AMHERST — After a weekend of nonstop rain, the weather held out for two of Western Massachusetts’ top cross country teams to hit the course at Amherst Regional High School on Tuesday.
The Hurricanes hosted the rival Northampton Blue Devils during their senior day race. Last season Amherst won the Western Mass. title in the girls race and finished second for the boys, placing just above Northampton, who finished second for girls and third for boys, in both races. Each team replicated their performances with the same finishes in their divisional races.
While both teams will likely be in the mix again for the big race, each team got to see how they stacked up against one another for the first time this fall.
Capping off its first fall season with the new track, Amherst won both races in the team competition. Four Hurricanes finished in the top five for the girls to win 20-37. The boys also filled the top of the standings with the top-four finishers to win 21-45.
“The fact all those guys finished under 18 minutes on this course is pretty good,” Amherst boys head coach Chris Gould said. “They didn’t have a (Northhampton) guy near them in the second half of the race. I’m very pleased with how they ran.”
The two teams split the individual winners, Amherst senior Calvin Miller winning the boys race while senior Mairead O’Neil coasted to the win for Northampton in the girls race.
Last year’s Western Mass. Class A champion, O’Neil was the only runner on the girls side to break 20 minutes with a time of 19:51. O’Neil said it can be difficult to keep a specific pace without another runner close by.
“Sometimes I kind of zone out and keep the pace,” O’Neil said. “I just keep my legs moving.”
After O’Neil, Amherst junior Marit MacDonald finished at 20:41. A trio of Hurricanes shortly followed in as a group to seal the win. Senior Ella Austin (20:53), senior Anoushka Sen (20:54), and Maeve Cunningham (20:58) all crossed within five seconds of each other to place third, fourth, and fifth.
“Our top six or seven runners have been really consistent all year,” Amherst girls co-head coach Ron Jacobs said. “We were pretty confident they would get the job done.
Amherst senior Quynh Ly took sixth at 21:31, before a trio of Blue Devils arrived behind her.
Mia Levy became the second runner to finish for Northampton, securing seventh with a time of 21:43. Rosalind Stracco and Maya Zink cross the line together at 22:02 for eighth and ninth.
Looking to win their fifth straight Western Mass. title, the senior group for the Hurricanes watched as ninth-graders as the dynasty began, eventually taking on the mantle and help bring more multiple titles themselves.
“This group of seniors is really special, they really committed throughout their three years, said assistant coach and former Amherst runner Sofia Jacobs-Townsley, “Getting to see them grown as runners and as people has been really inspiring and seeing how they have handled adversity in different ways has been really cool.”
Miller ran a dominate race on the boys with his fourth victory of the fall. He ran a 17:16 in what was his final home race.
“I was trying to stick with their first guy,” Miller said. “Then just hit it after the first mile and take off a bit. That’s about where the first hill is. I took it up the hill and created a gap and kept it for the rest of the rest.”
Miller was followed by his teammates to lock in the top-four spots.
Fellow senior Peter Nedeau took second with a time of 17:27, sophomore Otis Fairey took third at 17:29 and junior Nicolas Workman grabbed fourth coming at 17:38. With seven seniors taking in their last race at home, Gould won’t forget unique characters of the group.
“They’ve all got very different personalities,” Gould said. “They’re hard-workers, I think that rubs off on the other kids. They watch some of those seniors go out and work their tail off and they realize that’s what you need to do to be good.”
Six Northampton runners followed and finished within 20 seconds of each other. Henry Daggett and Gus Frey came in together at fifth and sixth, clocking in at 17:45. Shea O’Neil (seventh, 17:47) and Owen Daggett (eighth, 17:48) also came near each other. Charlie Sidoti was Blue Devil number five to cross the line at 17:58.
With the nor’easter last weekend causing the Frank Kelley Invitational in Wrentham to be moved to this Saturday, Northampton had to treat the dual meet differently on Tuesday.
“We used (this race) as a workout. It was kind of a tempo workout,” O’Neil said. “We were going to take this a little harder if (the invitational) wasn’t moved, but it was, so we changed it a little easier.”
