looked to already be in championship form by sweeping the top three places on the way to the win in the Class C race with a paltry 32 points. Joshua Rahn posted the fastest time of the day at 15:41.53 with teammates Patrick Craemer (15:49.53) and Joseph Walsh (15:57.88) completing the sweep.
“I raced this course freshman year,” said Rahn. “I wanted to come here today and do my best.”
Amherst-Pelham’s Jack Yanko was running the course for the first time and found it far easier than the Northfield Mountain layout in Western Mass., home of the West Divisional championships. Yanko was alone after the mile and finished under 16 minutes with his 15:53.33 for the victory in Class B.
“I wanted to come out with the team and see what the course was like,” said Yanko. “I’m hoping to be up front at states this year.”
Wakefield was another easy winner in the team competition with 54 points, well ahead of the 89 points put up by runner-up Methuen.
The Class C girls race was the most competitive of the day with five runners jockeying for position through a 5:43 opening mile.
Newton South’s Caroline Barry concentrated on relaxing the first two miles and by the time she forged ahead she had only to deal with Tess Reyes of Algonquin. The pair battled over the final 200 meters and Reyes took a slight lead before Barry powered her way across the finish line in 18:26.82. Reyes was right on her heels in 18:26.99.
“We come back here another two times and I know I wanted to get a solid race in today,” said Barry. “The course is one that if you go out too fast it can come back to bite you.”
Billerica worked hard up front and put four harriers in the top 10 to win the team title with 60 points.
Class A proved to be a burner as well with the finish coming down to an all-out kick between juniors Margaret Donahue of Wellesley and Littleton’s Sarah Roffman. Donahue won the duel, crossing the finish line in 18:41.87 to Roffman’s 18:43.15.
“I was told to go out conservative and wait until the end to push it,” said Donahue. “I knew she (Roffman) was there the whole time. I went hard up the hill and I only had about 200 meter left.”
Wellesley was also a big winner in the team standings with its top five scoring runners in the top 10 to finish with an impressive 32 points.