Massachusetts XC 2012

[MA2010]

Originally Posted by deweyxc

Any discussion? Who has improved the most since last November?

Northfield always brings a few interesting twists

Plenty of individuals in the mix FTW...Green of St Johns (S) as the fav?

D1 - I would have to "pick" Bennie as the favorite based on an amazing spring, with Green "lurking". It will be fun to see them run against each other maybe 4 times this fall (dual meet, Wachusett Invite, Central District and AS) - although it would not surprise me to see one or both "skip" the dual or the Wachusett Invite.

O'Donnell (Methuen), Adams (Lexington) and Croteau (Westfield) round out my top 5 (with mention to Coppinger & McDonald Meter)

D2 - Does Carpenter (Lenox) "defend" the Western MA flag this year and win D2 @ Northfield? I say yes, with Stafford, Hale,Wyman & Herzig chasing him.

Any dark horses that I may have missed?

D1 Team - Lowell (to deep)
D2 Team - Pembroke (wants revenge this year)

[300kicks]

Originally Posted by MA2010

D1 - I would have to "pick" Bennie as the favorite based on an amazing spring, with Green "lurking". It will be fun to see them run against each other maybe 4 times this fall (dual meet, Wachusett Invite, Central District and AS) - although it would not surprise me to see one or both "skip" the dual or the Wachusett Invite.

O'Donnell (Methuen), Adams (Lexington) and Croteau (Westfield) round out my top 5 (with mention to Coppinger & McDonald Meter)

D2 - Does Carpenter (Lenox) "defend" the Western MA flag this year and win D2 @ Northfield? I say yes, with Stafford, Hale,Wyman & Herzig chasing him.

Any dark horses that I may have missed?

D1 Team - Lowell (to deep)
D2 Team - Pembroke (wants revenge this year)

these lads worthy of consideration as well:

DANIEL MACDONALD METE 11 Arlington 16:35 5:20 I
SEAMUS LAWLOR 11 Concord-Carlisle 16:36 5:21 T
NOAH MONDELLO 11 Gloucester 16:36 5:21 I
OWEN GONSER 10 King Philip 16:39 5:22 I
NATE STEPHANSKY 11 Whitman-Hanson 16:40 5:22 T
NOLAN PARSLEY 11 Weymouth 16:28 5:18 W
AARON KLEIN 11 Brookline 16:42 5:23 T
Dan Crowley Ludlow
Forest Hangen Nashoba
CJ Willliams Shrewsbury


Will we see Andrew Doherty Taunton return?
---------------
D2 AS
Paul Marias 10 Hopedale
EVAN GRANDFIELD 11 Bishop Feehan
HENRY DODGE 11 Bishop Feehan
BOBBY MCLAUGHLIN 11 Westwood
TANNER PICKLUS 11 East Bridgewater


Youngn's knocking HARD on that D2 door
NICK CARLEO 9 Newburyport
ADAM PETTI 9 West Bridgewater

[Hulk]

John Valeri 10 Pembroke 5:16 16:21
MIKE HANLEY 11 Bishop Feehan 16:41

[300kicks]

D1
1 #332 Catarina Rocha 11 Peabody 5:52 18:12 1
6 #1 Christine Davis 11 Acton-Boxborough 6:07 18:59
7 #92 Lauren O'Neil 9 Falmouth 6:08 19:03
14 #128 Jackie Solimine 11 Haverhill 6:15 19:24 9
15 #469 Abby Baker 11 Whitman-Hanson 6:16 19:27 10
16 #371 Caroline Sun 11 Sharon 6:16 19:28
17 #423 Colleen Sands 10 Wachusett 6:17 19:30 11
18 #175 Katie LaScaleia 11 Lincoln-Sudbury 6:17 19:32 12
21 #53 Alli Wood 10 Chelmsford 6:19 19:37 15
22 #188 Bryanna Allison 11 Lowell 6:20 19:39 16
23 #459 Ashley Betts 9 Weymouth 6:20 19:40 17
24 #62 Megan Ratcliffe 11 Concord-Carlisle 6:21 19:42 18
25 #471 Gianna Cacciatore 11 Whitman-Hanson 6:21 19:42 19
26 #285 Evie Heffernan 10 Newton North 6:21 19:43
27 #473 jenny dimascio-dona 10 Whitman-Hanson 6:21 19:44 20
28 #478 kelsey tierney 9 Whitman-Hanson 6:21 19:44 21

