Athletes of the Week: Arace & Meehan

Alessandra Arace
Lenox

The Lenox High girls soccer team may not have gotten the two points it wanted in a South Division showdown against Lee this week.

But in the aftermath of last week's 4-4, come-from-behind tie, Millionaires coach Kyle Zinchuk saw something to like in the reaction of his team's leader.

"I talked to her after the game, and as well as she played ... you could see on her face she still wasn't happy," Zinchuk said of senior Alessandra Arace. "It was, 'What can I be doing better?' "

Arace has been pretty darn good through the Millionaires' first six games, scoring nine goals and adding an assist.

But Berkshire County girls soccer fans have come to expect good play from Arace, who already has committed to play Division I college soccer at Providence College.

Although Arace is excited about what her future holds, she remains rooted in the here and now and committed to a Lenox squad looking to improve on last year's appearance in the Western Massachusetts Division 4 semi-finals.

"She's the only senior on this year's team, but we didn't make her captain just because of that," Zinchuk said. "We know what she brings to the team, and it's not just her production but the way she leads by example.

"When she is working hard out there, it gets the team to work just as hard as she does."


Connor Meehan
Drury

Drury junior Connor Meehan has proven to be a great new asset to the Blue Devils 2015 cross country team.

Meehan, who switched over from soccer cleats to running shoes this year after deciding to work on becoming a better runner placed second in his first race of the season and first in the two following.

Last week at Wahconah Regional High School, he placed with a time of 16 minutes 38 seconds, with second place runner Hoosac's Jared Haley coming in with a time of 16:57.

Meehan explained that since he started his new journey on the cross country trails Haley has been a big help to him and showing him the ropes.

"I'm starting to get it down a little better, cross country is a bit different than track," Meehan said after the Wahconah meet. "But Jared has been teaching me, we're going along and we chat and he gives me pointers."

Meehan, a top competitor for the Drury track team, made the switch to this new sport with the help and advice from Drury's coach Jim Buffoni.

"He's learning how to run; first race out he took second and then two first places, so he's happy," Buffoni said. "It's different than track, it's all new to him.

"He's doing very well, he's always right up there and he works hard, he trained all summer."