We haven’t forgotten Division 3.
After a brief five-day hiatus, we’re going to finish things up with our fall cross-country previews. Here we feature Div. 3B boys and girls.
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BOYS
Division 3B
Teams: Granby, Nantucket, Ipswich, Rockland, Northbridge, Excel Academy Charter, Monomoy Regional, Wahconah Regional, McCann Tech, Monument Mountain Regional, Bristol County Agric., Hamilton-Wenham, Smith Voc, & Agric., Millbury Memorial, Westfield Tech. Academy, Randolph, Amesbury, Littleton, Lunenburg, Mashpee, Hampshire Regional, Gardner, Cohasset, Clinton, Leicester, Tyngsborough, Uxbridge, Sturgis Charter West, Sturgis Charter East, West Bridgewater, Frontier Regional, Oxford, Blackstone Millville, Carver, Easthampton, Bourne, Innovation Academy, KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate, Sutton, Ayer Shirley, Matignon, Douglas, Greenfield
Top Athletes: Everett Pacheco, Monument Mountain; Evan Hedlund, Frontier Regional; Ben Rich, Hamilton-Wenham; James Regan, Hamilton-Wenham’ Luke Howard, Frontier Regional
Outlook: Individually, we could have a battle at the 3B race with Pacheco, Hedlund and Rich among some of our top contenders. The trio went 4-5-6 at last year’s meet, all with sub 17-minute efforts. As a sophomore, Pacheco clocked 16:43.8 at divisionals and came back a week later to take tenth overall at the Meet of Champions where he was timed in a PR of 16:34.7. He excelled in the mile on the track, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Div. 6 Championships this past spring where he raced to an all-time best of 4:21.20. After placing fifth at the 3A meet in 16:47.6, Hedlund took 12th overall at the MOC with a time of 16:38.8. Rich had the best finish among returnees in this division at the MOC, placing ninth in 16:31.0, seven days after his sixth-place showing (16:48.6) in the Div. 3B race. Regan (seventh, 17:01.73), Howard (eighth, 17:23.95) and Gardner’s Telmo Iturde (tenth, 17:40.32) are three others among the top 10 that will be back on the line this year.
The odds are favorable that defending champion Hamilton-Wenham will be taking home the team banner once again this fall. All seven of its runners from last year’s squad that posted a 34-point victory over Hampshire Regional are coming back. That includes four that were among the top 13 finishers last fall – Rich, Regan, Clark Glidden (12th, 17:49.18) and Cole Regan (13th, 17:52.21). It looks like right now Lunenburg, Frontier and Hampshire Regional could be fighting for those next three spots.
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GIRLS
Division 3B
Teams: Lynnfield, Pittsfield, Advanced Math & Science Academy Charter, Old Colony, Winthrop, Cape Cod Regional, Nantucket, Ipswich, Rockland, Northbridge, Excel Academy Charter, Monomoy Regional, Wahconah Regional, McCann Tech, Monument Mountain Regional, Bristol County Agric., Hamilton-Wenham, Smith Voc, & Agric., Millbury Memorial, Westfield Tech. Academy, Randolph, Amesbury, Littleton, Lunenburg, Mashpee, Hampshire Regional, Gardner, Cohasset, Clinton, Leicester, Tyngsborough, Uxbridge
Top Athletes: Grace Rich, Hamilton-Wenham; Asa Labell, Hamilton-Wenham; Charlotte Madden, Hamilton-Wenham; Katelyn Massey, Advanced Math & Science Academy Charter; Kathleen Barry, Hampshire Regional
Outlook: There should be a lot of familiar faces populating the top spots at this year’s 3B meet. From 2023, the top 12 finishers are all expected to toe the starting line on Nov. 9 , including Hamilton-Wenham’s Grace Rich, Labell and Madden. As ninth-graders last fall, Rich (20:10.18) and Labell (20:17.62) went 1-2 at the divisionals with Madden (20:27.61) solidifying the third spot. Massey (fourth, 20:40.12) and Barry (fifth, 20:41.42) were also under 21 minutes last year. If all are healthy, this could be a very competitive race.
Advanced Math and Science Academy, Hampshire Regional and Hamilton Wenham appear to be the strongest teams coming back.