D@
1 #76 Jordan O'Dea 11 Dennis-Yarmouth 5:59 18:35 1
3 #32 Abbey McNulty 10 Bishop Feehan 6:02 18:44 3
6 #86 Lee Milne 11 Dover-Sherborn 6:07 18:59 6
7 #152 Sarah Keiran 11 Ipswich 6:07 19:00
8 #135 Julie McConville 11 Hingham 6:08 19:01 7
10 #255 Renee Capps 10 Narragansett 6:10 19:08 9
12 #388 Jessie Cardin 10 Sutton 6:13 19:18 11
13 #451 Abigail Pohl 11 Weston 6:14 19:21 12
14 #205 Lexi Buonfiglio 11 Lynnfield 6:15 19:23 13
15 #118 Emily Weigand 9 Hamilton-Wenham 6:15 19:24 14
16 #103 Natalie Mako 11 Frontier 6:17 19:29
17 #151 Shelby Aarden 9 Hopkinton 6:17 19:30
18 #247 Emily Kaegi 10 Mount Greylock 6:17 19:31 15
19 #254 Anna Capps 10 Narragansett 6:18 19:34 16
20 #109 Margaret Blatchford 11 Hamilton-Wenham 6:19 19:35 17
21 #112 Emily Horgan 10 Hamilton-Wenham 6:20 19:39 18
22 #30 Brynna Harum 10 Bishop Feehan 6:20 19:39 19
23 #17 Sarah Saccoach 11 Archbishop Williams 6:21 19:42
24 #82 Olivia Cannon 11 Dover-Sherborn 6:21 19:43 20
25 #235 Taylor Worthy 11 Medfield 6:22 19:47
26 #366 Nicole Borofski 11 Plymouth North 6:22 19:47

D2 returns 21 of 26
No Liz Holmes as of 5/22 still doing soccer

[deweyxc]

Originally Posted by MA2010

D1 Team - Lowell (to deep)
D2 Team - Pembroke (wants revenge this year)

I have a tough time believing we are the D1 favorite. Losing of 3 of your top 4 runners and 4 of your top 6, on top of losing 3 of your top 4 from the year before. Verty tough to keep re-loading on the fly like that. We will be pretty in-experienced as well. Having said that, I cant wait for the new year!

It is my belief that D1 is pretty wide open. When the 2 best teams (2 consecutive years-Brookline & Lowell), by a pretty wide margin, lose the most seniors it seems to me that the field will be pretty balanced.

I would keep an eye on, Shrewsbury, Chelmsford & SJP as they have a lot returning.

In D2 that is going to be a monumental battle between Pembroke & Feehan w/Seekonk lurking.

8 more weeks!

[MA2010]

Originally Posted by deweyxc

I have a tough time believing we are the D1 favorite. Losing of 3 of your top 4 runners and 4 of your top 6, on top of losing 3 of your top 4 from the year before. Verty tough to keep re-loading on the fly like that. We will be pretty in-experienced as well.

Re-loading on the fly? Surprised that you are the favorite? Really?

I was hoping that another coach who competes against you would have "stepped" up to answer, but I guess that would break the "lovefest" that seems to happen between coaches on this board - so here goes from a complete third party view!

Coppinger (Sr), Kalenoski (Sr.), McCardle (Sr), Whitney (Jr), Nong (Jr), Abraham (Jr), Richards (Jr) - and that’s without knowing if someone else may “step up” that I don’t even know about within the program!


Hmm – I am sure that most programs would love to have your challenge/dilemma with so many holes/inexperience – come on coach, embrace the “target on your back” – on paper you have the deepest team in the state @ D1 and if you can keep them healthy (is that why you feel they are inexperienced?), you will be the team to beat in November.


