Five days before the MIAA Division 1 State Championships, Greg McGrath wasn’t sure he’d make it to the starting line.
The Boston College High senior — and the state’s top-ranked runner — was dealing with a slight injury in his right leg.
“I got injured a week ago. I had this really bad calf cramp, and I’ve been having Achilles issues the last week,” McGrath said. “I’ve honestly done zero workouts the last two weeks.”
After receiving treatment from the school’s athletic trainer midway into the week, McGrath gave it a go. And judging by his performance on Saturday, that decision paid off.
On a Wrentham Developmental Center course that’s quickly becoming one of his favorites, McGrath looked as smooth as ever. Just weeks after clocking a sub-15-minute performance on the same five-kilometer layout, the Eagle standout went straight to the front and never looked back, cruising to a commanding 16-second victory in 15:23.10. Andover’s Landon Zoss took runner-up honors in 15:39.10.
“I thought I was going to do terrible today,” he said. “I was pretty down on myself before this race. If I am coming in and running like that, off of little training, I am so pumped right now.”
McGrath admitted the injury took did take a toll on him mentally in the days leading up to the race.
“I’ve never really been injured before. It was a lot, mentally,” he said. “I’d go home every night, five days in a row, and I cried. I just cried. I was really down on myself. I thought that was it. But my coach, and our amazing trainer at BC High, worked on me for a couple of days — and with some faith — I came back.”
Teamwise, Brookline captured its eighth divisional state title since 1996, cruising to a decisive 56–90 victory over second-place Lexington.
The Warriors placed four of their scorers among the top 10, turning what was expected to be a tight matchup with Lexington, St. John’s Prep, and BC High into a commanding win. Leading the way for Brookline were senior Theodore Butty (fourth, 15:54.20), junior Liam Hartmann (fifth, 15:57.80), senior Harry Flint (eighth, 16:03.70), and Ibrahim Abdel-Dayem (tenth, 16:06.90). Aiden Vandor rounded out the scoring by placing 29th overall in 16:36.80.
“We knew Lexington was going to be a really good team — they’re really deep,” said longtime Brookline coach Mike Glennon. “They’ve been coming on the last few years with a great group. Luckily, we’re not scoring 140 or whatever, because they go really deep, just like Concord-Carlisle.
“We knew Prep was putting together a nice group of kids, and they’ve had a really good season. BC High, we knew they’d be tough — unfortunately, they had one of their top five out. We knew it would be tough, but we’ve been coming along all season.”
Concord-Carlisle Dominates Division 1B
Top-ranked Concord-Carlisle looked strong in capturing the Division 1B crown, using a tight 31-second spread between its top five to handily defeat runner-up Natick, 44–70.
In what proved to be a tactical race, Natick’s John Bianchi broke from a crowded lead pack with about a mile remaining to claim individual honors in 15:51.90. Concord-Carlisle’s Joey Bodenrader finished runner-up in 15:57.20.
Bodenrader led a 2–4–9–11–19 scoring finish for the Patriots. Joining him in the top five for Concord-Carlisle were senior Brendan Quinn (fourth, 16:03.70), sophomore Jackson Misek (ninth, 16:06.10), senior Charles MacDonald (11th, 16:17.20), and junior Braedon Quayle (19th, 16:31.30).
With the depth of talent on the line, the early pace was relatively conservative — roughly 5:10 per mile through a mile and a half — with a pack of at least 15 runners still in contention. Bianchi, last year’s runner-up, was content to wait before making his move.
“We were trying to go for the team win, so I was just trying to get the lowest stick possible and come out on top to build confidence for next week and give my team the edge with that number-one finish,” he said.
Bianchi entered the race with a personal best of 15:10.90 from last month’s Twilight Invitational and had recently won the Bay State Conference Championships at Wrentham in 15:26.30. He wasn’t concerned that Saturday’s time was slower.
In fact, he embraced it.
“I really do like tactical races,” he said. “That’s the beauty of cross country — the strategy, the hills, the weather, the conditions, all of it. It’s definitely hard for me not to go all-out, but I’ve kind of learned that doing that every time isn’t going to help me. If I run all-out every race, it won’t benefit me when it matters most at the state meet.”
Oliver Ames Rallies for Division 1C Title
Every placement was crucial in the Div. 1C meet where Oliver Ames edged runner-up Reading, 60-64. The Tigers came on strong in the final third of the race, erasing a 20-point deficit to the Rockets at the 3K mark.
Hopkinton’s Sean Finnegan captured the individual title with a time of 15:29.90, with Landon Sarney of Olver Ames finishing second at 15:34.0. . Finnegan ran a patient race, waiting until just over a mile left before taking over the lead.
“(Sarney) kind of like moved to the side. I think he wanted me to take the lead, so I did.” Finnegam said. “I knew if I took it I had to throw in a surge to drop him. That’s what I did. The last mile was really hard. I am really happy about the finish.”
Along with Sarney, junior teammate Devon McStowe also cracked the top 10, placing sixth overall in 16:03.20. The remaining scorers included senior Lawrence Dear (13th, 16:28.50), junior Colin Donahue (18th, 16:42.20) and senior Douglas Smith (21st, 16:47.60), sealinng the narrow four-point victory.
