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. Brookline |
| 2.Cambridge |
| 3. North Andover +13 |
| 4. Saint John’s Prep |
| 5. Newton North |
| 6. Concord Carlisle |
| 7. Lincoln-Sudbury |
| 8. Newton South |
| 9. Hopedale |
| 10. Parker Charter +7 |
| 11. Xaverian |
| 12. Billerica |
| 13. Belmont |
| 14. Natick |
| 15. Lexington |
| 16. Longmeadow |
| 17. BC High |
| 18. Reading |
| 19. Northampton |
| 20. Masconomet |
Honorable Mentions: Catholic Memorial, Amherst-Pelham Regional, Oliver Ames, Wellesley, Boston Latin, Groton-Dunstable.
Six teams debut on the rankings this week, and a few moved up drastically. Starting at the top, Brookline proved they’re still Brookline. Any doubts about their depth should be gone as they averaged 15:55 for their top five. Their three through five runners, Elias Thomasson, Toby Paradise, and Matthew Ritter, ran between 16:02 to 16:16. Could this team wind up topping last years?
The biggest mover of the weekend was North Andover. While Brookline won the A race at Bay State, it was North Andover that separated themselves in the B race with a score of 71, and an average time for their top five of 16:05. What was most impressive was their spread. Just 28 seconds for their top five and 43 for their top seven.
Not only making their debut, but entering the top ten this week, are Lincoln-Sudbury, Newton South, and Hopedale. The Warriors may have been the biggest surprise of the weekend. While they may not have the depth of North Andover, they put three runners, Josh Gamel, Lukas Masiakos, and Brendan Ma, under 16. Newton South, another team we didn’t have in our preseason rankings, finished in fourth place in the A race, just behind Lincoln-Sudbury. Hopedale’s performance may have gotten swept under the rug from earlier in the day. At Frank Kelley, they won the open 5K race by packing five runners in the top 15, led by sophomore ace, Quinn Cook, winning in 15:28. Perhaps they can usurp Parker Charter as the Division 3 Kings.
Billerica makes their debut at 12, led by Sahil Gandhi and Mason Niles, who finished 1-2 at Bay State for the #1 and 2 times in the state. With so much firepower up front, that leaves a lot of room for improvement. If they lower their spread they could be the team to beat for Division 3.
Northampton and Masonomet impressed this weekend as well at Frank Kelley. Northampton was runner up in the open 5K race to Hopedale. Masconomet won the Junior-Senior 3000m race by packing three runners in the top ten and five in the top 20.
Up this weekend we have the original Twilight Meet as well as the Deven’s Pre Meet of Champions. Cambridge Rindge & Latin appears to be ready to roll this weekend. On a notoriously fast course like the Barnstable Fair Grounds, how fast can they go?
