Greylock Boys, Lenox Girls Win State Titles
WOODFORD, Vt. -- Berkshire County reigned supreme at Tuesday's Massachusetts State Cross Country Ski Championhips at Prospect Mountain.
In the girls race, Lenox followed up its cross country running state title with a state Nordic crown, blistering the field and county rival Mount Greylock, which finished second.
Among the boys, Mount Greylock came out on top with a victory over runner-up Lenox.
The Mounties' boys capped a perfect season by returning to the top of the podium for the first time since 2017 behind a fourth-place finish by Col McDermott, who led six of his teammates in the top 20.
Lenox's girls ended a four-year run in first place for Mount Greylock and shook off a three-point loss to the Mounties last winter by leaving no doubt at Propsect Mountain.
The Millionaires blew away the field with 19 points -- 28 better than the second-place Mounties -- as four Lenox skiers placed in the top seven.
Aidan Burns, Mary Elliot and Ava Bachman placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively, and Grace Elliot rounded out the scoring with a seventh-place showing.
In the regular season, the Millionaires traded first- and second-places with Mount Greylock in the Berkshire County League. But Tuesday's was a dominating performance.
"I think that we really believe in ourselves and we believe in each other," Burns said. "And we have wanted this for so long because we've gotten second, I don't know how many years in a row.
"We had good wax, and we just knew to ski the race as hard as we could."
Wellesley freshman Sofia Scirica led the girls wire-to-wire, skiing out of the first wave and crossing the finish line in 23 minutes, 27 seconds.
Dover-Sherborn's Mica Bodkins was nearly two minutes behind in 25:15, and then came the Millionaires, starting with Burns, who finished in 26:04.
Mount Greylock's top finisher was Annie Miller, skiing out of the third wave, who covered the course in 27:08. Brandi Gill, Jacqueline Wells and Lily McDermott also scored for Mount Greylock.
Wahconah's girls placed seventh in a 16-team field, and Hoosac Valley's girls finished ninth.
Haley Crosier (30:26) led Wahconah, placing 22nd. Hoosac Valley's Vienna Mahar (27:52) placed 19th.
In the boys race, Hoosac Valley placed seventh and Wahconah came in 11th.
Justin Levesque placed sixth for the Hurricanes in a time of 24:11. Corben Craig was 12th for Hoosac.
Wahconah was led by Hayden Kendall, who placed 30th in 25:58.
Unlike the girls' team race, the boys' was decided by just 10 points with Mount Greylock amassing 47 points to the Millionaires' 57.
Mount Greylock coach Hiram Greene was not surprised to see the county rivals dueling for the top spot.
"This Lenox-Greylock thing has been going on for years and years and years," Greene said. "And I've been here for 31 years. I can remember in the middle '90s when it was Lenox-Greylock. And the funny thing is, it's not only skiing, it's running. The same thing happens in cross country running, it's incredible.
"We both have middle school opportunities [to compete in high school sports]. For some reason, the two schools attract all these middle school kids, and they grow into better athletes. And that's why they have better [varsity] teams."
McDermott was joined in the scoring column by 15th-place Corban Miller and Foster Savitsky and Owen Tucker-Smith, who tied for 15th place.
Lenox boasted the county's top individual finisher, Colin Young, who became the first county skier to catch McDermott all season when he placed third overall in 29:26, 3:45 behind Dover-Sherborn's Lucas Bodkins, the boys individudal gold medalist.
Lenox Nordic coach Joe Bazzano was thrilled to see Young take the bronze.
"I think some of that was Col [McDermott] went out with East skiers fast," Bazzano said. "There are a couple of skiers from the East who are just super fast, and he went with them.
"And Colin was our third skier, and he came out from the start with nobody in front of him and just ran his own race. ... He's worked very hard. He's a lot more committed to skiing this year. And he's had good results all year. This is going to be a huge surprise for him, and he's gonna be super excited."
It has been an exciting year all the way around at Lenox Memorial, where the boys and girls both won Western Mass team titles in cross country and soccer and where the girls now have a pair of state championships -- one in cross country running and one in Nordic skiing.
"I think they came into the [ski] season in a good place physically," said Lenox Nordic coach Kyle Zinchuk, who also coaches the girls soccer team. "We started off the season easy, let them recover a little bit.
"Physically, they were in a good spot and psychologically they were in a good spot, feeling confident. They were able to see how the hard work pays off, and in a sport like this, you need to know the hard work is going to pay off in the end."
Video: Massachusetts’ State Championships underway at Prospect Mountain Ski Area. Lots of Berkshire XC Ski League athletes in action.
BOYS TEAM SCORES
1. Mount Greylock, 47 points; 2. Lenox, 57; 3. Wellesley, 87; 4. Westford Academy, 98; 5. Concord-Carlisle, 111; 6. Dover-Sherborn, 120; 7. Hoosac Valley, 124; 8. Acton-Boxboro, 145; 9. Wayland, 169; 10. Winchester, 174; 11. Wahconah, 175; 12. Newton North, 182; 13. Amherst, 188; 14. Weston, 206; 15. Newton South, 339; 16. Nashoba, 358.
