This past weekend had the rare Sunday meet, as Stanley Park in Westfield, MA hosted the Ted Dutkiewicz Memorial Invitational. With many of the top teams from the western half of the state in attendance, it served as a nice preview for the Western Mass XC Championships later this season.
Boys Varsity
Lenox Memorial had a great day as they won both the team title and the individual title. Junior Benjamin Hardwood stopped the clock in 16:07 to win the varsity race. He was runner up last year in 16:33 and was able to flip the script this season, and triumph over Frontier’s Evan Hedlund, en route to a new PR. Hedlund and Teammate Luke Howard took second and third in 16:12 and 16:18. Overall eight runners broke 17 in the Varsity Race.
After a sixth place showing last season, Lenox Memorial came in as an underdog and delivered an excellent performance. They edged Hampshire Regional by two points, 58-60. Their top five all broke 18 minutes and finished in the top 20 scoring positions. Hampshire was led by Owen Cubi, who finished eighth in 16:56. Hampshire had three runners in the top 11.
Girls Varsity
Spectators were treated to another duel between Lenox and Hampshire in the girl’s race. This time it was Hampshire that came out on top. Like the boy’s race, they were led by a first overall performance from Kathleen Barry in 19:48. After finishing fourth last season, Barry came in as one of the prerace favorites and ran over a minute faster than last season.
Lenox and Hampshire would occupy the next five finishing positions as they went back and forth. The Lenox duo of Gianna Love and Nora Schoeny took second and third. Teammate Elyssa Scrimo was fifth as they all ran between 20:22 and 20:58
Hampshire’s depth proved too much as they took the win 31 to 41. Their top seven all finished in the top 16. Alexandra Henrichon and Ada Corner finished fourth and sixth in 20:53 and 20:59. Hampshire took second in Division 3B last season and will look to take a run at the title this season against Division Powerhouse Hamilton-Wenham.
Junior Varsity
Hampshire Regional had more success in the JV race, as the boys won and claimed five of the first ten spots, led by Jack White. East Longmeadow’s Casen Fox won the 1.49 Mile race in 9:05. White was second in 9:11.
Hampshire won the Girls race as well, showing why they’re one of the best programs in the 413. The future looks bright as they too put five runners in the top ten, led by Lucy Skawski in 10:36. Odessa Mannix of Lenox Memorial won the race in 10:31.
Freshmen
Locke Zolnierowski of Pope Francis Preparatory edged out Camryn Saroglou of Agawam in 8:59 to 9:01 to claim the boy’s freshmen title. Hampshire won the team race.
Grace Cooney of Granby won the girls race by 20 seconds in 9:43. Keep an eye on Cooney as she is just an eighth grader. Minnechaug Regional won the team race.
