It’s nice to have a weekend of racing go off without a hitch. No last minute cancellations. Some of our top teams took to Franklin Park to take part in the Catholic Memorial Invitational, while a few went down to Virginia to make a statement against the East Coast’s best. There was also the Dick Atkinson Invitational and the Wachusett Invitational.
| Week 6 |
| 1. Lexington |
| 2. Billerica |
| 3. Concord-Carlsile |
| 4. Needham +8 |
| 5. Whitinsville Christian |
| 6. Winchester |
| 7. Mt. Greylock |
| 8. Amherst |
| 9. Bishop Feehan +2 |
| 10. Greater Lowell |
| 11. Weymouth +3 |
| 12. Milton |
| 13. Boston Latin |
| 14. North Andover |
| 15. Northampton |
| 16. Hamilton-Wenham |
| 17. Cambridge |
| 18. Norwell |
| 19. Wellesley |
| 20. Marblehead |
The big story this week was our #1 & 2 teams going down to the Virginia Showcase to compete alongside some of the nation’s best. Lexington finished seventh overall amongst the stacked field. Jane Conrad led the way running 17:32 to finish 16th overall. Amelia Whorton continues to acclimate well to xc, running 18:00. Billerica finished 11th overall with Kylie Donahue leading the way, running 18:05. That was 45th, just to give you an idea of the competition they were up against. So where does this leave our top two teams? They still have a difficult decision to make. The road to NXN is harder than ever with the NY regional merging back into the Northeast. Two Northeast teams, US #1 Union Catholic and Penn Charter, finished first and second, so both teams may be looking for an at large bid anyway. The question is would they get more attention by running and winning the Meet of Champions, or skipping it and running NXR? We’ll have to wait and see.
Competition in the Bay State Conference is starting to heat up. After a tough start at the difficult Manchester Invitational, Needham now looks like one of the best teams in the state. They’ve defeated Newton North twice, and were runner up Saturday at Catholic Memorial. Madison Roach and Claire Cianciolo both finished in the top ten. Weymouth continues to surge with a strong performance Saturday, finishing right behind Newton North in fourth.
Milton has been the surprise of the season. They’ve flown under the radar having not run any invitationals (They had Twilight on their schedule), but they own wins over Weymouth, Wellesley, Braintree, and Natick. They could be a surprise contender in Division 1C.
Bishop Feehan won the Varsity A race, defeating Boston Latin Academy on tie breaker, proving depth matters! Cambridge Rindge & Latin debuts on our rankings after finishing in third in the same race. Marblehead also debuts after winning the Dick Atkinson Invitational at Stanley Park with an impressive score of 30.