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1. Lenox, 19 points; 2. Mount Greylock, 47; 3. Concord-Carlisle, 74; 4. Wellesley, 91; 5. Mohawk Trail, 119; 6. Wayland, 125; 7. Wahconah, 144; 8. Newton North 146; 9. Hoosac Valley, 151; 10. Dover-Sherborn, 166; 11. Winchester, 181; 12. Lincoln-Sudbury, 208; 13. Acton-Boxboro, 217; 14. Westford Academy, 236; 15. Amherst, 305; 16. Nashoba, 359.
Boys Top 20
1. Lucas Bodkins, Dover-Sherborn, 21:41; 2. Lucas Daly, Weston, 22:44; 3. Colin Young, Lenox, 23:26; 4. Col McDermott, Mount Greylock, 23:40; 5. Micah Bruner, Amherst, 23:56; 6. Justin Levesque, Hoosac Valley, 24:11; 7. Owen Matejka, Wellesley, 24:16; 8. Evan Hoch, Newton North, 24:20; 8. JT Novitsky, Lenox, 24:20; 10. Billy Caddoo, Wayland, 24:22; 11. Colin McGinn, Westford Academy, 24:28; 12. Corben Craig, Hoosac Valley, 24:33; 13. Corban Miller, Mount Greylock, 24:34; 14. Will Parker, Concord-Carlisle, 24:43; 15. Foster Savitsky, Mount Greylock, 24:44; 15. Owen Tucker-Smith, Mount Greylock, 24:44; 17. Tommy Vialle Acton-Boxboro 25:01; 18. Quinn McDermott, Mount Greylock, 25:05; 19. Cedric Lemaire, Mount Greylock, 25:12; 20. Maxime Leger, Lenox, 25:19.
Local Finishers
Hoosac Valley: Justin Levesque, 24:11; Corben Craig, 24:33; Evan Norcross, 26:05; Matthew Tassone, 30:04; Patrick Walsh, 37:59.
Lenox: Colin Young, 23:26; JT Novitsky, 24:20; Maxime Leger, 25:49; Thomas Leger, 25:49; Ted Yee, 25:59; Dennis Love, 27:33.
Mount Greylock: Col McDermott, 23:40; Corban Miller 24:34; Foster Savitsky, 24:44; Owen Tucker-Smith, 24:44; Quinn McDermott, 25:05; Cedric Lemaire, 25:12.
Wahconah: Hayden Kendall, 25:58; Jack Pudlo, 26:15; Logan Newsome, 27:40; Brennan Anderson, 28:01; Caden Frazier, 28:28; Riley Gladu, 28:49.
Girls Top 20
1. Sophia Sirica, Wellesley, 23:27; 2. Mica Bodkins, Dover-Sherborn, 25:15; 3. Aidan Burns, Lenox, 26:04; 4. Mary Elliot, Lenox, 26:06; 5. Ava Bachman, Lenox, 26:26; 6. Tali Wong, Wayland, 26:36; 7. Grace Elliot, Lenox, 26:47; 8. Erika Looman, Mohawk Trail, 27:03; 9. Annie Miller, Mount Greylock, 27:08; 10. Brandi Gill, Mount Greylock, 27:10; 11. Ella Nichol, Concord-Carlisle, 27:13; 13. Solia Herndon-Schmid, 27:24; 14. Isabella Synnestvedt, Concord-Carlisle, 27:26; 15. Charlotte Snow, Wellesley, 27:27; 16. Lily McDermott, Mount Greylock, 27:37; 17. Ellie Sablak, Concord-Carlisle, 27:43; 18. Sophia Wax, Newton North, 27:49; 19. Vienna Mahar, Hoosac Valley, 27:52; 20. Emily Appleby, Lincoln-Sudbury, 28:16.
Local Finishers
Hoosac Valley: Vienna Mahar, 27:52; Natalie Pompi, 30:47; Alanna McGrath, 32:05; Grace Kronick, 32:26; Jenna Levesque, 33:29.
Lenox: Aidan Burns, 26:04; Mary Elliot, 26:06; Ava Bachman, 26:26; Grace Elliot, 26:47; Solia Herndon-Schmid, 27:24; Piper Maxymillian, 29:46.
Mount Greylock: Annie Miller, 27:08, Brandi Gill, 27:10; Jacqueline Wells, 27:14; Lily McDermott, 27:37; Juliann Lawson, 28:16; Miriam Bakija, 28:26.
Wahconah: Haley Crosier, 28:26; Quinn Walton, 31:01; Olivia Langenheim, 31:59; Julia Trage, 32:00; Jocelyn Sommers, 32:10; Kaitlyn Olds, 32:11.