It’s only a matter of time before we get our first real glimpse of some of the top teams and athletes this cross-country season. While the competitive portion of the season begins on Sept. 7 with the Vineyard Invitational and the MSTCA XC Relays, we expect that will come later in the month at statewide meets like the Frank Kelley Invitational (Sept. 21) and the Bay State Invitational (Sept. 28).
The next few weeks, Bay State Running will be preview how we expect things will transpire on the dirt trails. We’re going to break it down by divisions and sub divisions (e.g. 1A, 2B, 3C). Here we feature Division 2A girls and boys.
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GIRLS
Division 2A
Teams: Brockton, Greater New Bedford, Leominster, Essex North Shore Agric. & Tech, Revere, Southeastern Reg., Shawsheen Valley Tech, Lynn Classical, Whittier RVT, Greater Lawrence, Blackstone Valley Regional, Tantasqua Regional, Boston Latin Academy, Northeast Metro Reg. Voc., Masconomet Regional, Plymouth South, Silver Lake, Stoughton, South High Community, Walpole, Whitman-Hanson Regional, Dartmouth, Assabet Valley Regional, Minnechaug Regional, Norwood, Agawam, Westwood, Duxbury, Somerset Berkley Regional, Putnam Voc./Tech, Marblehead, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Shepherd Hill, Melrose
Top Athletes: Marri O’Connell, Marblehead; Ila Zollo, Walpole, Kay Dickson, Minnechaug; Sara Blanco, Boston Latin Academy,
Outlook: The class of the field is O’Connell. As a tenth-grader last year, the Marblehead standout won the 2A race and finished second at the Meet of Champions. For the 5K distance, she ran a best of 17:47.99 on the generous terrain of the Twilight Invitational. On the track this past spring, O’Connell had bests of 11:03 for two miles and 5:10 for the mile. She’ll be tough to beat. In a race ruled by underclassmen, Zollo, Dickson and Blanco, the 2-3-4 finishers in 2A are also coming back. Zollo was a sophomore and Dickson and Blanco were freshmen last fall.
At last year’s meet, the top three teams were separated by five points and just 31 points were the difference between the top five. Fifth-place finisher MInnechaug appears to have the strongest team coming back with its five scoring harriers all returning. Longmeadow and Walpole, who were 2-3 last year, are also possible contenders.
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BOYS
Teams: Brockton, Greater New Bedford, Leominster, Essex North Shore Agric. & Tech, Revere, Southeastern Reg., Bristol Plymouth, Shawsheen Valley Tech, Lynn Classical, Whittier RVT, Greater Lawrence, Blackstone Valley Regional, Tantasqua Regional, Boston Latin Academy, Northeast Metro Reg. Voc., Masconomet Regional, Plymouth South, Silver Lake, Stoughton, South High Community, Walpole, Whitman-Hanson Regional, Dartmouth, Assabet Valley Regional, Minnechaug Regional, Norwood, Agawam, Westwood, Duxbury, Somerset Berkley Regional, Putnam Voc./Tech, Marblehead, Fitchburg, Holyoke
Top Athletes: Caleb Barnes, Melrose; Nathaniel Assa, Marblehead; Noah Brilliant, Plymouth South; Luke Zahurak, Walpole; Will Cerruti, Marblehead; Christopher Cunha, Essex-North Shore
Outlook: The 2-3-4-5 finishers from last year’s race are all coming back with Barnes, Assa, Brilliant and Zahuralk occupying those positions. Barnes, who is a few months removed from an outdoor season where he ran bests of 9:19 for two miles and 4:22 for the mile, gets a slight favorite nod here. On the trails, he went 15:56.40 at the 2A race and went sub-16 on the generous 5K terrains of the Middlesex League Championships (15:30.70) and the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational (15:45.32). Assa, the top returnee from the Meet of Champions where he was sixth overall, will try and make it two straight for Marblehead at the divisionals, following individual winner Isaac Gross from 2023. Assa had a solid 16:12.90 at the 2A meet and 16:13.12 at the MOC. Cerrutti was 13th at divisionals and eighth (PR,16:21.66) at the MOC. Brilliant was the Patriot League Champion (16:02) and was fourth at the 2A meet (16:20.20).
Walpole and Marblehead, the 1-3 finishers at last year’s meet, appear to be the top two squads this fall. Zahurak, who was fifth in this race last year with a time of 16:27.0, will lead the way for Walpole. Teammates Cole Bowden (16:59 at 2A) and Josh Black (17:15) look like legit top-10 performers. Assa and Cerrutti are a solid 1-2 punch for Marblehead.
