As came down the final stretch, Jack Graffeo looked to the right and looked to the left, both times he gestured to the crowd gathered at Saturday’s MIAA Meet of Champions to amp up the volume. For the Westford Academy senior, he wanted to enjoy every last moment before he crossed the line a winner.
Adding to a stellar career that has included a plethora of national-level performances over the last few years, Graffeo was finally able to earn his first-ever individual title at the MOC. The Ghosts’ distance ace navigated the five-kilometer layout at Fort Devens in a time of 15 minutes, 17.08 seconds. He led nine runners under 16 minutes, including runner-up Ethan Sholk of Lincoln Sudbury, who was timed in 15:35.30.
Graffeo’s victory is the third straight for Westford Academy at the season-ending meet. The previous two years, current Stanford University freshman Paul Bergeron was the victor, a teammate that the most recent champion often finished behind since junior high.
“I was second in the town for about six or seven years,” he quipped. “Finally, coming out here and doing it, it’s just a special day. This one meant a lot. I knew I wanted this, I knew I could do it. Me and my coaches talked, We did all the hard work. The race is the easy part. Just come out here and execute.”
The confident Graffeo, whose resume includes a pair of 8:52 two-mile races including a PR and silver-medal performance of 8:52.67 from the New Balance Nationals last June, is now prepping for a return trip to the Foot Locker Nationals. His race on Saturday is only his fourth of the season before heading to Franklin Park on Nov. 30 for the Foot Locker Northeast Regionals.
A top-10 finish earns him a trip to the Nationals in San Diego. Last year he was eighth at the regionals and 30th overall at the national meet.
“In the regionals, I’m expecting to go out there and have fun,” Graffeo said. “It’s a really competitive group of guys. Anything can happen. Nothing is guaranteed. I am going to go out there and give it my best for the day. If I do that and have fun, there is really no place I can go wrong.”
Teamwise, you couldn’t have asked for a better battle between the top two seeds. For the third straight year, Brookline was able to bring home the banner, scoring 62 points. Boston College High was just nine points behind with 71.
After Brookline’s No. 1 harrier Altamo Aschkenasy third-place finish (15:38.93), the Eagles snared the next three spots with senior Shamus Larnard (fourth, 15:43.88), junior Greg McGrath (fifth, 15:44.85) and senior John Wilson (sixth, 15:47.79) taking those positions.. Brookline was able to thwart that effort by placing their next four scoring runners before BC High’s fourth to solidify the three-peat.
“We were prepared for that,,” said Brookline first-year coach Dave Fleming, about the Eagles’ talented trio. “We knew they were going to run up front. They have been running strong all season. We were looking towards the back. We were looking for our fourth and fifth runners to look at their fourth and fifth. We tried to get as many as we could in front of them, of course. We were able to do that.”
The Eagles low score would have won 16 of the last 17. Saturday’s competition was also one of just three State Meets where two teams scored less than 100 points.
Utilizing a nearly identical race plan as he did in winning the Div. 2B title a week earlier, Falmouth’s Silas Gartner captured the Div. 2 crown. The Clipper junior ran with the lead pack for more than two-thirds of the race before breaking away from his rivals that last half mile enroute to a triumphant 15:42.60, .31 faster than his performance at the divisional states. Marblehead’s Nate Assa was second at 15:52.08. Placing third with a time of 15.57.36 was Luke Chisum. Right behind in fourth was Danvers’ Luke Chisum in 15:57.77.
“I wanted to break away from the pack,” Gartner said. “I didn’t really want it to come to an all-out sprint, even though I could still run that. I wanted to race just like I did last week because it worked.”
For the first time in school history, Longmeadow was able to win the team title. Just 23 seconds separated the Lancers five scoring runners, led by junior Ethan Halpern, who was 16th overall with a time of 16:43.19.
“I was positioned at the final turn and I never was able to relax until I saw my number five,” said Longmeadow co-coach Jim Flaherty. “Anything can happen. Somebody can role an ankle, step in a bear trap in the woods. Stuff happens.”
Saving his best for last, Monument’s Everett Pacheco took his first and only lead with about a half mile remaining and crossed the line in a winning 16:09.09. Pacheco did his damage during the final uphill climb of the race. Parker Charter’s Henry Jacobsen secured second in 16:19.56.
Pacheco admitted he learned a lesson from a week earlier when he took command around the midway point.
“I knew I didn’t want to lead,” Pacheco said. “At divisionals last week, I led a little bit too long and that sort of got me a second place there.”
“About seven weeks ago, 10 of our top 11 came down with walking pneumonia,” Jacobsen said. “it was a pretty rough time for the team. We sort of pulled it together super well. The coaching staff helped us immensely.”
