Cross country: Amherst boys, Northampton girls capture regular season finale (PHOTOS)

NORTHAMPTON — Coming into the home stretch of the dual meet between the Northampton and Amherst cross country teams on Tuesday, Owen Platt was winded and doing all he could to hang on. 

Both teams knew that it was going to be a close finish, and that places mattered – the top five runners score for each team, and the lowest score wins.

Platt, normally Amherst’s eighth-fastest runner, found himself in that all-important fifth spot heading into the final half mile. The sophomore hadn’t been feeling great to start the race, and then the worst happened – a group of Northampton runners came up on his shoulder, a pack that threatened to upend Amherst’s chance of victory if they passed him.

“I feel awful. I’m dry heaving, I feel like I’m going slow. And then I see like five people come up on my shoulder… what was going through my head was, ‘I’m not doing this, I’m losing us the meet,’” Platt said. “I thought I’m just gonna try my hardest to stick on the back of their pack and see what happens. And then that last stretch, I don’t know – I felt well enough, I picked it up and I caught all but one of them.”

Platt regularly relies on his kick – he’s more of a sprinter than a long-distance runner, excelling in the 400 and 800-meter races on the track. He broke out his speed for the ‘Canes when it mattered most, flying across the line in ninth place (18 minutes, 11 seconds) to secure the Amherst boys a 25-30 win.

Northampton’s Teddy King-Pollet won the meet, finishing in 16:41, 26 seconds ahead of Amherst’s top finisher, second place Will Larson (17:07). Amherst’s Calvin Miller took third overall (17:33), and Davis Wheat crossed the line in fourth for Northampton (17:48). Amherst’s Nico Lisle rounded out the top five (17:58) and Kyle Yanko took sixth (18:05), also scoring for the ‘Canes. 

It hasn’t been easy for the Hurricanes this season – injuries and sickness have left runners scattered in their wake; most notably, top runner David Pinero-Jacome sat out Tuesday’s meet in an effort to get healthy enough to compete at the Western Mass. Championships later this month. 

“We’ve endured some turbulent waters in the last month or so. David has been the biggest issue that we’re still trying to make some sense of. We’re hoping we have him for Western Mass.,” Amherst head coach Chris Gould said. “If we are at full strength at western Mass., we should be competitive.”

O’Neil sisters secure ’Hamp win

Last year, Northampton always seemed to come up three points short against Amherst. No matter where they raced – a dual meet, western Mass., sectionals – the ‘Canes seemed to have the Blue Devils’ number. Northampton finally flipped the script at states last year, but Amherst had them beat when it came to number of victories between the two squads. 

Finally, Northampton got them back Tuesday – and at home, no less. 

Sisters Maeve and Mairead O’Neil took first and second overall, propelling the Blue Devils to a 26-29 win – an ironically perfect finish, considering how many times they fell to the ‘Canes by that amount last season.

Maeve O’Neil crossed the finish line ahead of everyone else in 20:24, while her sister finished 15 seconds behind her in 20:39.

“It was kind of hard running alone and not really knowing what was happening behind me. I could see people cheering, but I couldn’t really see or tell if Amherst was behind me or Northampton people,” Maeve O’Neil said. “It feels good (to get the win). I feel like we haven’t really won against [Amherst] in a while…. I think people were really surprised in a good way.”

Elizabeth Sawicki was the first finisher for Amherst, taking third overall in 20:58. The next two runners were from Amherst as well, with Isla Cu sick (21:05) and Lillian Pope (21:22) crossing fourth and fifth, respectively. The Blue Devils took sixth, seventh and 10th to secure the tight win, with Tess Geis-Benton (21:26), Charlotte Shimpach (21:45) and Aiyana Dyami (22:28) rounding out the scoring for Northampton.

“I had a meeting with (the team Monday) and I said today isn’t about race pace, it isn’t about time. After coming off of (the Twilight meet on Friday), you can’t expect to get times like you would on a flat fast course,” Northampton head coach Linda Rowbotham said. “I said it’s all about place… and I think they worked pretty well as packs. They definitely were sticking together and it paid off.”

