The Reading boys and girls track teams displayed their true strengths at Sunday’s MSTCA Class B Relays and both teams left the Reggie Lewis Center with team titles.
All the more satisfying for the Rockets was winning on their terms.
It’s one thing to win a dual meet against a league opponent. Taking a major state-caliber event, however, with the same tactics is special.
The defending champion Reading boys won 5-of-10 events and scored in a sixth, breaking a pair of records in the process, for 52 points and a comfortable gap ahead of runner-up Woburn (40).
The Reading girls didn’t win a single event, but their depth proved to be devastating. The Rockets placed in every event, culminating with a sixth-place finish in the 4 x 400 relay. Mansfield and Tewksbury tied for second (39 points), just one point behind Reading’s total of 40... Read More
Bombaugh Flirts with Greatness
Shot Putter Breaks Auerbach Mark with Monster Toss
By Joe Reardon
The most telling shot-put throw Falmouth’s Samuel Bombaugh released at Saturday’s Auerbach Freshman/Sophomore Large Schools Championships was the one that never showed up in the final results.
Warming up prior to the event, the modest sophomore just barely fouled on a heave that landed 59 feet from the shot-put circle inside the Reggie Lewis Center. The Clippers sophomore knew then that he was in for a decent day in the weight cage. Read More...
Jones Runs Down All-American Season
By Joe Reardon
Months before yesterday’s Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships, Bromfield’s Emily Jones knew exactly what to expect on the 3.1-mile Balboa Park course in San Diego. For Jones, the two-time Division 2 state champion, there would be no hanging back, gearing for a devastating kick and then kicking for the tape. This race would be a battle from the gun.
“If you let up at all in this race you wind up in 40th place,” Jones said. “The start was fast because there are so many amazing runners. I knew it was going to be like that. I didn’t want to leave anything on the course.”
Jones left nothing back and is an All-American as a result... More
Jones and Maguire Stamp Foot Locker Ticket
By Joe Reardon
Emily Jones found herself in a different position than last year when she emerged from the woods onto the flat at yesterday’s Foot Locker Northeast Regional Cross County championships.
The two-time Division 2 state champion from the Bromfield School surged past Mary Kate Champagne of Plattsburg (N.Y.) and set her sights on Neely Spence of Shippensburg (Pa.) with 600 yards to go in the seeded race on the 3.1-mile Van Cortlandt Park course.
What Jones didn’t expect was how much she had left in her final kick... Read More
Defending Champions Come Up Big In EMass By Joe Reardon
Just past the 2-mile mark, before taking the sharp left into "The Wilderness" section of Franklin Park’s 3.1-mile course, Brookline’s Rob Gibson yelled for a teammate to move up to the front of the pack.
Gibson, who surged over the final 600 yards to win the Div. 1 Eastern Mass. title with a time of 15:39, said it was his job to keep the Warriors’ pack together.
"I was supposed to be pacing them through the woods," said Gibson, who also led Brookline to the team title. "I tried to keep everyone in check. Once I got to the field, I took off."
The Warriors didn’t just win the Div. 1 race - they dominated. Brookline placed four runners in the top 10 for a scant 36 points that put them well ahead of Lincoln-Sudbury (165), Newton South (168), Xaverian (198) and St. John’s Prep (208). The top-five teams move on to next Saturday’s state meet in Gardner. "It was expected we’d do well," said Brookline coach Mike Glennon. "We’re getting much tighter as a group. We were running as a pack today. We wanted to get the job done and move on."
Behind Gibson, teammate David Wilson took second in 15:51 and was followed by Medford’s Philip Galebach, who finished in 15:55.
Gloucester’s Liam Murphy took the advice of his older brother and 2001 winner, Sean, to capture the Div. 2 race in 16:13... Read More
Darrah Reigns In The Rain Mashpee Sophomore Cruises To Hockomock Win
By Joe Reardon
WRENTHAM - Max Darrah achieved the cross country equivalent of having his cake and eating it too at yesterday’s Hockomock League Invitational.
With Tuesday’s South Shore League meet looming, the Mashpee sophomore wanted to win the Division 2 race, but expend the least amount of energy as possible copping the first-place trophy over the rain-soaked 3.1-mile Wrentham Developmental Center course.
