Sorrentino, Huth Lead Lenox Girls Past Mount Greylock
DALTON, Mass. -- After several weeks of running in the same circles and sizing up one another, the Lenox and Mount Greylock girls cross country teams squared off Wednesday afternoon at Wahconah.
Maggie Sorrentino and Ellen Huth took first and second place, respectively, to lead the Millionaires to a 25-30 win.
“It was actually a nice day to run, and we knew that this was the last meet of the regular season, and we were scoring Greylock, which is a really strong, powerful team,” Lenox coach Jeanne Teasdale said. “All season long, we've been eyeing each other. It's been fun because the girls really respect the Greylock team, and vice versa.”
Sorrentino pulled away from Mounties freshman Jacqueline Wells late. The Lenox junior finished with a time of 19 minutes, 7 seconds -- seven seconds ahead of her teammate and 14 seconds ahead of Wells (19:21).
Mount Greylock’s girls took places four through six with Josephine Smith and Lilliana Wells following Jacqueline Wells across the finish line. Host Wahconah was next with Haley Crosier (19:41) in sixth. Then came the decisive seventh- and eighth-place finishes from Lenox’s Marion Huth and Ava Bachman.
The fourth team in the race, Mount Everett, was led by eighth-grader Madeline Fife (23:54) in 36th place.
The boys race once again was dominated by Mount Greylock, which took the top four spots and six of the top eight.
Jesse Seid was the top boy, finishing in 16:21, 22 seconds ahead of teammate Sam Culver. The Mounties also got top 10 finishes from Jacob Fink in third, Josh Cheung in fourth, Jakin Miller in sixth and Theo Sandstrom in eighth
Wahconah’s P.J. Pharmer broke up Mount Greylock’s try to take the top five spots by placing fifth in 17:48. Lenox got a seventh-place showing from Ryan Silverstein (18:11), and Mount Everett’s Grayson Duval (18:27) and Cole Duval (18:27) finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
Wednesday marked the final midweek meet of the season in the Berkshire County League, and for many of the runners, it will be their final competition before the Berkshire County Individuals meet at Monument Mountain on Oct. 28, followed by the Western Mass Championships in Northfield on Veteran’s Day.
Sorrentino and the Millionaires, however, have one more stop before then, the Bob McIntyre Twilight Cross Country Meet on Cape Cod on Saturday.
“We're going to be pitted against some of the top teams in the state,” Teasdale said. “That was the purpose of going there. We want to scout out things, look at things, look at strategies.”
Last week, Lenox started developing its strategy for Western Mass by taking a practice run at the Northfield Mountain Recreation Center, where the sectional meet returns after a couple of years at Stanley Park in Westfield.
Teasdale said most of her team had not experienced the rugged Northfield course, which has significantly more ups and downs than the Westfield site, but she doesn’t think the Millionaires will be intimidated.
“Looking at that course and what we run in Berkshire County, I think that with the Hoosac course, the course at our school, we looked at it like, 'This isn't going to be as difficult as we thought,’ “ she said.
“It's challenging, but it's one of the courses where you have to be smart in that first mile going up the mountain.
“I think the girls feel confident.”
Girls team scores: Lenox 25, Mount Greylock 30; Wahconah 15, Mount Everett 50; Lenox 20, Wahconah 39.
Boys team scores: Mount Everett 18, Wahconah 23; Lenox 27, Wahconah 30; Mount Greylock 15, Lenox 47.
Timing and scoring provided by Berkshire Running Center.