A late Friday night snow storm left a thin blanket of frozen snow/ice on the Franklin Park course for Saturday's Massachusetts State High School Cross Country Championships. And while a second snowstorm predicted for Sunday morning failed to materialize, the Franklin Park course was no less snow/ice covered for the start of Sunday's USATF New England Cross Country Championships.
First off was the men's masters' championship at 10:00AM. John Barbour of the Greater Lowell Road Runners led from start to finish and led GLRR to an impressive team championship. Also scoring for Lowell were Kevin Retelle, Marty Lechleider, Phil Riley and Tim Blouin.
By 10:45 and the start of the women's open and masters' championship, a combination of the running of the masters' race and bright sunshine which brought the temperature near to the freezing point had turned much of the course into mud. The conditions proved to be perfectly suited to Lynn Jennings, who bolted into the lead at the very beginning and steadily pulled away from the rest of the field enroute to a 1:10 margin of victory over Molly Watcke of New Balance .
In the women's open team competition, Coach Bob Sevene's Central Mass Striders' team successfully defended its 1996 title. CMS used a combination of two veteran cross country runners - Mimi Corcoran and Sally Perkins - and three recently converted track youngsters - Jen Waeger, Amory Rowe and Jen Lincoln - to top the Boston Running Club, 35 to 43.
The men's open race was a virtual mud bath and, as was the case in the first two races, one runner dominated throughout. Mike Donnelly of the New Balance Coastal Track Club added his name to the impressive list of athletes who over the years have claimed the USATF-NE Cross Country men's championship.
It was an instant replay of last year's men's open team results with CMS once again winning the USATF New England Championship while finishing second to the Reebok Enclave, a national team. CMS, with Scott Bagley, Mike Nahom, Rusty Snow, Darin Shearer and Sandu Rebenciuc scoring, edged the Rhode Island based New Balance Coastal Track Club by two points.
Men's Masters 7935 Meter Results
1 779 John Barbour 43 Greater Lowell RR 27:28.00 1
2 469 Colin Corkery 40 New Balance 28:03.00
3 465 Jim Clayton 41 Sugarloaf Mt AthleticClu 28:09.00
4 795 Kevin Retelle 41 Greater Lowell RR 28:14.00 2
5 546 Marty Lechleider 40 Greater Lowell RR 28:17.00 3
6 426 Geary Daniels 43 Central Mass Striders 28:35.00 4
7 634 Phil Richey 40 Taconic Road Runners 28:41.00 5
8 632 Steve Calidonna 42 Taconic Road Runners 28:49.00 6
9 724 John Goodwin 42 BAA Masters 28:55.00 7
10 497 Philip Riley 46 Greater Lowell RR 29:01.00 8
11 784 Tim Blomin 40 Greater Lowell RR 29:08.00 9
12 440 Bill Gaudere 40 Central Mass Striders 29:14.00 10
13 427 Bob Hodge 42 Central Mass Striders 29:22.00 11
14 773 Thomas Carroll 47 Greater Lowell RR 29:28.00 12
15 443 Joe Hall 42 Central Mass Striders 29:29.00 13
16 568 Roly McSorley 46 Canada 29:39.00
17 567 Patrick Lee 42 Canada 29:51.00
18 473 Paul Fendler 41 Taconic Road Runners 29:58.00 14
19 860 Don Salamone 42 Boston A.A. 30:02.00
20 781 Bob Ruel 45 Tri-Valley Frontrunners 30:10.00
21 468 Leo Dunn 44 Unattached 30:13.00
22 782 Steve Oneil 46 Central Mass Striders 30:19.00 15
23 574 Tom Derderian 50 Greater Boston TC 30:40.00
24 569 David Tree 42 Canada 30:42.00
25 798 Dan Dillon 40 Greater Boston TC 30:49.00
26 631 Rick Ashby 41 Taconic Road Runners 30:50.00 16
27 225 Jerry Learned 49 Central Mass Striders 31:03.00 17
28 556 Richard Puckerin 47 Boston Running Club 31:10.00
29 783 Frank Rucki 48 Central Mass Striders 31:12.00 18
30 723 Jeffrey Dosdall 45 BAA Masters 31:20.00 19
31 797 Henry Finch 48 Cambridge Sports Union 31:23.00
32 633 Nick Caswell 47 Taconic Road Runners 31:26.00 20
33 777 Wayne Alukonis 48 Unattached 31:38.00
34 861 Harvey Blonder 44 Tri-Valley Frontrunners 31:41.00
35 565 Greg Allan 42 Canada 31:47.00
36 727 Brad Hurst 44 BAA Masters 32:09.00 21
37 730 Bill Sullivan 42 BAA Masters 32:37.00 22
38 774 Jon Stableford 52 Merrimack Valley Strider 33:00.00 23
39 598 Charles Kellogg 57 Merrimack Valley Strider 33:03.00 24
40 597 Mike Blake 40 Marshfield RR 33:06.00
41 573 Bruce Bond 44 Greater Boston TC 33:27.00
42 775 Louis Latourneau 42 Gr Springfield Harriers 33:49.00
43 726 Dennis Herman 51 BAA Masters 33:56.00 25
44 642 Scott Newkirk 41 Unattached 34:07.00
45 558 Duke Hutchinson 50 Cambridge Sports Union 34:13.00
46 850 Ralph Rockwood 50 Merrimack Valley Strider 34:34.00 26
47 851 Bill Marlow 53 Merrimack Valley Strider 34:41.00 27
48 439 Tom Fitzgerald 42 Central Mass Striders 34:56.00
49 799 Charlie Farrington 53 Merrimack Valley Strider 35:01.00 28
50 776 Karl Hoyt 40 Greater Boston TC 35:41.00
51 639 Harold Hatch 58 Unattached 35:52.00
52 451 Joseph Green 46 Parkway Running Club 36:07.00
53 555 Robert Clarke 58 Boston Running Club 36:53.00
54 447 Dana Sumner 66 Newport Running Club 37:33.00
55 720 Leland Chisolm 65 BAA Masters 40:50.00 29
56 740 Ray Lussier Boston A.A. 41:42.00
57 778 Ed Buckley 76 Unattached 44:20.00
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Men's Masters Team Results
1 Greater Lowell RR 23 1 2 3 8 9 12
Total time: 2:22:08.0
2 Central Mass Striders 53 4 10 11 13 15 17 18
Total time: 2:26:59.0
3 Taconic Road Runners 61 5 6 14 16 20
Total time: 2:29:44.0
4 BAA Masters 94 7 19 21 22 25 29
Total time: 2:38:57.0
5 Merrimack Valley Stride 128 23 24 26 27 28
Total time: 2:50:19.0
