That’s what we were waiting for. What a weekend. Bay State blew our expectations away and the results show in our rankings, which look completely different than how they started. It wasn’t just Bay State, there was also Frank Kelley and Battle of the Border. Here is Week 4’s Power Rankings:
| 1. Lexington |
| 2. Billerica |
| 3. Concord Carlisle |
| 4. Newton North |
| 5. Whitinsville Christian |
| 6. Winchester |
| 7. Amherst Pelham +8 |
| 8. Boston Latin Academy +4 |
| 9. Greater Lowell |
| 10. Norwell |
| 11. Needham |
| 12. North Andover |
| 13. Weymouth |
| 14. Wellesley |
| 15. Northampton |
| 16. Hamilton-Wenham |
| 17. Natick |
| 18. Braintree |
| 19. Brookline |
| 20. Canton |
Honorable Mention: Bishop Feehan, Advanced Math and Science, Notre Dame Academy, Mt. Greylock, Marblehead, Westwood, Wachusett
If you’re wondering how #2 Billerica did Saturday night, instead of looking at their top runner, look at their seventh runner. Sabrina Gorski finished 20th overall (16th in team scoring) in 19:52. From there, Billerica packed six runners in the top 12. If you’re math is up to par, that means half the runners in the top 12 were from Billerica. So now the question is, have they improved enough to take on Lexington? However, the less exciting question is will they ever race? At this point they don’t appear to be crossing paths at any invitationals. Then there’s the regional/moc dilemma. While both teams should cross paths at the Meet of Champions and NXR, both meets are on the same day. It’s plausible that we could see one team in one location and the other in another.
Division 2 on the Rise
We’ve always speculated on how good Whitinsville Christian could be given they have two of the best runners in the state regardless of division. Saturday Night they showed that by winning the Varsity B race. While Emily Flagg rightfully got all the headlines, junior Inez Smith had a huge race finishing 10th overall in 19:14. They packed another three runners in the top 30 to help take the win.
Finishing in second and third in the same race were Amherst-Pelham and the defending Division 2 Champions Boston Latin Academy. Amherst-Pelham had a huge day putting five runners under 20, with a 48 second spread. While Boston Latin Academy had a much larger spread, they had two runners in the top six and under 19 minutes.
North Andover, Northampton, and Hamilton-Wenham all make their debuts on the rankings this week after strong performances Saturday. Hamilton-Wenham was runner up in the A race, and North Andover was fourth in the B race. Northampton won the open 5K race at Frank Kelley earlier in the day.
Two more Bay State Conference teams join the rankings this week in Natick and Brookline. Brookline won the Junior-Senior 3000m race at Frank Kelley. Natick has looked strong battling it out in league competition, but we should see them in action this weekend at Twilight on the Cape.
