Mount Greylock Boys Repeat as State Nordic Champions

WINDSOR, Mass. — When Mount Greylock's Will Nolan learned the lineup for Tuesday's state cross-country skiing championships at Notchview Reservation, he knew how he had to approach the race.

 

"I knew that Lewis Nottonson and Jacob Meyerson were both in my wave," Nolan said. "They're two of the best skiers in the state, so my coaches told me beforehand to just let them go, which is exactly what I did.

 

"So I skied a lot of the race on my own."

 

Skiing alone is nothing new for the Mounties. They've been skiing in a class by themselves most of the winter.

 

And the Mount Greylock boys' season of dominance culminated on Tuesday with yet another state championship.

 

Nolan finished fourth among individuals to lead four Mounties in the top 10 and six in the top 13 as Mount Greylock dominated the boys team competition.

 

The Mounties garnered 25 points — well ahead of Acton-Boxborough, which, led by individual champion Nottonson, collected 41 points.

 

In the girls competition, Mount Greylock placed second to Lincoln-Sudbury by a margin of 39-54. Brookline's Charlotte Cole won the girls race, covering the 5-kilometer course in 24 minutes, 45.4 seconds — half a second better than runner-rup Sonya Jampel of Newton North.

 

Mount Greylock's Grace Smith was the top Berkshire County finisher on the girls side, coming in fifth to lead four Mounties in the top 25.

 

While the girls race came down to a photo finish between Cole and Jampel, the boys race was a runaway with Nottonson finishing in 21:10 — 26 seconds ahead of teammate Eric Guba, who started in the first wave.

 

The boys team competition was a different kind of runaway.

 

"It's pretty awesome," Mount Greylock coach Hilary Greene said. "I was about halfway watching them, and you could just see it on their faces that they wanted it and they were fired up.

 

"And some of them actually smiled when they went by because they were like, 'We've got this.' "

 

"I couldn't be happier," said Hilary's father, Hiram, who works primarily with the boys team. "It's certainly more than we expected. We thought we could win if they had good races, and I think that's what happened."

 

Hiram Greene said it did not take much to motivate the Mounties.

 

"We knew there was some competition out there, and they knew it because we let them know there's a team out there that's going to be tough to beat," he said. "We've been having a fairly easy time with the league all season. ... But that doesn't guarantee you're going to win the state race.

 

"They're a great bunch of guys. I'm lucky, I'll be honest with you. They do all the work. I just watch."

 

Mount Greylock's Jake Foehl and Matthew Wiseman finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Jake Kobrin rounded out the scoring for the Mounties in 10th place, just ahead of Caleb Raymond.

 

Ian Culnane finished 13th, Derek Wood 17th and Thomas Schoorlemmer 32nd for Mount Greylock.

 

The top county finisher not skiing for Greylock was Wahconah's Curran Doyle, who finished 12th in 23:58. Hoosac Valley's Jared Haley was 19th. Lenox's matas Rudzinskas was 26th and Taconic's Matt Rabasco finished 38th.

 

Doyle helped Wahconah finish seventh in the 17-team field. Lenox was 11th and Hoosac was

13th in the boys race.

 

On the girls side, Smith took advantage out of her position in the second of eight waves going off the starting line.

 

"My coach was telling me she would give me splits off of how I was doing against those top girls in the first wave," Smith said. "I knew I was going to have to be chasing them and just be more self-motivated to push myself."

 

Smith was the first from her wave to cross the finish line. She was followed by teammates Sophie Gerry (17th), Abby Wiseman (20th) and Christina Butcher (22nd).

 

The Mounties could not catch Lincoln-Sudbury, which placed four girls in the top 20, including fourth-place finisher Clara Cousins.

 

"We knew it was a longshot to beat Lincoln-Sudbury," Hilary Greene said. "We've seen how they've been skiing all season. We skied against them in a qualifier, and they pretty much trounced us. We knew it was going to take pretty much the grace of God.

 

"But our kids skied their best. They could not have done any better. And it was right across the board, from our first skier to our eighth skier."

