Cross country: Evan Hedlund, Mairead O’Neil shine at MIAA State Championships

DEVENS — Local runners couldn’t have asked for better conditions for the MIAA Division 2 and 3 State Championship meets at Willard Park on Saturday.

With temperatures in the high 40s, sunshine present throughout the late-morning and early-afternoon and little-to-no wind at the course at Fort Devens–the former Army base– the final event of the cross country season had all the makings of a memorable competition.

Several area runners seized the day, highlighted by Evan Hedlund’s (Frontier Regional) second-place finish in the Div. 3 boys race and Mairead O’Neil’s (Northampton) fourth-place finish in the Div. 2 girls race.

Despite both juniors earning medals as top-15 placers, each had differing opinions on their individual performances.

“I really, really wanted to win, that’s kind of all I wanted today, going into it, just to be able to call myself a state champion,” Hedlund said.

The Redhawks’ 11th-grader, who crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 47 seconds, added he was “really disappointed” in terms of placing second, but was happy with his sub-16 minute time. Teammate Luke Howard also earned medalist honors with a fifth-place finish in 16:27

Parker Charter’s Nathaniel Henshaw used a ferocious kick in the final straightaway to pull away from Hedlund and claim first overall in 15:43.

O’Neil, on the other hand, overcame some pre-race jitters and turned in a fulfilling, top-five finish on a looping layout.

“There was a really nice pack that I had with maybe about five other girls, so that definitely helped me go through,” O’Neil said. “I love packs. It’s way more easier to run with other people when you have other people to push you.”

The Blue Devil completed the course in 18:27, a nearly five-minute improvement from last year’s race at the same course. O’Neil revealed she suffered a stitch during the 2024 meet, which contributed to the nerves before Saturday’s race.

In the team competitions, the Amherst boys led the way, grabbing third place with 131 points. Hurricanes junior Calvin Miller was their first finisher again, snatching fifth place in 16:09.

“I tried to go out not too hard,” Miller said. “Just stay in the race, stay in that top 10 to 15 group that went out in the first mile and then just try and keep in contact with that third, fourth, fifth, sixth spot and then push it toward the end of the race. I was just trying to stay calm, be patient throughout the race and I think it worked really well.”

Miller stressed the patience he showed on Saturday was one of the key differences from last season’s championship race and it paid off as Amherst’s No. 1 improved 22 spots and 55 seconds from 2024’s event.

The Hurricanes boys as a whole rebounded from last weekend’s Divisional Championship at Northfield Mountain as Peter Nedeau (16:48), Nico Lisle (16:58), Otis Fairey (17:09) and Sam Woodruff (17:30) joined Miller as their five scorers.

Multiple Amherst runners felt the visibility the course offered to fans helped the team throughout the 5K journey.

“I definitely think this is a solid course,” Fairey, a Hurricanes freshman, said. “There’s been other courses I’ve liked more, but this is good.”

“I like when my family can see me so many times,” Nedeau added.

The Amherst girls concluded in fifth place with 196 points, just ahead of Northampton, which took sixth place with 198 points.

The Hurricanes top-five consisted of Genevieve Dole (20:33) , Marit McDonald (20:37), Lilly Pope (20:43), Nina Holden (21:04) and Ella Jamate (21:26).

After O’Neil, the Blue Devils scorers on the girls side were Maddalena Figueroa-Starr (20:33), Charlotte Shimpach (21:14), Zea Meerbergen (21:16) and Mia Levy (21:31).

Northampton nabbed 373 points for 14th on the boys side, with its first five counting as Henry Daggett (16:57), Gus Frey (17:50), Shea O’Neil (18:09), Dashiell Kruckemeyer (18:12) and Owen Daggett (18:30).

Hampshire Regional’s Oscar Schiff was the only other area medalist as the Raiders senior bolted to seventh place in the Div. 3 boys race in 16:31.

“It’s my last cross country race ever and I wanted to give it my all,” Schiff said. “We were wanting to carry the energy all the way through and I think we did that. We stayed locked in ’til the end.”

Owen Cubi (17:09), Hobbes O’Sullivan (17:30), Augustus Niswonger (17:37) and Aidan Conklin (18:00) fell in behind Schiff for the Raiders.

Hampshire Regional took fourth place in both Div. 3 races. The boys needed 164 points while the girls produced a score of 158, led by consecutive finishes from sophomore Ada Corner and junior Kathleen Barry at 20:27.

“I think it went really well,” Corner said. “Fourth is amazing. We’ve never done this well before and I think everyone put in their best effort.”

All five of the Raiders’ scorers placed within the top-50 with Brooke Hockenberry (20:31), Charlotte Niswonger (21:18) and Alexandra Henrichon (21:26) supplementing their top-five after Corner and Barry.

“We really just tried to run a good race for our seniors because they’ve been a part of the team for a while,” Barry said. “Shoutout to Alex and Keegan [Butler], who raced, and Amelia [Perry], Bethany [Tobias] and Elisabeth [Sturtevant] who were here cheering us on.”

Other area Div. 3 team scores

Boys

Frontier: 357 points – 12th

PVCICS: 410 points – 16th

Belchertown: 463 points – 20th

Girls

Frontier: 442 points – 19th

PVCICS: 465 points – 21st

Mohawk: 489 points – 22nd

Div. 3 honorable mentions

Boys

Grafton Tolopko (PVCICS), 23rd, 16:56

Emmett Howard (first Belchertown finisher), 104th, 18:30

Rex Kuoppala (first Mohawk finisher), 108th, 18:32

Girls

Harper Hake (Pioneer Valley Regional, individual qualifier), 58th, 21:24

Anya Reed (first Mohawk finisher), 65th, 21:31

Louise Flagollet (first Frontier finisher), 70th, 21:33

Astrid Knyt (first PVCICS finisher), 71st, 21:34

Ava Christie (Gateway, individual qualifier), 87th, 21:57

Grace Cooney (Granby, individual qualifier), 93rd, 22:05

Caprial Dibartolomeo (Hopkins, individual qualifier), 103rd, 22:14