Who made the cut?
Again, we’ve asked for your input in helping us determine our top 10 list for our X-C Previews. This time we’re featuring the teams that should be listed among our best this season.
In this preview, we feature the boys’ squads. Below is our list from No. 6 to No. 10 based on your feedback from emails and Instagram as well as our our own prognosis. We’ve also included our honorable mention choices.
No. 6 – Wellesley
The Red Raiders have strength up front with their top three runners all coming back this fall – seniors Eli Merritt, Stephen Goesbringer and Maxwell Hoffman. At the Division 1-B Championships last year, a meet Wellesley took runner-up honors to North Andover, the trio finished seventh, 11th and 14th, respectively. The Red Raiders are once again among the top teams in the division, along with Westford Academy, Boston Latin, and Winchester. Other returnees expected to contribute on the trails are junior Ben Aronson and senior Conor Donahue.
No. 7 – Acton-Boxborough
From last year’s squad that was eighth in the Division 1A Championships and ninth at the Meet of Champions, A-B lost two runners to graduation with 1-3 runners Will Liu and Aeden Barnett gone this fall. The top runner for the Blue and Gold is Anthony Cronin, who was 34th at the divisionals and 54th at the Meet of Champions. Other strong returnees include senior Victor Li, senior Kyle Verner, senior Ajay Raina and junior Beckett Barnett. A-B will have plenty of competition at the division meet this fall with top teams like Brookline, Newton South, Boston College High and Newton North on the line.
No. 8 – Boston College High
Junior Chris Larnard leads a BC squad that placed fourth at the Div. 1A Championships and matched that placement at the Meet of Champions. Larnard is among four returnees for the Eagles, placing seventh in 1A (PR, 15:42.27) and 34th overall at the MOC. Underclassmen were prevalent on the 2022 squad. Coming back are junior John Wilson, sophomore Greg McGarth, junior Shamus Larnard, who were the Eagles No. 4 through No. 6 harriers at the 1A meet.
No. 9 – Winchester
The good news for Winchester is all seven of its runners are coming back from last year’s squad that was fifth in Div. 1B. Comprising that squad, which had a gap of just 28 seconds between its top five at the divisionals, are seniors Wesley Kaukas-Quinn, Jason Feng, Tyler Johnson, Erik Berostrom and Tim Hamilton and the junior duo of Owen Bernstein and Matthew Fritsch.
No. 10 – Newton North
The Tigers were a runner-up to Brookline at last year’s Division 1A Championships. We expect the Warriors to hold that No. 1 position at the meet this season and Newton North back at No. 2. The Tigers lost their top five runners from 2022, but have a solid nucleus coming back with senior Gabe Grovis and junior Nicholas Spinelli returning from varsity and junior Nate Hill, senior Reeve Derby, junior Thomas Ruane and sophomores Luke Mantell and James Lake among others that will be battle for a top-seven spot. All are capable of running from high 16 minutes to mid 17 minutes for the 5K distance.
Honorable Mention: Algonquin, Danvers, Lowell, Cambridge Rindge & Latin, Wakefield
One Response
Newton South #1 🥱