Lenox Girls, Mount Greylock Boys Repeat at Western Mass

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- As expected, the Lenox girls and Mount Greylock boys on Saturday defended their Western Massachusetts Division 2 team titles.

 

But one Berkshire County harrier who excelled at Stanley  Park did a little better than even he expected.

 

"For my first year, I was just trying to do the best I could," Drury junior Connor Meehan said. "To come in second in Western Mass is just great. It's a great feeling."

 

Meehan covered the 5-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 28 seconds, about 35 seconds behind Mount Greylock senior Tommy Kirby, who led the Mounties to a first place finish in the team competition.

 

Evan Arthur, Cameron Castonguay and Sam Culver all finished in the top 10 for Mount Greylock, and Jacob Fink finished 13th to round out the Mounties' scoring.

 

Fink is just a freshman. In fact, outside of Kirby, all six of the Mounties competing on Saturday are underclassmen 

 

"We've got a young team, so we'll probably get a few more championships in the next year," Kirby said. "In a couple of years -- I mean, we're only graduating me and one other guy, so we're going to have a great team next year."

 

Mount Greylock's boys, who won their school's sixth straight sectional title, are pretty good this year. And they will have one more chance to show it next weekend when they represent Western Mass in the state championships back at Stanley Park.

 

Meehan will be there as an individual, and so will the Lenox girls, who took three of the top five positions and placed five in the top 16 en route to an easy win over second-place Hampshire.

 

Emma Jourdain finished second for Lenox in 18:44 behind individual champion Taylor Blow of Hampshire (18:32).

 

Emily Tibbetts, Magdalena Sorrentino, Alice Najuimy and Tate Morrison teamed with Jourdain to amass 39 points for the Millionaires, who had a 29-point margin of victory over runner-up Hampshire.

 

Moutn Greylock's girls finished third in the team standings with 108 points.

 

The Mounties' top finisher on the girls side was freshman Margo Smith, who finished eighth in 19:33.

 

Monument Mountain placed a couple of girls in the top 25: Meryl Phair and Grace Phair, who were 17th and 19th, respectively. And Hoosac's Jamie Barthe cracked the top 25 in 24th place in a time of 20:59.

 

Drury High's lone girl in the race, freshman McKenzie DiGennaro posted a highly respectable 30th-place finish with a time of 21:17. Lee High was led by Ava Martin (22:40). McCann's Hope Blake (23:50) finished in the middle of the 129-girl field.

 

The Division 1 girls team team title went to Northampton with four finishers in the top 10. The Blue Devils' 31 points were half that of runner-up Amherst-Pelham. Amherst's Sophia Jacobs-Townsley won the D1 girls race in 18:54, 30 seconds slower than the D2 race.

 

The first Berkshire County girl across the line in D1 was Wahconah's Gabrielle Orlando, who finished 20th in 20:58. She was joined in the top 25 by teammate Kat Bruce (21:19).

 

Pittsfield's top three runners finished in a tight pack when Lucia Shuff-Heck, Taylor Maddalena and Lessley Columna finished in 46th, 47th and 48th, respectively. Taconic senior Karli Manship was just ahead of them in 43rd place.

 

Holyoke pulled away in a tight three-team race in the D1 boys. Holyoke finished with 60 points, ahead of Amherst (68) and Northampton (74). The Devils were paced by individual D1 champion Liam Sullivan (15:53).

 

Berkshire County's boys were led by Noah Casino of Pittsfield, who placed 31st with a time of 17:32. Wahconah's Jaryd Massaro (18:01) and Taconic's Mohammed Jadallah (18:02) led their teams.

 

The second best Berkshire County boys team in the Division 2 race on Saturday was Monument Mountain, which placed fifth out of a 23-team field.

 

The Spartans were paced by sophomore Jared Henry (18:22) in 33rd place. He was followed closely by four teammates, who finished in the next eight positions.

 

Ten Berkshire County boys placed in the top 25 in D2.

 

Hoosac Valley's Jared Haley (17:14) placed 10th. Lee's Sam Harding (17:28) was 15th and. And Lenox's Connor McNinch (17:36) was 18th.

 

McCann senior Lucas Yell finished his standout career by running a time of 20:04. Mount Everett junior Kenneth Edwards placed in the top half of the 158-runner field with a time of 19:34 to lead the Eagles.

 

Not surprisingly, all four races on Saturday finished with times significantly under the kinds of finishes turned in last year on the mountainous course at the Northfield Recreation Center.

 

The biggest difference came in D2 girls. A year ago, Lenox's Tibbetts won that race in 20:29; on Saturday, the top time by Hampshire's Blow was 18:32 at "Flat Stanley."

 

"It went by very fast," Jourdain said. "This whole afternoon has just flown by.

 

"We raced this course three weeks ago at Baystate, so we were used to it. Not everyone completely loves this course, but it's nice because it's flat. And then we had the hill at the end. I think that was a big advantage for Lenox runners."