Wellesley XC doubles up SCHOOL ROUNDUP
With its tight turns at the end of many long straightaways, runners are able to gauge just how far ahead or behind they are on the Wrentham Developmental Center’s 3.1-mile course.
So when Milton’s Bobby Carew took a peek with 400 meters left at yesterday’s Bay State Conference Cross Country Championships and saw no one, he knew first place was well in hand. Carew continued to push for home and broke the tape in 15 minutes, 59.31 seconds after placing fourth last fall.
“There’s some tight turns and it’s easy to see how far ahead you are,” said Carew.
Carew was part of a tight pack early that passed the mile in 5:01. He accelerated shortly later and broke past everyone but Myle LissRiordan of Brookline. The Warrior runner hung tough but was 40 meters back at the finish in 16:06.89.
“I wanted them to take it out for me and then I saw the opportunity to take the lead so I took it,” said Carew. “I felt great and hopefully I can carry it going forward.”
Jason Norris of Wellesley placed third in 16:09.14 and led the Raiders to the team title with 71 points to outdistance Milton’s 81 points.
On the girls’ side, Framingham’s Abigail DeVeau continued her breakout season with a tactical win in 18:41.69.
DeVeau trailed the lead pack the first mile and began to move up shortly after until she was even with Natick’s Genna Girard. She continued to force the pace and put 30 meters of daylight behind her as Girard finished second in 18:45.70.
“I knew I was top five in the conference so I was hoping for that,” said DeVeau, who had a huge improvement on her 15th-place freshman finish. “I tried to stick with them to pace and at the end I went. Once I caught up and knew she was getting tired. I knew it was my time. I tried not to go out to hard. I wanted to use this race as motivation for divisionals.”
Wellesley put four runners in the top 10 to capture the team title with 49 points.
O’Bryant wins BCL
When O’Bryant head coach Trudy Fisher arrived at Madison Park two hours before Saturday’s Boston City League girl’s volleyball championship she was surprised to see her players already in the gym.
That was when Fisher realized how much her team wanted to win.
O’Bryant delivered with a 25-20, 25-22, 25-16 sweep of Latin Academy to be crowned the champions of the City League.
“I’m an early-riser, so I had them get here very early this morning,” Fisher said. “I learned a long time ago that when you get in the court first you command it.
“I told them to be here at 11 a.m. When I got in around 10:30 a.m. they were already here. That lets you know they wanted the game.”
During a back-and-forth first set, O’Bryant led by five twice, but the Dragons refused to go away, cutting the deficit to two each time. The Tigers finished the set with three consecutive points, highlighted by a Maura Vizcaino set-winning kill.
The winning kill from Vizcaino gave O’Bryant a bolt of energy in the second set, as the Tigers jumped out to a 15-2 lead backed by four kills and an assist from Theresa Piard. Latin Academy came back ferociously and got within 2422, following three straight kills from Alizah Diaz. But a Latin Academy service error handed O’Bryant the second set, and the Tigers’ sights on the City League championship trophy were clear.
“They worked hard all season long to get to this point,” Fisher said. “One of the best groups I’ve ever had. And if you know anything about me, I’ve had a lot of groups. They did everything that I’ve asked.”
Vizcaino continued to pace O’Bryant in the third set, as her first four serves resulted in a 4-0 lead. The senior right side hitter finished her day with a kill to give O’Bryant a 23-16 lead.
“The chemistry of this group was phenomenal,”
Fisher said. “They got along well with each other, they communicated well, they supported each other, they just liked each other.”
Vizcaino was named the championship’s most valuable player.
“We had a lot of communication and our group has been together for a long time,” Vizcaino said. “We had that passion together.”
Field hockey
Maddie DiNapoli scored three times as North Reading defeated Malden, 5-1, in a nonleague contest. … Lucas Crook tallied three goals and an assist while Cami Crook added another goal and two assists to power Somerset Berkley (18-0) to a 5-1 victory over Plymouth North.
Girls soccer
Madeline Delaney scored twice as Brooks rallied to tie Governor’s Academy, 2-2, in an Independent League School contest.