Mount Greylock Skiers Defend Home Course
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Mount Greylock cross country ski team had the home course advantage but the disadvantage of going without its top racer in the girls division on Saturday.
The Mounties just kept rolling along.
Mount Greylock took five spots in the top 11 and seven in the top 16 in the girls race to post another dominant performance, even without Grace Smith, who won the first two events of the Berkshire County League season but skipped Saturday's.
On the boys side, Mount Greylock was even stronger.
Will Nolan led five Mounties in the top six and seven in the top 10 to give the home team a commanding win.
The top girl on Saturday morning was Mohawk Trail's Allison Lull, who credited her victory to Smith's absence, said that she is a fan of the course at Mount Greylock.
"It's rolling, it's really challenging because the hills are all right after another, but you get a break when you need it," she said. "It's nice."
She was not as much a fan of the format on Saturday -- a mass start as opposed to the wave start format used at Vermont's Prospect Mountain the first two meets of the season.
"I like chasing people [in the wave]," Lull said. "Wave starts are nice. It's a lot less dangerous, a lot less likely you'll get stabbed or stab somebody or fall. But as long as you're out in the beginning, it's fine. It doesn't really make a huge difference."
Lull finished 41 seconds ahead of the rest of the field on Saturday, coming in at 19 minutes, 49 seconds. Mount Greylock's Sophie Gerry was second in 20:30.
Northfield Mount Hermon's Loulou Tanski was third in 20:53, followed by a pair of Mounties: Greta Savitsky and Emma Polumbo.
Mount Greylock's Margo Smith and Christina Butcher finished ninth and 11th, respectively.
In the boys race, Nolan had a comfortable 22-second win, finishing in 15:55. Then there was a battle for second with Mount Greylock's Jake Kobrin edging NMH's Toby Weed by a second: 16:17 to 16:18.
Mount Greylock's Matthew Wiseman was just behind in 16:19, followed by teammates Jake Foehl, Joey Gais and Tommy Kirby in fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively.
Although the Mounties have not had much competition in team races so far this season, Nolan said the team is doing a good job of pushing one another during the week and on Saturdays to get ready for the state meet, less than a month away at Notchview Reservation.
"In states, we do have some team competition," Nolan said. "There are some Eastern Mass schools, like Acton-Boxboro, who we're competitive with. We push each other in practice. We race together well. As you can see, we all finished toghether.
"Our practices emulate our races, and we all try to work together on an individual level and a team level."