Mount Greylock's Smith, Drury's Meehan Earn Cross Country Wins
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Drury senior Connor Meehan edged rival Evan Arthur of Mount Greylock in Tuesday’s five-team meet.
Meehan finished in 13 minutes, 53 seconds, just about two-and-a-half seconds faster than the Mounties senior.
“It came down to the last quarter mile,” Meehan said. “We had a great race. It was very strategic. We were neck and neck and it kept picking up and picking up. It was a fun race.”
Last week, Arthur finished 28 seconds ahead of Meehan at Reid Middle School in Pittsfield.
“I felt pretty good, a lot better than last week,” Meehan said. “Coach and I set up a game plan. We executed that well. I stuck with that, and it ended up working out in the end.”
Meehan said the competition between the two harriers will pay dividends when the sectional meet rolls around next month at Westfield’s Stanley Park.
“The last two weeks have obviously been hard races for me,” Meehan said. “Last week, he got me. But all through the season, I think we’re bringing the times down faster and faster, which is good. We’re two pretty high caliber runners in Western Mass. Us being able to compete now is really going to help in Western Mass.”
Arthur was followed across the finish line by five of his Mount Greylock teammates, starting with third place Jacob Fink and continuing with Sam Culver, Cameron Castonguay, Josh Cheung and Owen Brandriss in fourth through seventh, respectively.
The Mounties had similar success on the girls side, where winner Margo Smith (17:12) led seven Mounties in the top 10.
Smith finished 12 seconds ahead of teammate Niku Darafshi. Mount Greylocks’ Hazel Scullin and Emily Lescarbeau were fifth and sixth, respectively. And Emma Polumbo, Josie Smith and Miriam Bakija rounded out the top 10 in places eight through 10 for the Mounties.
Wahconah filled the other top 10 positions, with Danielle (17:30) and Gabrielle Orlando placing third and fourth, respectively. Katerina Bruce placed seventh.
Cassie Crosier (19:42) led the Drury girls with a 19th-place showing, just ahead of Taconic’s Mary Decelles (19:47). Lee eighth-grader Amber MacDowell just missed the top 25, placing 27th in 20:38.
On the boys side, Ryan Serre (14:56) paced eighth for Taconic, leading a group of five for his team who finished in the top 13. Jake Paris, Trevor Pelkey, Zabion Powell and Brandon Pelkey posted a strong grouping in 10th through 13th, respectively.
Wahconah’s Chris Campos placed 14th in 15:46, and Lee’s Sebastian Dowd-Smith was 24th in 17:00.
The rest of the county’s high school cross country teams will be in action on Thursday at Monument Mountain.
Girls: More photos of this meet here.