Mix of youth and experience elevates Billerica

If anyone can relate to Mason Niles’s experience as an eighthgrade standout on Billerica’s varsity cross-country team, it’s captain Ryan Leslie.

Back in 2019, Leslie cracked the Indians’ top five as an eighth grader and spent the season learning from the team’s much-older seniors. Now, the situation is reversed: Niles is Billerica’s budding star, while Leslie, along with fellow seniors Patrick Hall and Scott Canney, are helping to mentor him.

After winning the seventh grade individual state title last year, Niles has joined the three seniors atop Billerica’s lineup this season to huge success — the 12th-ranked Indians (7-1) have posted the program’s best record in over a decade. In a quad meet last week, Leslie’s victory and a fourth-place finish by Niles lifted Billerica to a 27-28 upset over No. 10 Lowell, snapping the Red Raiders’ 132-win Merrimack Valley Conference streak.

“He’s amazing. I wish I was more like Mason when I was in eighth grade,” Leslie said. “I was a bit cocky and probably not the best teammate out there . . . He just has such an awesome personality, and fit right in with the team. I’m just so excited to see how his success builds.”

Since opening in 2019, Billerica’s high school houses students in grades 8-12. Per MIAA rules, middle schoolers are eligible provided they are under the direct jurisdiction of the high school.

Billerica coach Sydney Fitzpatrick knew of Niles’s pedigree after his middle school success, but still didn’t anticipate his impact to be so immediate — much like when Leslie burst on the scene four years earlier.

“He’s just a real talent. I don’t think he even knows how talented he is,” Fitzpatrick said. “So we’re not surprised, but at the same time, we hadn’t put that on the table to expect that of Mason, just because he’s so young.”

While Niles’s peers are spending the year in middle school races, he’s already gained a full season of experience as a major varsity contributor. He didn’t expect to even be on the varsity team when the season began, but has come to embrace his unique opportunity.

“Last year, when I was running against eighth graders [as a seventh grader], I was kind of wishing that I could just run against people my own age,” Niles said. “But now, I’m just so glad that I have all this training and I’m so much faster. And I feel like that will make me a lot better in the long run.”

Fitzpatrick and Billerica’s girls’ head coach, Cullen Hagan, work a balance when integrating eighth graders on their varsity teams. Even with Niles’s success, he typically runs fewer miles per week than older runners, and often practices with a separate group.

“We’re very safe with Mason, as with all of our eighth graders,” Fitzpatrick said. “But it’s night and day compared to the training regimen that he received in middle school. It’s sort of like the middle school team helped him enjoy racing and open him up to the potential of where he’s going now.”

Leslie is among the state’s top talents, finishing eighth at last year’s All-State championship and fifth at the Ocean State XC Invitational last month. He credits much of his work ethic to spending his eighth-grade year on the varsity team and learning from his senior captains.

“I got really lucky because that senior class in my eighth grade year was incredibly special,” Leslie said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without that senior class.”

While the Indians will look very different next season, Niles is grateful for the opportunity to learn from the seniors. He knows one day he will be on the other side, and hopes to follow their mold with Billerica’s next crop of young runners.

“It’s weird. I don’t really feel like they’re that much older than me. They feel like they’re just my teammates and my good friends,” Niles said. “They’re just always there if you need someone. And I want to be like that. I want to always help someone out, and be a leader.”

Setting the pace

R Weymouth girls’ coach Mike Miller believes the pool of legitimate Division 1 contenders is deeper than any season during his 23 years of coaching — and his topranked Wildcats (8-0) are among the favorites after blazing through a loaded Bay State conference slate.

The Wildcats’ three dynamic juniors — Gracie Richard, Izzy Galusha, and Kate Carnes — have finished 1-2-3 in three of their five dual meets, with only Brookline’s Lucia Werner and Wellesley’s Audrey Fitzpatrick managing to break up the trio.

“Gracie, Izzy, and Kate are three of the best runners in the state right now, but they just want to do well for the team,” Miller said. “They’re not worried about individual glory, and that rubs off on the whole team.”

Likewise, Weymouth’s next cluster of runners — freshman Natalie McGinnis and sophomores Leah Glavin and Mia Manfredi — have emerged as consistent forces while running side-by-side at most dual meets.

“The [tough competitions] require you to pack up, or you’re gonna be running alone. And I think we’ve done a really good job of that . . . our second pack is getting closer and closer as the season has gone on,” Miller said.

R Most of the Bay State’s top teams will be competing in invitational meets this weekend.

The Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational, held annually at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in East Falmouth, will feature small and medium schools on Friday night and large schools on Saturday night. Some top Division 1 programs — including Brookline, Westford, and Natick — are expected among Saturday’s field.

Other local teams are headed to the Catholic Memorial Invitational at Franklin Park, or to the Manhattan College XC Invitational in New York.