Pacheco Wins Individual Crown at State Meet
DEVENS, Mass. -- Monument Mountain's Everett Pacheco took control of the race in the final mile and went on to a convincing Division 3 State Championship on Saturday at Fort Devens.
Pacheco covered the 5-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 9 seconds, 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Henry Jacobsen of Parker Charter, to take the individual title running as an indivdual.
In the same D3 boys race, Mount Greylock placed fourth to lead the Berkshire County contingent behind a fifth-place run from Rafa Mellow-Bartels.
Mount Greylock's girls also were the top Berkshire County squad in the Division 3 girls State Championship. Eighth-grader Riley Dickinson placed 32nd to lead the Mounties to third place in the team standings as all three county entries placed in the top six out of 21 teams.
Lenox finished fifth, and Amelia Desilets led Monument Mountain to sixth place with the county's best showing by an individual in the girls race. Desilets ran a time of 19:45 to finish 11th overall and 1:25 behind winner Cameron Davis of Oxford, who led wire to wire and finished 35 seconds ahead of the field.
Pacheco was locked in a duel with Jacobsen in the early going but pulled ahead on the final hill of the three-lap event.
"There's a big hill in the woods around Mile 2, and then there's a big downhill," Pacheco said. "So coming off that downhill and a little bit on this hill here, I zoomed past him."
Pacheco said the strategy he had for the race worked out as planned.
"I just knew I needed to wait it out, let whoever wanted to lead, lead and save what energy I could and make a big move at the end," he said.
While Pacheco carried the Spartans' flag in the boys race, three of the teams he battled all year sent full contingents to the season finale.
After Mellow-Bartels, Mount Greylock had a solid pack in the top third of the 186-runner field to rack up the team points it needed to place fourth in the state. Patrick Holland, Finnegan Noyes and Finnegan Voisin placed 51st, 55th and 60th, respectively, and Luke Irwin rounded out Mount Greylock's scoring with a 72nd place finish.
The Lenox boys placed seventh out of 23 teams behind sophomore Benjamin Harwood, who medaled with an eighth-place finish, crossing the line in 16:52.
Wahconah's boys placed 13th. Noah Wesley led the way with a 21st place finish.
Running as individuals, like Pacheco, Pittsfield's Cohen Zahn and Eric Harrington finished 44th and 69th, respectively. Taconic's Collin Norton was just behind Harrington in 48th. Mount Everett's Ben Vella finished 95th.
Mount Greylock's girls, who were second to Bromfield at last week's state qualifier meet, finished behind them again on Saturday as the Trojans finished second to State Champion Hamilton-Wenham.
Vera De Jong was the second Mountie across the line and one of three seniors to score for Mount Greylock, along with Chase Hoey and Katherine Goss.
"This is what we've been working towards all season," De Jong said. "I'm so proud of all our girls. ... We've been all these weeks talking about states and going toward states and just hoping for top five. So this is better than I could have imagined for us."
And, although the county did not bring home a team trophy in either race on Saturday, the area's girls teams showed just how much depth they have with Lenox and Monument Mountain placing fifth and sixth, respectively.
"I love being able to see and compete with the Berkshire County teams all season," De Jong said. "And seeing where we all end up, it's so nice. We're all friends and get to see how each other do. It's awesome."
De Jong chased a Berkshire County individual qualifier across the finish line. Pittsfield High senior Yasmine Oubtrou placed 36th overall, three seconds ahead of De Jong.
The Lenox girls, who placed second in Division 2 last year at Fort Devens, were fifth on Saturday behind Nora Schoeny, who finished 21st. The Millionaires also got a tight pack in the top third of the field as Elyssa Scrimo, Gianna Love and Halle Koenig crossed the line in 47th, 52nd and 58th, respectively.
The Monument Mountain girls, who were 15th a year ago and fourth in their wave a week ago, jumped up to No. 6 in state, passing Hampshire Regional and Advanced Math and Science, who finished ahead of the Spartans at the state qualifier.
"I'm really proud of everyone on the team, and I know we're really proud of each other," Desilets said. "We worked really hard for this moment.
"I think [at the start of the season], we knew we had a really good chance at qualifying for states. I think we thought we might come in 10th as a team. I know we came in 15th last year, so some pretty amazing progressions."
Girls Team Scores
1. Hamilton-Wenham, 89 points
2. Bromfield, 133
3. Mount Greylock, 157 (32. Riley Dickinson, 21:12; 37. Vera De Jong, 21:24; 48. Elly Wilkinson, 21:44; 53. Chase Hoey, 21:56; 61. Katherine Goss, 22:04; 76. Josephine Bay, 22:247; 78. Coralea Lash-St. John, 22:25)
4. Norwell, 162
5. Lenox, 209 (21. Nora Schoeny, 20:37; 47. Elyssa Scrimo, 21:39; 52. Gianna Love, 21:35; 58. Halle Koenig, 22:02; 119. Fiona Ward, 23:31; 129. Hannah Carhart, 23:42)
6. Monument Mountain, 216 (11. Amelia Desilets, 19:45; 34. Rae Geddes, 21.17; 57. Anna Desilets, 21:58; 93. Myah Bailly, 22:38; 106. Elise Pacheco, 23:12; 111. Nina Martin, 23:20; 127. Seren Brown, 23:42)
7. Greater Lowell Tech, 224
8. Advanced Math and Science, 232
9. Hopedale, 263
10. Parker Charter, 270
11. Hampshire Regional, 312
12. Gardner, 327
13. Seekonk, 329
14. Dennis-Yarmouth, 337
15. Frontier, 369
16. Sutton, 387
17. Tyngsborough, 395
18. Sturgis Charter East 397
19. Triton, 408
20. Norfolk Aggie, 420
21. Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter, 435
Boys Team Scores
1. Parker Charter, 52 points
2. Hamilton-Wenham, 76
3. Weston, 189
4. Mount Greylock, 199 (5. Rafa Mellow-Bartels, 16:43; 51. Patrick Holland, 17:56; 55. Finnegan Noyes, 17:58; 60. Finnegan Voisin, 18:01; 72. Luke Irwin, 18:11; 93. Benjamin Mandel, 18:26; 108. Ezekiel Singer, 18:41)
5. Hampshire Regional, 206
6. Bromfield, 221
7. Lenox, 222 (8. Benjamin Harwood, 16:52; 46. Samuel Geller, 17:52; 47. Owen Ames, 17:52; 67. Ivan Healey, 18:08; 101. William Keefe, 18:34; 120. Connor McCormack, 18:54; 121. Max Mozian, 18:54)
8. Greater Lowell Tech, 241
9. Frontier, 242
10. Swampscott, 299
11. Hopedale, 321
12. Hudson, 334
13. Wahconah, 378 (21. Noah Wesley, 17:16; 71; Lake Drieu, 18:11; 76. Fritz Sanders, 18:15; 135. Cadighan Gladu, 19:25; 159. Jack Curtiss, 20:14; 161. Brayden Ryan, 20:17; 173. Owen Tucker, 21:07)
14. Triton, 379
15. Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter, 404
16. East Bridgewater, 415
17. Littleton, 415
18. Maynard, 433
19. Belchertown, 435
20. Oakmont, 454
21. Norwell, 459
22. Uxbridge, 511
23. Southwick, 512