Full slate promises exciting season
With just a small handful of meets last cross country season and some elite runners opting out, a better barometer of this fall’s cross country campaign lies in the stellar performances at the track All-States in June. One look at the results proves there is scary, deep talent to spare, making an exciting cross country season all but guaranteed.
Western and Central Mass boasted the top three finishers in the mile with the enormously talented Freddy Collins of Nashoba bolting to a sterling 4:16.38 win and Uxbridge’s Aidan Ross and Riley Cole of Northampton also cracking 4:20. There’s little doubt that level of racing will translate well to the trails and ultimately the All-State Meet at Wrentham in November.
The cross country schedule is back to normal this year and that means herds of teams will be heading to the Cape on Oct. 15-16 for the hugely popular McIntyre Twilight Invitational. The meet, held at the Barnstable Fairgrounds, features a bullet 3.1-mile course that is tailor-made for personal bests. The prestigious Catholic Memorial Invitational is on tap for the same weekend and gives harriers the chance to navigate Bear Cage Hill and The Wilderness at fabled Franklin Park.
Western Mass offers up the Amherst Invitational, the Ted Dutkiewicz Invitational and the Dick Atkinson Invitational. The rolling Wrentham Developmental Center 3.1-mile layout is the site of this year’s divisional meets and All-State Championships. The Frank Mooney, Frank Kelley and Bay State Invitational are also slated for Wrentham. Highland Park and the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course are growing in popularity and will host the MSTCA Relays and Highland Park Invitational. The state’s best harriers will compete at the Foot Locker Northeast Cross Country Championships at the end of November in New York City’s Van Cortlandt Park.
The Massachusetts lineup in the Bronx has the makings of one of the best in the meet’s history.
The All-State 2-mile had one of the deepest finishes ever with eight runners cracking 9:18. What is even more eye-opening is that five of them are back and will be on the starting line this fall. St. John’s Prep’s junior Nathan Lopez is the best harrier in Eastern Mass and should be neck and neck with Northbridge super sophomore Marcus Reilly.
Lopez has plenty of finishing speed, which was on display when he edged out Wellesley’s David Donahue to capture the deuce, 9:06.14 to 9:06.30. Other harriers hoping to etch their mark in the fall include Kyle Sarney of Oliver Ames, Catholic Memorial’s Christopher Sullivan, Framingham’s Sam Burgess, Lopez’s teammate Charlie Tuttle and Needham’s Kyler McNatt.
The skill level continues in Massachusetts with the likes of Martha’s Vineyard’s Zach Utz, Ben Stratton of Wakefield, Kadyn Kabuga of Billerica, Freddy Coleman of Methuen, Lunenburg’s Mike Alieva, Jay Joyce of Marshfield, Ajay Haridasse of Wakefield and Parker Charter’s Joe Korhonen. Look for David Manfredi of Weymouth, Rithikh Prakash of Burlington, Nashoba’s Ailin Oberlies and Wakefield’s Thomas Dowd to put together successful seasons as well.