After defeating Milton on Senior Night, both girls and boys cross country looked to repeat their victories over the Wildcats and every other team at the Eastern Massachusetts Division 3 Championships on Nov. 9. Despite their efforts, Milton came out on top, claiming the title of Division 3 Champions on the boys side, with a score of 82 to 120, and girls side, 68 to 95, with Walpole right behind as runner up.
“We knew Milton was going to be our hardest competition, and that their top three was their strength,” senior captain Shane Grant said. “We were a little surprised to see how well their fourth and fifth did, which really helped them scoring wise.”
For the boys, senior Bobby Carew, Milton’s top runner, became an individual Division 3 Champion as well placing first with a time of 15:55.2 minutes. Behind him came two of his teammates along with Walpole’s first runner, Tyler Sullivan, placing 10th overall with a time of 16:23.3. After Sullivan, Grant placed 14th, coming in at 16:35.8, followed by classmate Nathan Shnaider in 15th at 16:37.5. Walpole rounded out their score of 120 with senior captain Anthony Borelli crossing the line in 24th and senior Dan Forester stepping up to become the fifth runner in 57th place.
On the girls’ side, junior Mia Costa and Milton senior Ava Duggan battled throughout the race for second place. Within the final few seconds, Duggan kicked, defeating Costa by 0.3 seconds. Duggan’s performance was the key difference between the outcome at the dual meet earlier in the season and the Divisional Championships.
“When we raced Milton during the season, their number one runner [Duggan] was struggling with anemia, so she could not physically perform to the best of her ability,” sophomore Cate Stanton said. “We beat [Milton] 27 to 28, and we finally achieved our goal of beating them. At Divisionals, Duggan was back and placed second, leading her team to a victory over us.”
Less than a minute after Duggan crossed the line came the battle between Stanton and Milton’s Anna Cakouras and Norah Affanato. Despite her efforts, Stanton finished in ninth place with a time of 19:53.03, right behind Affanato at 19:53.00 and Cakouras in seventh at 19:52.0. Senior captain Colleen Barry battled as well against senior Grace Sullivan, a Division I Cross Country and Track commit to Bryant University. Barry came out on top in 16th place at 20:11.5, 0.4 seconds ahead of G.Sullivan. Sophomores Katie Soule and Cara Morris placed 22nd and 45th to conclude Walpole’s score of 95.
“We all had great races [on Saturday] and of course there is room for improvement, but each one of us gave it our all on the course, performing the best we could,” Stanton said. “Yes, we had some bad races at Bay State Conference Championships, but we came back strong for Divisionals, and I think we will come back even stronger for All-States this weekend.”
Both the boys and the girls will race Nov. 16 at Gardner Municipal Golf Course for the All-State meet. This is the second year in a row both teams advance together.
“One of our main goals at All States is to place in the top 10 as a team because we have done so for the past three years,” Barry said. “I definitely believe we are capable of that goal.”