It’s not that they’re anti-social or anything.
For no particular reason other than tradition—or maybe just routine—ever since the MIAA State Meet was first held at Fort Devens’ Willard Park back in 2022, Brookline High’s team tent has always been set up outside the athletes’ village, away from the cluster of every other school.
Perhaps it’s coincidental. Perhaps it’s symbolic. But in each of their previous three championship meets prior to this weekend’s competition, the Warriors have also found themselves standing apart from their rivals when the dust finally settled.
And yes, it happened once again on Saturday. A week after its dominating 44-point victory at the Division 1A meet, Brookline secured its fourth straight team Div.1 title with a tighter 67–87 win over Natick. Concord-Carlisle was a distant third with 137 points.
Brookline did everything it needed to fend off a strong Natick squad. The Warriors got the 1–2 punch they expected from their top runners—senior Theodore Butty (fourth, 15:53.91) and junior Liam Hartmann (fifth, 15:55.54)—both landing inside the top five. After senior Harry Flint crossed the line in 16th, Brookline held a slim three-point lead over the Redhawks. The Warriors ultimately secured the crown with solid performances from junior Ibrahim Abdel-Dayem (19th, 16:13.54) and senior Aiden Vandor (33rd, 16:23.81).
Hartmann said he and his teammates managed the pressure of chasing another title by treating Saturday’s race like any other meet they’ve run this season.
“We just worked really hard,” Hartmann said. “It’s just like any other race. We just do what we know we can do—perform the way we’ve been performing every week. This whole morning we were just trying to stay relaxed, talking to each other like it was any normal day so it wouldn’t get in our heads. And we did run to the best of our ability.”
Sarney Steals the Show With Late-Race Heroics
It was a bit of a surprise in the individual race. With a blistering kick down the final stretch, Oliver Ames’ Landon Sarney caught leader John Bianchi with just a few meters remaining to win his first state crown in 15:33.30, just .26 ahead of the Natick senior. Last week’s Div. 3C victor, Sean Finnegan of Hopkinton, was third in 15:40.59. Pre-race favorite and Div. 1A winner, Greg McGrath of Boston College High, who led in the early stages, finished seventh in 15:58.74.
While he wasn’t viewed as one of the top contenders coming in, Sarney admitted he had no doubt he could win if he ran a smart race.
“It was definitely a goal coming into the race,” he said. “I never really thought anything else—just give it everything you’ve got on the line. There’s nothing to lose at this point in the season.”
Bianchi, the Div. 2B champion last weekend, managed to break away from a sizable lead pack on the third and final loop. The Eagles senior held about a 10–15 meter lead on Sarney with roughly 400 meters left. But the hard-charging senior didn’t give up, and with less than 100 meters remaining Sarney came on strong, edging Bianchi just before the finish line.
“He had a pretty sizable gap on me,” he said. “But I knew from last spring track that I can close a race pretty hard. I knew I had some leeway. I knew I could close it up a little more. I was able to get it right at the line.”
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BPS Clinches Thriller in Div. 2, Edges Longmeadow By A Single Point
The Boston Public Schools (BPS) Co-Op team put an appropriate close on its remarkable season — but it wasn’t easy. BPS had to rely on its fifth runner to secure the title, slipping just one point ahead of defending champion Longmeadow in a tense 105–106 finish.
Junior Bradon Spiess led the charge for BPS, placing ninth overall in 16:27.6. The remaining scorers were senior Ryan Collins (24th, 16:52.44), junior Adam Kramer (27th, 16:54.92), junior Khalid Jama (37th, 17:07.12), and junior Nathaniel Iliff (43rd, 17:11.11) — who ultimately proved to be the all-important fifth runner in the final tally.
In the end, less than two seconds separated BPS and Longmeadow.
“It’s surreal,” Spiess said. “We hadn’t had a win before this year. We won Battle of the Borders in New Hampshire, and that brought our confidence up. We won divisionals, and that got our confidence even higher. We had high stakes for this, and we’re happy with the win.”
Gartner Repeats As Div. 2 Victor With Wire-to-Wire Domination
It turned out to be business as usual in the individual race. For the second straight year, Falmouth’s Silas Gartner came out on top. The Panthers’ talented senior relied on his trademark front-running style, taking the lead from the gun and never relinquishing it. Gartner crossed the finish line in 15:43.55. Newburyport’s Michael Mohoric was second in 15:52.67—a 14-place improvement from his sophomore finish in 2023 after being unable to compete last year.
Gartner’s victory comes just a week after he claimed the Div. 2B crown in 16:11.7, also at Fort Devens.
“I just wanted to bring it out hard, lead the whole race. I wanted to see what I could do out here,” he said. “I definitely wanted to be faster, but I’m okay with just coming away with the win.”
Now the Falmouth senior has his eyes on another trip to San Diego for the Brooks XC Championships (formerly Foot Locker Nationals). He’ll begin that pursuit at the Brooks Northeast Championships on Saturday, Nov. 29 at Franklin Park.
The Clipper standout, who earned his spot at nationals last year by taking the tenth and final qualifying position at regionals, knows a return trip is far from guaranteed.
“I know I qualified last year, but there’s going to be a lot of competition. It’s going to be just as hard,” he said. “If I get in, I definitely want a better placement at nationals—top 15, top 20. We’ll see what I can do. It’s fun there.”
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Parker Charter Sweeps Div. 3 With Team Dominance and Individual Gold
Parker Charter pulled off the two-for-one deal in the Div. 3 race. With all five of its scorers across the line before any competitor’s third, the Panthers cruised to their third straight title, earning a convincing 75–128 victory over second-place Bromfield. Mount Greylock placed third with 138 points.
Senior Nathaniel Henshaw spearheaded the win by striking it rich at the finish line. Henshaw claimed the individual crown with a near-personal-best 15:43.6, edging Frontier Regional’s Evan Hedlund, who finished in 15:47.11.
The result echoed last month’s Small School race at the Twilight Invitational, where Henshaw also topped Hedlund—this time with a six-second margin and a PR of 15:41.9 on the fast Cape Cod Fairgrounds layout.
The Panther standout admitted Twilight was a breakthrough moment. He backed it up last week by winning the Div. 3C race.
“I never won anything before Twilight,” he said. “It all of a sudden starts happening. It just feels like all the work is finally coming together.”
Winning the team title made the day even sweeter.
“That was the goal from the start of the season,” he said. “We won the past two years as well, so this makes it three in a row. I’ve been on the team all three years. It means so much to continue the legacy and inspire the young kids coming up.”
