Preview of the Meet of Champions? Bay State Bests Ready For Devens Classic

With a gap of just 20 seconds separating its top five runners, top-ranked Concord-Carlisle offered a glimpse of its depth and dominance with last month’s victory in the Varsity C race at the Bay State Invitational.

Now, two weeks later, the Patriots face their biggest test of the season at Saturday’s inaugural Devens Pre-Championship Classic. Held at Fort Devens’ Willard Park—the site of next month’s Meet of Champions—Concord-Carlisle will go head-to-head with two of its likely postseason rivals, fourth-ranked Cambridge Rindge & Latin and sixth-ranked Boston College High in the featured Championship race.

If you want a preview of how the Division 1 race at the Meet of Champions could unfold in mid-November, you may want to make the trip to Fort Devens to see this weekend’s competition, presented by Marathon Sports and New Balance. Concord-Carlisle is a squad loaded with talent. In its win at Bay State, the Patriots had 10 runners finish between 15:54.20 and 16:43.30 o the moderately-challenging layout of Wrentham.

CBL also showed its strength at the Bay State Invite where it beat top squads Catholic Memorial and Newton North by scoring just 38 points. The Falcons had four of its runners among the top five, clocking 16:03.60 or faster.

BC High has also proven it’s worthy of contender status, highlighted by their strong showing in the seeded race at the 60th annual McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, N.Y. On Sept. 27, the Eagles placed fourth overall among 26 teams, with four runners breaking the 16-minute barrier for the three-mile course.

Based on the entries, it should be a tight race up front, with several athletes capable of taking the crown.

In his only race this season, Leon Ibanez-Fraile of Cambridge Rindge & Latin made a statement at Bay State, posting the fastest time of the day and the state’s No. 2 mark of 15:29.1. CBL’s Thomas Dewitt (15:55.3) and Liam Eldredge (15:56.1) should also be in the mix. BC High’s Greg McGrath, the Division 1A titlist in 2024, has been strong this season, too. He has a season best of 15:55.1 in a league opener with Xaverian and an impressive 14:48.6 for three miles at McQuaid.

Other top entries in the Championship and Varsity races include:
Charles MacDonald, Concord-Carlisle – 15:44.2
Brendan Quinn, Concord-Carlisle – 15:56.5
Joey Bodenrader, Concord-Carlisle – 15:56.0
Kieran Eichler, Cambridge Rindge & Latin – 16:03.6
Jimmy Kelly, Lowell – 16:13.0
Colin Kurtz, Boston College High – 16:13.0 Noah Damaske, Winchester – 16:30.0
Matthew Gallo, Newton North – 16:38.0
Samuel Desouza, Lowell – 16:42.3

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GIRLS

The girls’ race features an intriguing matchup among four top programs — Winchester, Newton North, and Westwood — ranked Nos. 4, 6, and 7, respectively in our BSR Power Rankings. Winchester was fifth in the Championship race at last month’s Ocean State Invitational. At the Bay State Invitational on Sept. 27, Westwood outpaced a talented field to capture the team title with a 50–59 victory over tenth-ranked Amherst-Pelham.

Individually, Cambridge Rindge & Latin’s Sophia Juanes enters as the favorite. The Falcon senior, who was fourth at last year’s Division 1A Championships and eighth at the Meet of Champions, recently won the Varsity A race at Bay State with a personal best of 18:10.2.

Eight others in this field have also broken the 20-minute barrier this fall:. eighth others in this race have broken 20 minutes this fall – Newton North’s Maggie Abely (18:34), Newton North’s Esty Dudnik (18:37.0), Newton South’s Isabelle Monaghan (19:01), Winchester’s Julia Ramsay (19:12.0) and Caroline Lanz (19:16.0), Westwood’s Maeve Gavinn (19:21.0) and Newton North’s Casey Costello (19:34.0).