BOSTON — The 2009 MIAA Eastern Mass Divisional Cross Country Championships splashed down in Boston's Franklin Park Saturday, and for many River Rival Region runners, it was a soggy and uneventful day that featured as many Hurricane Ida traffic jams as those on I-95 south.
The Newburyport Clippers boys team was the only squad to qualify for this Saturday's All-States meet in Northfield, and Pentucket's Alanna Poretta was the lone female runner to qualify.
The Clippers placed an impressive second in the Division IV competition with 101 points (18:02, 1:30:10), finishing behind Seekonk High School, who ran a mighty race with 51 points (17:36, 1:27:57). According to coach Don Hennigar and senior captain Greg Englehart, taking second place was never their plan.
"We were all a little disappointed," said Hennigar. "We were hoping to win; we just didn't have one of our better days today. But our feeling is that this one bad day is behind us, it's out of our system, and we're looking forward to the opportunity at All-States."
Englehart, who placed 11th with a time of 17:45, was the lone medalist for the Clippers, though sophomore Chris Suprin just missed the top 15 qualifiers with a 16th place finish and a time of 17:53. Englehart described the day and what he believes the Clippers need to do come next Saturday.
"We were confident going in, but it's just unfortunate that we weren't able to place first," he said. "If anything, we're glad it happened this week, because we're looking forward to improving next weekend.
"We need to be more aggressive from the start," said Englehart. "Mentally, when you see guys in front of you, it can be hard to move up and play the chasing game. But this loss may have been a good thing. I'm hoping this will take off some of the pressure and we can come out and really run hard."
Other finishers for the Clippers were Chris Jayne (23rd; 18:07), Brian Morse (25th; 18:12), Sean Hickman (26th; 18:13), Keith Conway (31st; 18:29), and Ryan Clark (37th; 18:34).
Finishing in 5th place in the Division III competition, Pentucket's Poretta (19:43; 37 seconds behind winner, Swampscott's Lindsay Walsh) praised her teammates for all the hard work they put in during the season, and described how she plans to run better next Saturday.
"Everyone worked so hard and it is discouraging for the team not to make the All-States," said Poretta. "It was really a race of who could stay on their feet best without falling. But I was just really impressed with my team and the progression that they showed from the start of the year to the end.
"The race itself was pretty bad," said Poretta. "There was shoving, spiking, pushing; I actually have cuts running up and down my legs. But I'm just really looking to put this race behind me and get ready for this upcoming weekend."
The Sachems (22:53; 1:54:25) placed 14th out of 33 schools and scored 419 points. Other finishers for the Sachems included Amy Babeu (71st; 22:59), Addison Desrosiers (79th; 23:09), Erin McNamara (127th; 24:10), Abby Stephenson (137th; 24:24), Marissa Porter (143rd; 24:34), and Carolyn Babeu (179th; 25:44).
The Triton Vikings girls team (23:43; 1:58:32) placed 20th in Division III competition with 517 points. The top Viking finishers were Colleen Loughlin (45th; 22:08), Erin Loughlin (46th; 22:11), Adele Kneeland (89th; 23:23), Chloe Kealey (153rd; 24:53), Maureen Moore (184th; 25:57), Chantelle Robinson (188th; 26:06) and Molly Fargeorge (193rd; 26:20).
In Division IV girls competition, the Newburyport Clippers (23:55; 1:59:33) placed 9th with 303 points, and the Amesbury Indians (29:26; 2:27:08) placed 36th with 1,001 points.
The Clippers were led by Maddie Cutrone (31st; 23:02), Kiley Knowlton (49th; 23:33), Renee Angelo (56th; 23:50), Lexi Cole (70th; 24:16), Merri Adsit (97th; 24:52), Elizabeth O'Connor (102nd; 24:55) and Sara Tancreti (109th; 25:11).
"This was a very young team and they continued to improve throughout the year," said Hennigar. "I'm very proud of them and they seem to be looking forward to next year."
The Indians were paced by Sarah Logan (174th; 27:21), Meagan Gallagher (187th; 27:54), Jessica McFadden (210th; 29:40), Sarah McCullough (213th; 30:34), and Anna Dent (217th; 31:39).
Respectively finishing in 19th place and 31st place in the Division III boys competition were the Triton Vikings (19:03; 1:35; 14) with 517 points, and the Pentucket Sachems (19:54; 1:39:27) with 817 points.
Top finishers for the Vikings were Andrew Buckless (78th; 18:42), Zach Peabody (84th; 18:49), Cam Loughlin (94th; 18:56), Pat Saunders (123rd; 19:18), Kenny Mitchell (138th; 19:29), Joe Skoniecki (145th; 19:31) and John Kaspryzk (162nd; 19:42).
Pacing the Sachems were Jason Cox (69th; 18:30), Tim Gallant (160th; 19:40), Cam Doe (192nd; 20:21), Tom Lebrecque (197th; 20:27), Devin Larson (199th; 20:29), Brendan Lozier (210th; 20:43) and Joe Lebrecque (214th; 20:47).
In the Division IV boys competition, two other teams making do in such abysmal conditions were the Amesbury Indians (20:44; 1:43:37) who placed 25th with 672 points, and the Georgetown Royals (22:37; 1:53:02) who placed 37th with 1,026 points.
Running hard for the Indians were Peter Siess (119th; 20:23), Edward Welsh (127th; 20:38), Liam Leary (130th; 20:40), Garrett King (131st; 20:41), Alexander Tamburello (165th; 21:15), Kevin Marshall (190th; 21:56), and James Parady (191st; 21:57).
Finishing strong for the Royals were Danny Shores (156th; 21:03), Andrew Mueskes (205th; 22:27), David Jaras (209th; 22:42), Matt Hartford (227th; 23:21), Thomas Mulligan (229th; 23:29), Jeff Sullivan (230th; 23:31) and Scott Lyon (234th; 23:46).
