Lenox Girls, Mount Greylock and Pittsfield Boys Go 2-0
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Mount Greylock's Margo Smith edged Lenox's Emma Jourdain by one second to win the girls cross country race on Wednesday.
But the Millionaires made the most of their trip north, winning both their duals -- against Pittsfield and the host Mounties -- to stay unbeaten on the young season.
Pittsfield's and Mount Greylock's boys also picked up a pair of team wins apiece, defeating Lee and Lenox.
The Mount Greylock boys were nearly as dominant as the Lenox girls.
Individual winner Tommy Kirby led six Mounties in the top eight positions, finishing in a time of 14 minutes, 24 seconds.
On the girls side, Jourdain was followed by four of her teammates before Mount Greylock's Niku Darafshi broke up Lenox's run, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Lenox's Grace Ellrodt.
The most dramatic moment of the day came when Smith was able to hold off the hard-charging Jourdain at the wire.
"Right at the end, she made up a ton of time," Smith said. "I did know she was coming up on me, and I just tried to kick it in as hard as I could."
The harriers -- especially the girls, who ran first -- got no breaks from Mother Nature. The warm, humid conditions made for an uncomfortable trip around the 4-kilometer course.
"It's nice, but it was really hot," Smith said. "It was a lot better in the woods, but finishing on the field was hard."
Lenox's girls defeated Mount Greylock, 20-38, and Pittsfield, 15-50. Mount Greylock went 1-1 on the day, defeating Lee, 15-50. Pittsfield also split, beating Lee, 18-46.
On the boys side, Mount Greylock got a perfect score against Lee to win, 15-50, and just missed perfection against Lenox, winning 18-44 as the Millionaires' Raphael Bruno finished in third, 28 seconds behind Kirby and 12 behind second-place Evan Arthur.
Pittsfield's boys beat Lee, 17-46, and topped Lenox, 24-37, in the day's closest matchup.
PHS boys coach Michael Ortega was happy with his team's performance.
"We had a good, hard week of practice," Ortega said. "The kids are finally starting to get into shape. This is a fast course. It's a little bit shorter, but they ran very well, the whole group, especially my lead pack."
Ortega said he wasn't expecting the Generals to do as well as they did on the scoreboard, and he was pleased that the team followed the game plan.
"I told them, you just have to try to stay with the Greylock kids because they're just a good group of runners," he said. :I told them, if you can stay out with them as long as you can and just hold on, that would be a good thing for us to do. And that's what they did."
GIRLS SCORES
Teams
Lenox 20, Mount Greylock 38; Lenox 15, Pittsfield 50; Pittsfield 18, Lee 46; Mount Greylock 15, Lee 50.
Top 20 Individuals
1. Margo Smith (MG) 15:58; 2. Emma Jourdain (Len) 15:59; 3. Maggie Sorrentino (Len) 16:14; 4. Emily Tibbetts (Len) 17:03; 5. Alice Najimy (Len) 17:08; 6. Elizabeth Jarck (Len) 17:46; 7. Niku Darafshi (MG) 17:50; 8. Grace Ellrodt (Len) 18:10; 9. Ellie Williams (MG) 18:16; 10. Bella Bote (MG) 18:17; 11. Emily Lescarbeau (MG) 18:30; 12. Anya Sheldon (MG) 18:35; 13. Marion Huth (Len) 18:40; 14. Alice Huth (Len) 18:41; 15. Brandi Gill (MG) 18:41; 16. Lesley Columna (PHS) 18:43; 17. Taylor Maddalena (PHS) 18:45; 17. K. McNinch (Len) 18:47; 18. Ella King (Len), 18:50; 20. Ava Martin (Lee) 18:52.
BOYS SCORES
Teams
Mount Greylcok 15, Lee 50; Mount Greylock 18, Lenox 49; Pittsfield 17, Lee 46; Pittsfield 24, Lenox 37.
Top 20 Individuals
1. Tommy Kirby (MG) 14:04; 2. Evan Arthur (MG) 14:20; 3. Raphael Bruno (Len) 14:32; 4. Sam Culver (MG) 14:41; 5. Noah Casino (PHS) 14:43; 6. Owen Brandriss (MG) 14:44; 7. Cameron (MG) 14:45; 8. Jacob Fink (MG) 14:58; 9. Connor McKinen (Len) 15:14; 10. Tom Lee (PHS) 15:20; 11. Greg Fournier (PHS) 15:21; 12. Jesse Seid (MG) 15:40; 13. Sam Harding (Lee) 15:40; 14. Josh Cheung (MG) 15:49; 15. Jakin Miller (MG) 15:49; 16. Dylan Northrup (PHS) 15:52; 17. Kevin Roynor (PHS) 15:59; 18. Steve Taglieri (PHS) 16:00; 19. Lucas Goodwin (PHS) 16:15; 20. Noah Shepardson (PHS) 16:22.