1. Lexington.
Deciding between these top three teams was very difficult and is a testament to the staggering amount of talent retuning this season.
Lexington tops our list as they bring back their top seven after fishing runner up at the Meet of Champions and winning the Middlesex League Meet. After finishing runner up to Needham at the Divisional race, you could argue their second place at the Meet of Champions was a surprise. There will be no surprises this year.
Led by Jane Conrad, Lexington brings back a staggering four runners that have run under 19 minutes and another three between 19:00 and 19:15. Conrad followed her XC campaign up with an outstanding 10:38 in the Two Mile outdoors and will look to challenge the very best at the Meet of Champions.
Callie Glenn, Ehmann, and Alycia Charest form one of the strongest packs in the state. (If not the region) If someone wants to top them, they’ll have to break up that group. Glenn ended the year running a strong 5:07 Mile and will look to close the gap on Conrad.
Rounding out their top seven should be Ella Tyson, Meghan Caldera, and Thayer Dicerbo. They managed to keep all of their scoring runners in the top 18 at the Middlesex League meet to score a stunning 27 points. At the Meet of Champs, Tyson was the top fifth runner overall and was instrumental in their second-place finish. Watch out for Josephine Bettencourt as well, who won the JV race at the league championship in 19:51 last season.
So what will it take to win? Last season Lexington was four points behind Westford Academy with 122. This year it should take a score under 100 to win. However, something in the 70-80s is possible between either Lexington or Billerica.
Projected Top 7
10. Jane Conrad 18:06
11. Callie Glenn 18:19
11. Erin Ehmann 18:30
11. Alycia Charest 18:40
10. Ella Tyson 19:01
12. Meghan Caldera 19:08
12. Thayer Dicerbo 19:15