The four squads will meet up again during the Western Mass. meet at the beginning of November in that should be another close battle for the trophy.
Belchertown 26, Gateway 31
Gateway 15, Smith Voc 50 (girls) — Anya Niles and Ava Christie took the top two spots for the Gators, but it was the depth of the Orioles that made the difference.
Niles won the race in 24:27 while Christie came in second in 25:10.
Belchertown brought in the next four runners in Serena Jones (25:58), Kylie Fitzgerald (26:09), Mary-Rose Johnson-Jones (27:03) and Awrenna Duncan (27:11).
Alexa Peters was the Vikings’ top finisher with a time of 34:44.
PVCICS 15, Granby 50 (girls)
PVCICS 24, Granby 37 (boys) — The Dragons swept the dual meet at Dufresne Park on Tuesday.
Astrid Knyt led the girls team with a first-place finish in 23:54, then four more PVCICS runners followed in Adelaide Amias (23:59), Violet Lukens (24:09), Eunice Lo (24:09) and Ella Maier (24:32).
Grafton Tolopko paced the boys, nabbing second in 18:38 while Kristof Knyt followed with a fourth-place finish in 19:36.
Hampshire 15, Easthampton 50 (girls)
Hampshire 15, Easthampton 50 (boys) — The Raiders dominated against the Eagles in the dual meet at Stanley Park.
Kathleen Barry claimed first place in the girls race for Hampshire with a winning time of 19:27. Ada Corner also squeaked in under 20 minutes, finishing in 19:58.
Easthampton’s best finish went to Gwen Banz (ninth, 22:58).
On the boys side, Hobbes O’Sullivan snatched first place for the Raiders in 16:48 while Owen Cubi wasn’t too far behind, with a second-place time of 16:52.
Otto Ewing’s sixth-place finish (19:01) led the Eagles.
Field hockey
Smith Academy 4, Northampton 0 — Two points each from Sophia Jagodzinski (two goals) and Bella Bramucci (two assists) propelled the Falcons past the Blue Devils.
Mya Mille and Ashlyn Moynihan also scored for Smith Academy, while goalie Chloe Avery accumulated seven saves.
Jagodzinski reached 50 career points in the victory.
Southwick 3, Amherst 0 — The ‘Canes couldn’t make it two wins in a row in the shutout against the Rams.
Amherst beat Hampshire last Thursday for its first win of the season.
Girls soccer
Hopkins 2, Chicopee 0 — Goals from Morgan Augustin and Olivia Earle lifted the Golden Hawks to their eighth straight win.
Hannah Guggino-Laramie’s 10 saves led to the clean sheet.
Easthampton 4, Holyoke 0 — The Eagles had four different goalscorers in the shutout against the Purple Knights.
Gianna Covalli, Noey Ryan, Arie Kuchyt and Alana Halpin found twine for Easthampton.
Eagles goalie Natalie Lisatinski blanked Holyoke with three saves. Purple Knights keeper Jennaya Torres finished with 12 saves.
Belchertown 3, East Longmeadow 0 — Aubrey Klingensmith’s hat trick snapped the Orioles’ two-game skid.
Belchertown fell to South Hadley and Minnechaug, previously.
Boys soccer
East Longmeadow 1, Belchertown 0 — The Orioles came up just short in the loss to the Spartans.
Belchertown has now lost three games by one-goal.
Late Monday Results
Boys soccer
PVCICS 1, Gateway 0 — The Dragons slayed the previously unbeaten Gators off an early strike from Henry Tuttle.
PVCICS goalie Simon Doherty-Girard tallied one save in the shutout.
South Hadley 4, Chicopee Comp 0 — The Tigers grabbed their first win in four games in the shutout against the Colts.
Joan Hernandez, Chris Sotiropoulos, Matt Butler and Hunter Keller scored for South Hadley while Xzavies Rosario earned the clean sheet with six saves.
Girls volleyball
East Longmeadow 3, Belchertown 0 — Monday’s contest was much closer than the final score indicated as the Orioles earned at least 20 points in two of the three sets.
Set scores were 20-25, 27-29 and 15-25 in favor of the Spartans.