He accomplished his goal with amazing ease in the rain... Read More
Gilmore, Barry Heat Up CMI By Joe Reardon
Whitman-Hanson coach Kevin Black scanned the team results of the Division 1 boys race from yesterday’s Catholic Memorial Invitational. Black had already made note of winner Peter Gilmore’s time and was looking pensively at the finishes of the No. 5 harriers on each team.
Black, whose Panthers easily defeated runner-up Nashua South (N.H.), was pleased to see none of the No. 5 runners from the other 22 teams finished in front of Whitman-Hanson’s Pat Egan (27th, 16 minutes, 56.8 seconds) over Franklin Park’s 3.1-mile course. What pleased Black all the more was his runners’ team average time of 16:31. The mark was 13 seconds faster than the Panthers’ 16:44 at last Saturday’s Bay State Invitational... Read More
Brookline, Feehan Dominate Bay State Invitational By Joe Reardon
The only difference between yesterday’s MSTCA 16th McIntyre Bay State Invitational’s Div. 1 race at Franklin Park and a dual league meet for Brookline High was the number of runners who got to see, first hand, just how dominant Mike Glennon’s Warrior squad is this season.
The similarity? The finish was a whole lot like a Bay State League dual meet.
Robert Gibson continued his torrid streak by adding his third consecutive invitational victory in recording the fastest time of the day with his 15:49 on the sun-splashed 3.1-mile layout. Teammates David Wilson (15:55) and Michael Burnstein (15:58) finished second and third, respectively, to give Brookline the 1-2-3 sweep. Nashoba’s Anthony Raduazo was two seconds behind Burnstein in fourth (16:00) while Philip Galebach of Medford pushed his way into the top five with his 16:02... Read More
2007 Cross Country Preview By Joe Reardon
After a hot summer’s worth of training and an autumn of dual meets, and a handful of invitationals, the 32 best teams in the Bay State will wind up on the starting line of the Gardner Golf Course in November for the All-State championships. Eastern Massachusetts will not only be well represented on the rolling 2.9-mile layout, but barring injury, sickness or any other forces of nature, should come away with some impressive performances.
After an excruciating third in last year’s Div. 1 All-State championships behind Brockton and St. John’s of Shrewsbury, Brookline comes into this season as the overwhelming favorite to capture the team title that eluded them on the Northfield Mountain course. Led by Robert Gibson, who finished sixth last fall, the Warriors are loaded with talent and experience. Michael Burnstein, Elliot Lehane and Chris Mercurio are back, along with new additions Ryan Hardiman, a 4:34 miler last spring, and transfer David Wilson. Add Brendan Grove to the mix and Brookline, on paper, looks to be the toughest team in Massachusetts.
Glennon, though, knows the Warriors, the defending Bay State League champions, will have to run hard and smart on race day to beat the likes of Gloucester, Whitman-Hanson and Marshfield whom he believes are three of the biggest threats to Brookline copping a state title... Read More
State Title Looks Inviting to Gibson By Joe Reardon
The chances Brookline’s Robert Gibson or any of his Warrior teammates are mentally or physically wiped out by the time the class and all-state meets roll around are very slim. The 17-year senior, who has two invitational wins under his belt already, is nowhere near reaching anything close to a peak.
He captured his wins at the Amherst Invitational and Bowdoin Classic solely on the strength of the distance work he put in during the summer. And, hopefully, they’re a preview of things to come for Gibson, a self-proclaimed skateboard enthusiast..
After a seventh-place finish in last year’s Div. 1 all-state meet, that bordered on the bizarre, Gibson is the favorite to capture this fall’s title at the Gardner Golf Course. He still shakes his head when he thinks of that day last November at Northfield Mountain when Brockton and St. John’s of Shrewsbury left the Warriors a beaten third... Read More
m yesterday’s Catholic Memorial Invitational. Black had already made note of winner Peter Gilmore’s time and was looking pensively at the finishes of the No. 5 harriers on each team.
day’s MSTCA 16th McIntyre Bay State Invitational’s Div. 1 race at Franklin Park and a dual league meet for Brookline High was the number of runners who got to see, first hand, just how dominant Mike Glennon’s Warrior squad is this season.
er for the All-State championships. Eastern Massachusetts will not only be well represented on the rolling 2.9-mile layout, but barring injury, sickness or any other forces of nature, should come away with some impressive performances.
teammates are mentally or physically wiped out by the time the class and all-state meets roll around are very slim. The 17-year senior, who has two invitational wins under his belt already, is nowhere near reaching anything close to a peak.