Colangelo leads Gloucester to Massachusetts Division 1 State Title

Graves fronts Mohawk "savage" attack in Division 2

by Mike Atwood

Race winner Tristan Colangelo 3rd from front photo Jim Burnham

Northfield, MA - Tristan Colangelo saved his devastating kick for the final 100 meters of today's Division 1 State finals here, accelerating away from Marshfield's Matt Edmund and St. John's Shrewsbury's Jon Drappi, to lead a solid squad of harriers from Gloucester to a 47 point total victory. Gloucester, who has been a dominate force in Mass. cross-country in recent years, held off the strong efforts of Catholic powers St. John's Shrewsbury (70) and St. John's Prep of Danvers (86).

The Gloucester 1-4-6-9-27 (team scoring) attack was unstoppable. Junior Josh Palazola (4), sophomore Sean Murphy(7), and senior Shawn Milne (12) came through with championship performances that broke up St. John's 3-7-15-16-29 effort.

The rugged terrain of Northfield's cross-country recreational facility challenged all teams and individuals today The mountain course is essentially an uphill battle for the first mile and rolling hills and downhills the rest of the way, except for a devastating "gut" hill in the last 1/2 mile that put many runners out of contention today. The course, in many competitors' opinions, was much more challenging than the old route that saw the likes of Catholic Memorial's George Grant (15:42-1984) and Brookline's Jon Riley run under the 16:00 mark. The two courses are like comparing apples and oranges; this course is tough and certainly not conducive to fast times like Boston's Franklin Park or Gardner's Municpal Golf course. The 60 degree weather also challenged most of the field on this unseasonably warm Western Massachusett's fall day.

Colangelo's 16:02 was the best time of the day leading Edmund and Drappi under 16:10. Josh Bashard of Somerville looked strong with his 4th place-16:20 finish. Individuals are removed from scoring at the end of the meet in order to decide team totals.

Eastern Mass. Division 3 champions, King Philip (Wrentham), came out to Northfield to take down the Western Mass. power Mohawk and almost did. However, in the end it was Mohawk Regional, who held off the Warriors in a brilliant 70-76 battle. Neil Graves decided his 16:47 run in last week's Western Mass race was not fast enough, so he took off on the field and held a 12 second lead at two miles. His finish of 16:23 was an excellent solo effort and Division 3 EMass Champ. Nick Decoste of Duxbury followed in 16:39.

Mohawk placed 1-8-12-19-30 to KP's 3-7-16-21-29. The reborn Aaron Affarian (injured for most of October) was fifth in 16:45 and teammate Matt Pieroway was 12th in 17:09 but the Mohawk attack continued with Mohawk's John Burnham finishing on Pieroway's tails in 13th.

Race winner Shalane Flanagan photo Jim Burnham

Emass Div. 3 runner-up and defending state champs Oliver Ames (3rd -115) had a tough day at the mountain. Adam Paicos led the effort with an excellent 8th place finish and super-sophomore Rob Santorro was 15th in 17:12 ( Emass Div 3 runner-up to Decoste last week) Brother Steve Santorro came in 18th but it just wasn't enough today. Coach Paul Carr, who led the Tigers over the past 9 years ,left this year to coach at Wheaton College. Bishop Feehan, a consistent state power, finished fourth, surprising many teams today. Junior Pat Ward led the Shamrock's effort, running himself to the point of sickness.

Nat Brown of Wellsley and Seekonk's Rob Welch finished in the 4-5 positions in 16:47 and 16:51 leading Affarian and Murdock's Gilman under 17:00.

Shalane Flanagan of Marblehead won the girls' Division title in a time of 17:54 that made many of the boys' wonder if she would beat their time today. Molly Landreth of Newburyport followed in second with a time of 18:47.

For complete results, click Results