Crosier, Perenick Start New-Look Season Strong for Wahconah
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DALTON, Mass. -- A school building project forced a realignment of the cross country course.
A global pandemic forced a radically different format for the harriers' races.
But one thing remains the same: Wahconah's Haley Crosier is a force.
Crosier, a ninth-place finisher at last fall's Western Mass D1 Championships, Saturday morning beat the field by more than three minutes, clocking a time of 21 minutes, 26.14 seconds and setting a 6:53 mile pace to lead her team to in the season-opening dual against Mount Everett.
Wahconah's boys and girls dominated the undersized but game Eagles as the county's four-team league got underway on two sites. In North County, the Mount Greylock boys and girls hosted Monument Mountain in the Berkshire County League's other opening day competition.
In Dalton, Alexander Perenick and Lucas Wildrick ran away from the field, and Perenick got a little separation at the end to win by just more than 10 seconds.
Perenick clocked a time of 19:21.14 (6:13 mile pace), to finish first ahead of Wildrick (19:31.56, 6:17).
"It's a lot different," Perenick said. "You don't have that energy of everyone being together from the beginning. It was different than it's ever been.
"The whole thing is different, but even running it, the crowd usually gets you energized. ... With no one except the helpers out there cheering, it definitely felt more like practice."
Even the start of the race is different. Instead of lining up against their opponents, runners Saturday went off in socially-distanced groups organized by team. All the Wahconah "waves" hit the trail first, followed by the runners from visiting Mount Everett.
For Perenick and Wildrick, at least something had a familiar feeling to it..
"Lucas and I have been running together," Perenick said. "My goal is just to stay with him. So I stayed next to him during the race. That kept me going, knowing that the faster we go, the faster it's done. And we've just gotta get it done."
Peyton Webb (19:53.69), Riley Gladu (20:35.13) and Aidan Garcia (20:36.34) rounded out the scoring for the Wahconah boys.
Mount Everett's first finisher was Matthew Lowe (24:26.60), who finished 14th overall.
In the girls race, Mount Everett fielded just two runners. Amaya Ketchen (36:28.30) and Mya Martin (36:37.10) placed 12th and 13th overall for the Eagles.
Crosier was joined in the scoring column by teammates Jocelyn Sommers (24:43.78), Madeline Rabuse, Quinn Walton and Olivia Langenheim in the top five.
Crosier said it was different not having a typical county field of three or four opposing schools and the ability to test herself against some of the other top runners in the region.
"It's a little different," Crosier said. "It's more of a mind game now. Usually, running is a mind game, but pushing yourself and trying to force yourself even though there's nobody in front of you that you have to chase, it's more of a mental image of, 'Who's going to catch me from behind?' "
Crosier said for her, the Saturday morning start did not feel as much like a practice.
"I would say no for me, because I have the mentality of, 'This is a race. You've got to focus. This is your time to go. Just go,' " she said.
Crosier said the new layout due to the construction of the new high school took away a little of that home course advantage, but she liked the route, saying it was fast like the course she knows from years past.
And, like Perenick, Crosier said she was happy to have the experience with her teammates this fall at a time when the experience of going to classes is so very different.
"We take classes online, so coming to practice, even with masks and even with staying 6 feet apart, it's still talking and interacting with people," she said. "I love the team. They're always so fun to hang out around. The runs are nice.
"Even though it's a smaller group than we're used to, it's good to get out of the house and see people and do stuff with them."