Re-loading on the fly and inexperienced - in my definition - is having to worry about who your 3rd, 4th & 5th runners are going to be and realizing that one or more of them are going to have to come from your freshman or sophomore class.


I don’t see you having to worry about that this year – do you - really?

[wtown6]

Keep an eye out for a dark horse Wellesley boys team this year. In track they had milers run 4:35, 4:36, 4:39, 4:52, 4:53, and 4:57, with all of those mentioned being either Freshmen or Sophomores. Add in a returning 2:04/17:18 now to be senior and you have the makings of a very solid team right there.

[deweyxc]

Originally Posted by MA2010

Re-loading on the fly? Surprised that you are the favorite? Really?

I was hoping that another coach who competes against you would have "stepped" up to answer, but I guess that would break the "lovefest" that seems to happen between coaches on this board - so here goes from a complete third party view!

Coppinger (Sr), Kalenoski (Sr.), McCardle (Sr), Whitney (Jr), Nong (Jr), Abraham (Jr), Richards (Jr) - and that’s without knowing if someone else may “step up” that I don’t even know about within the program!


Hmm – I am sure that most programs would love to have your challenge/dilemma with so many holes/inexperience – come on coach, embrace the “target on your back” – on paper you have the deepest team in the state @ D1 and if you can keep them healthy (is that why you feel they are inexperienced?), you will be the team to beat in November.


Re-loading on the fly and inexperienced - in my definition - is having to worry about who your 3rd, 4th & 5th runners are going to be and realizing that one or more of them are going to have to come from your freshman or sophomore class.


I don’t see you having to worry about that this year – do you - really?

We have a good team and if everyone is healthy we have a chance to win...let me get that on the table. I never said otherwise.

We are re-loading on the fly...what else would you call it? Imagine I said rebuilding...facts are, for the 2nd consecutive season we will be replacing 3 of our top 4 runners...its hard to do and at some point it catches up to you, hopefully not this year for us.

You certainly have our roster down quite well but that does not change the fact that we dont have question marks. In-experience is one of them. We have only 3 returning runners who have ever run in an MIAA Championship Meet.

Other question marks about our line-up include: Abraham, Nong and Whitney, who all had major health issues last school year including a broken femur, broken foot, ferritin level of 6, etc. Furthermore, although nobody is more excited to watch him race than me, the fact is that Abraham has never even run a XC race in his life. Nevermind up a mountain at the end of a 12 week season on a recovered broken femur.

As for embracing some sort of target...I actually prefer when we are ranked #1...it builds excitement in the program and helps our kids earn some much deserved attention from the local newspaper, teachers at school, peers, etc. I take the top ranking as a sign of prestige and a compliment that other coaches admire our program and our kids.

I stand by 3 main statements from the original post...
1. We are re-loading on the fly (not to be confused with rebuilding)
2. We lack experience
3. AS D1 Boys is wide open

[Green Lantern]

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1...n-from-varsity

Will this affect track/xc? probably not...

[MA2010]

Originally Posted by deweyxc

I stand by 3 main statements from the original post...
1. We are re-loading on the fly (not to be confused with rebuilding)
2. We lack experience
3. AS D1 Boys is wide open

Thanks Coach for your response/clarifications!

Just some thoughts on your 3 statements:

1. I think it is fair to say that re-loading with who you have in the "stable" is a position most coaches would love to have. Yes some of those runners are coming back from injury, but they are ALL very talented, and would have competed for a position on your varsity last year if they were healthy - correct? How many contending programs can make that claim?

2. See # 1 above about talented runners! I would rather have your fast runners that lack experience than experienced runners that don't run as fast anyday of the week! You are good at what you do, you have a proven system, and I have a hard time believing that by the end of the season, your team will not have the "proper" experience to succeed. Yes- Northfield is a hard course, but other than Western MA kids, virtually everyone is in the same boat ,so does anyone really have experience "running up a mountain"?

3. Wide open would imply that there is not a "front runner" - but I believe there is - Lowell!

Just one man's opinion!