Tibbetts, Kirby Win at County Championships

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- After dominating the Berkshire County cross country circuit for two months, Tommy Kirby can still know fear.

 

And it has nothing to do with witches, vampires or ghosts.

 

"I was scared," Kirby said of his approach to Saturday's Berkshire County Cross Country Championships at Reid Middle School. "I wanted to try to get away from the other good guys out there because I knew I could get some competition from some of these great runners."

 

Kirby, who later in the day was named the Berkshire County MVP by the league's coaches, ran away with county title with a time of 16 minutes, 36 seconds.

 

Kirby was followed across the finish line by his Mount Greylock teammate, Evan Arthur, who finished in 17:05.

 

Drury's Connor Meehan (17:28), Hoosac Valley's Jared Haley (17:47) and Mount Greylock's Jacob Fink (17:49) rounded out the top five.

 

On the girls side, Lenox senior Emily Tibbetts held off Mount Greylock freshman Margo Smith for the title. Tibbetts ran the 5-kilometer course in 19:33. Smith, the league's MVP on the girls side, finished in 19:41.

 

Tibbetts' teammates continued their domination of the league with Maggie Sorrentino (19:55), Alice Najimy (20:50), Tate Morrison (21:25) and Marion Hutgh (21:25) finishing third through sixth, respectively.

 

Lenox's girls and Mount Greylock's boys easily won the team titles.

 

The Mounties finished with 17 points, 46 points ahead of second-place Pittsfield. Tibbetts and the Millionaires garnered 19 points, 40 points ahead of runner-up Mount Greylock.

 

Tibbetts said her eight-second margin of victory did not tell the whole story of the race.

 

"It was me, Maggie [Sorrentino] and Margo [Smith] fro the first part of the race, and we were definitely pushing each other all the way through," Tibbetts said.

 

"It felt like Margo was right with me the whole time because everyone was cheering for her the whole way through. I honestly don't know when I pulled ahead. Maybe at about mile two-and-a-half, but really Margo was pushing me the entire way, all the way to the finish line."

 

Lenox coach Jeanne Teasdale said she knew early on that Tibbetts was going to be tough to beat.

 

"Emily Tibbetts had a remarkable day, fantastic," Teasdale said. "She's a senior this year, so this is icing on the cake, a race like this.

 

"She was confident going into this race, but she's very focused and maintained that the whole way. It was no surprise to see her with that lead two miles into the race. Coming that last 800 meters, I knew she was going to maintain to the finish.

 

"She maintains her focus and keeps it the whole way."

 

Now the county's harriers will be focusing on the Western Massachusetts Championships in two weeks at Stanley Park in Westfield.

 

"We're excited," Tibbetts said. "There's going to be a lot of really good competition, so we know we have to stay focused, especially these next two weeks. This is a big training period, so we've got to stay focused because there's going to be a lot of good competition both for individuals and as a team."

 

Boys - More photos of this meet here.

 

Girls - More photos of this meet here.

 

GIRLS TOP 20

1 Tibbetts, Emily           12 Lenox High Schoo      19:33.89    1             

  2 Smith, Margo               9 Mount Greylock R      19:41.55    2             

  3 Sorrentino, Maggie         8 Lenox High Schoo      19:55.59    3             

  4 Najimy, Alice             10 Lenox High Schoo      20:50.71    4             

  5 Morrison, Tate             9 Lenox High Schoo      21:25.23    5             

  6 Hutgh, Marion              9 Lenox High Schoo      21:25.98    6             

  7 Phair, Grace               9 Monument Mountai      21:26.97    7             

  8 Ellrodt, Grace            12 Lenox High Schoo      21:34.15    8             

  9 Barthe, Jamie              9 Hoosac Valley Hi      21:42.21    9             

 10 Flynn, Hannah             10 Monument Mountai      21:47.17   10             

 11 Orlando, Gabrielle         9 Wahconah Regiona      21:48.55   11             

 12 Lescarbeau, Emily         11 Mount Greylock R      21:50.12   12             

 13 Phair, Meryl              11 Monument Mountai      21:56.72   13             

 14 Williams, Ellie            7 Mount Greylock R      21:59.11   14             

 15 Polumbo, Emma             10 Mount Greylock R      22:00.72   15             

 16 Bote, Isabelle            10 Mount Greylock R      22:02.10   16             

 17 Sheldon, Anya             12 Mount Greylock R      22:05.10   17             

 18 Maddalena, Taylor         12 Pittsfield High       22:10.53   18             

 19 Dillon, Kayla             12 Monument Mountai      22:17.92   19             

 20 Jarck, Elizabeth          11 Lenox High Schoo      22:23.56   20

 

 BOYS TOP 20

 1 Kirby, Tommy              12 Mount Greylock R      16:36.66    1             

  2 Arthur, Evan              11 Mount Greylock R      17:05.71    2             

  3 Meehan, Connor            11 Drury High School     17:28.73                  

  4 Haley, Jared              12 Hoosac Valley Hi      17:47.57                  

  5 Fink, Jacob                9 Mount Greylock R      17:49.05    3             

  6 Harding, Sam              12 Lee High School       17:53.28    4             

  7 Castonguay, Cameron       11 Mount Greylock R      17:56.53    5             

  8 Culver, Sam               10 Mount Greylock R      18:03.82    6             

  9 Brandriss, Owen           10 Mount Greylock R      18:12.01    7             

 10 Bruno, Raphael            12 Lenox High Schoo      18:17.02                  

 11 McNinch, Connor           12 Lenox High Schoo      18:17.60                  

 12 Seid, Jesse                9 Mount Greylock R      18:20.65    8             

 13 Casino, Noah              12 Pittsfield High       18:23.55    9             

 14 Fournier, Greg            11 Pittsfield High       18:29.25   10             

 15 Raynor, Kevin             12 Pittsfield High       18:32.58   11             

 16 Jadallah, Mohammad        12 Taconic High School   18:32.90   12             

 17 Goodwin, Lucas            11 Pittsfield High       18:37.71   13             

 18 Fitzgerald, Owen          12 Taconic High School   18:42.97   14             

 19 Massaro, Jaryd            12 Wahconah Regiona      18:46.94   15             

 20 Serre, Ryan               11 Taconic High School   18:58.77   16