BSR/HOKA Power Rankings: Girls’ Division 1

Five teams moved up, five moved down in our latest Bay State Running/HOKA Power Rankings, released on Thursday morning.

Taking over the No. 1 spot is Oliver Ames. The Tigers, who moved up three spots from No. 4, are a few weeks removed from a strong third-place showing at the Ocean State Invitational. Oliver Ames finished third in the Championship race behind national powerhouses Union Catholic (NJ) and Saratoga Springs (NY), the defending team champion at the Nike Cross Nationals. The Tigers had four runners under 20 minutes with senior Katie Sobieraj leading the way in 14th with a time of 18 minutes, 36.70 seconds. Keep an eye on ninth-grader Devin Thomas. She was fifth in the Freshmen race, clocking 15:46.10 for 4K.

Also making a significant jump was Weymouth, which moved up three positions, to No. 6. No doubt, this past weekend’s Frank Kelley Invitational aided helped its case. The Wildcats have depth and strength up front. At the Kelley invite, Weymouth went 1-2-3 in the Junior/Senior 3K with Gracie Richard, Isabella Galusha and Kate Carnes occupying those placements.

The biggest leap in the rankings belonged to North Andover, which was out of the top 10 in the previous Power Rankings. The Scarlet Knights are now ranked No. 5. Like Weymouth, North Andover displayed its talent at Frank Kelley where its top six were under 21 minutes in the Championship 5K and the first four broke 20 minutes.