A plethora of runners have chosen to continue their cross-country seasons beyond the Thanksgiving holiday with more than 300 registered for Saturday’s Foot Locker Northeast Regionals, held for the second straight year at historic Franklin Park.
In the featured Championship race, where the top 10 finishers earn a trip to San Diego for the Foot Locker Nationals on Dec. 14, we have three MA natives (boys and girls) that solidified a spot last year.
Who are a few of our top boys at this weekend’s meet, one that also includes athletes from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, D.C.? Who have a shot at cracking that top 10 against the region’s best?
Here’s some we have in mind.
Coming back from last year are Andover Phillips Academy’s Tamrat Gavenas and Westford Academy’s Jack Graffeo, who finished fourth and eighth, respectively, at the regionals.
Gavenas, who went on to finish third at the national meet, has competed just thrice this fall with victories at the Manchester (NH) Invitational, Manhattan (NY) Invitational and the NEPSTA Division 1 Championships, where he ran a season 5K best of 15:01 on Nov. 11. At Manhattan in mid October, Gavenas claimed the Eastern States title with PR of 12:33.8 for the 2.5-mile course and raced to an impressive 15:24.8 on a tough 5K at Derryfield Park on Sept. 23 to take top honors at Manchester, 13 seconds ahead of Alex Fisher of Loomis Chaffee (CT). Fisher, a seventh-place finisher at FL-NE last fall, recently qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals after taking runner-up honors at NXR-NE this past weekend.
Graffeo has also taken a well-calculated approach to the season with hopes of prospering at this Saturday’s meet for the second straight year. The University of Colorado-bound senior is coming off a victory at the MIAA Meet of Champions two weeks ago where he cruised to a time of 15:17.1 at Fort Devens. He also went sub-15 to win his second straight title at the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational last month. No doubt the unbeaten Graffeo will be well-rested and ready to go this weekend in only his fifth race of the season.
Tyngsboro’s Matt Giardina, who competes over the border at Bishop Guertin (NH), is also in the field. Giardina won the NHIAA Meet of Champions (MOC) with a PR of 14:58.5 in early November. He’ll certainly have fire in his eyes after just missing a spot to NXN this past weekend by placing seventh in 15:58.5 at Bowdoin Park.
Silas Gartner of Falmouth, the Division 2A titlist, will also be looking to excel at Franklin Park. The Panthers junior looked strong in winning his race at the MOC with a time of 15:42.6. In the past, a time in the mid 15:30 range has been enough to qualify for the nationals. Gartner has proven he’s capable of averaging five-minute pace on Saturday. Will it be enough?
There’s more from MOC that will toe the line, some that could fare well this weekend.
From the Division 1 race, Lincoln Sudbury’s Ethan Sholk (second, 15:35.30), Boston College High’s Shamus Larnard (fourth, 15:43.88), BC High’s Greg McGrath (fifth, 15:44.85), and Marshfield’s Graham Heinrich (seventh, 15:53.81) are all entered. Marblehead’s Nate Assa (second, 15:52.08), Wayland’s Luke Chisum (third, 15:57.36), Melrose’s Caleb Barnes (fifth, 16:11.83) and Marblehead’s Will Cerrutti (sixth, 16:16.67) are among Div. 2’s top finishers that will answer the gun. From Div. 3, individual winner Everett Pacheco of Monument, who broke the tape in 16:09.09, has registered.. He’ll be joined by familiar rivals from that race, Parker Charter teammates Henry Jacobsen (second, 16:19.56), and Nathaniel Henshaw (fourth, 16:30.82), to name a few.
The Championship race is scheduled for 10:50 a.m.