The loss for Amherst means that there’s a three-way tie for the Valley North conference title – Amherst, Northampton and Longmeadow will all share a piece of the regular season conference crown. 

Both races on Tuesday set up an exciting sectional meet on Oct. 28 at Stanley Park. The girls’ race is wide open, and while Ludlow is the favorite on the boys’ side, western Mass. titles should all come down to who’s healthy and who shows up on race day. 

Boys cross country

Ludlow 17, Belchertown 41 — Ben Les was the first Belchertown runner across in 18:12, taking fifth overall on Tuesday.

Nathan Fernandes (sixth, 18:14), Miles McNamara (ninth, 18:43), Liam Howard (10th, 18:44) and Derek Gould (11th, 18:47) also scored for the Orioles. Ludlow’s Kyle Martin was first across in 17:19.

Smith Voc 19, Westfield Tech 36 — Walden Groundwater set the tone with an individual victory for the Vikings on Tuesday, posting a 2-mile winning time of 12:07.

Teammate Patrick Millin was second overall in 12:17, while Smith Voc’s Eithan Viera Ortiz (fourth, 12:47), Cole Mattison-Gulotta (sixth, 13:05) and Logan Hawley (eighth, 13:21) also figured into the scoring.

Frontier 25, Mohawk Trail 32
Frontier 16, Pioneer 41 — The Redhawks had four of the top six finishers on their home course in South Deerfield, led by runner-up Evan Hedlund in 15:24.

Charlie Dennis (third, 15:57), Oliver Brown (fifth, 16:35) and Amory Maxey (sixth, 16:44) were next for Frontier.

Greenfield 20, Easthampton 35
Easthampton 22, Gateway 36
Easthampton 25, HC West, 30
Greenfield 20, Gateway 40
HC West 24, Gateway 39 – Jacob Maynard finished second overall for Gateway in a time of 17:51. 

Easthampton’s top performer was Landen Ellsworth, who took eighth in 19:46, ahead of Alex Major in ninth (20:28) and Will Jourdain in 10th. (20:36).

Hampshire 17, McCann Tech 46
Hampshire 15, St. Mary‘s 50 – The Raiders raced to a perfect score against St. Mary’s and a dominant win over McCann Tech. The victory moved their record to a perfect 17-0 and clinched the Pioneer League South title. 

Hampshire’s Tim Cahill placed first in 16:37 on the 2.92-mile course, and Nick Brisson (16:47) and Zach Jones (17:15) took second and third, respectively. 

Girls cross country

Ludlow 20, Belchertown 43 – Cameron Ting finished first overall in a dual meet against Ludlow with a winning time of 22:10, just outkicking Ludlow’s Sophia Quiterio by one second.

Greenfield 24, Easthampton 32
Gateway 18, Easthampton 40
HC West 27, Easthampton 29
Gateway 25, Greenfield 32
Gateway 19, HC West 38 – Gateway completed a clean sweep in a four-team meet on Tuesday, led by Anya Niles’ first place finish in 22:08. 

Sawyer Wilkinson took third overall for the Gators (24:15) and teammate Alex Zajko finished fifth (24:53). Easthampton’s Gwen Banz placed fourth overall in 24:35. 

Frontier 15, Mohawk Trail 42
Frontier 15, Pioneer 50 — Leah Gump was first across to lead a Frontier top five sweep on Tuesday in South Deerfield. Her time of 17:43 was good enough for first overall, helping the Redhawks to an undefeated season and a Pioneer League North championship.

Sylvie DiBartolomeo (second, 18:13), Nicole Plasse (third, 18:17), Liv Christensen (fourth, 18:49) and Maia Christensen (fifth, 18:50) followed closely behind for the Hawks.

Hampshire 17, McCann Tech 46
Hampshire 15, St. Mary‘s 50 – Hampshire bested both McCann Tech and St. Mary’s  to improve their record to 16-1 and 9-0 in the Pioneer League South conference; the win secured a regular season title. 

Kathleen Barry crossed the line first in 20:41, followed closely by Sicily Chase in second (21:27) and Amelia Perry in third (21:38). 

Natalie Dunlap rounded  out the top five in fifth place (22:12).