 

The top non-Mountie from the Berkshire County contingent was Lenox's Josephine Marshall, who finished 11th. Wahcona's Ellen Ross was 15th. Hoosac's Allison Racela was 66th, just ahead of Taconic's Lauren Farry in 67th.

 

Wahconah and Lenox finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the girls team competition.

 

GIRLS RACE

Team results: 1. Lincoln-Sudbury 39 points; 2. Mount Greylock 54; 3. Concord-Carlisle 69; 4. Wellesley 71; 5. Acton-Boxborough 80; 6. Amherst 147; 7. Wayland 154; 8. Wahconah 159; 9. Lenox 178; 10. Mohawk Trail 189; 11. Dover-Sherborn 192; 12. Westford Academy 215; 13. Newton North 220; 14. Nashoba 326; 15. Hoosac Valley 368; 16. Winchester 409; 17. Taconic 430.

Top 10: 1. Charlotte Cole, Brookline, 24:45; 2. Sonya Jampel, Newton North, 24:45; 3. Meg Yoder, 25:17; 4. Clara Cousins, Lincoln-Sudbury25:47; 5. Grace Smith, 25:58; 6. Rebecca Smith, Wellesley, 26:11; 7. Allie Skahen, Westford Academy, 26:30; 8. Talia Seltzer, Lincoln-Sudbury, 26:44; 9. Allison Lull, Mohawk Trail, 26:56; 10. Isabel Cole, Brookline, 26:57.

Mount Greylock -- 5. Smith; 17. Sophie Gerry, 28:05; 20. Abby Wiseman, 28:41; 22. Christina Butcher, 28:50.

Wahconah -- 15. Ellen Ross, 27:49; 40. Lily Howes, 30:43; 56. Stacey Tutela, 32:28; 60. Ella Sears, 32:43.

Lenox -- 11. Josephine Marshall, 27:11; 46. Alice Huth, 31:11; 54. Sophie Silverstein, 32:11; 78. Caroline Wilkerson, 35:35.

Hoosac -- 66. Alison Racela, 33:43; 89. Jamie Barthe, 36:41; 107. Sam Staffin, 39:23; 118. Mia Gale, 44:02.

Taconic -- 67. Lauren Farry, 33:47; 122. Bridget Mara-Hilliams, 46:41; 126. Leah Tanzman, 51:48; 127. Savanah Duke, 52:44.

 

BOYS RACE

Team Results: 1. Mount Greylock 25 points; 2. Acton-Boxborough 41; 3. Concord-Carlisle 83; 4. Amherst 124; 5. Westford Academy 126; 6. Wellesley 137; 7. Wahconah 139; 8. Mohawk Trail 169; 9. Newton North 191; 10. Dover-Sherborn 194; 11. Lenox 209; 12. Lincoln-Sudbury 221; 13. Hoosac Valley 254; 14. Wayland 255; 15. Winchester 349; 16. Newton South 415; 17. Nashoba 436.

Top 10: 1. Lewis Nottonson, Acton-Boxborough, 21:10; 2. Eric Guba, A-B, 21:36; 3. Jacob Meyerson, Concord-Carlisle, 21:47; 4. Will Nolan, Mount Greylock, 23:02; 5. Jake Foehl, MG, 23:14; 6. Matthew Wiseman, MG, 23:15; 7. Mark Sibold, Wellesley, 23:26, 23:26; 8. Rafi Razzaque, Newton North, 23:41; 9. August Posch, Westford Academy, 23:41; 10. Jake Kobrin, MG, 23:48.

Wahconah -- 12. Curran Doyle, 23:54; 21. Sean Peters, 25:03; 53. Dom Carnevale, 26:53; 58. Justin Geyer, 27:19.

Lenox -- 26. Matas Rudzinskas, 25:27; 43. Samuel Darby, 26:31; 67. Nicholas Ciolfi, 28:02; 86. Ryan Silverstein, 30.17.

Hoosac Valley -- 19. Jared Haley, 24:33; 28. Travis Ciempa, 25:31; 101. Mitch Barnes, 32:18; 114. Derek Koffi-Ziter, 36;15.

Taconic -- 38. Matt Rabasco, 26:19; 95. Robert Herforth, 31:39; 113. Nickolai Pixely, 36:11.