Top EMass D1 Boys Teams

[polyxc]

Pick the TOP 5 EMass D1 Boys Teams, after Brockton.

Brockton is the hands down favorite at this point, returning Kevin Gill, Carlos Montrand, Geo Timberlake, Mike Smith, James Dubeau and Kyle Rothfuss.

[polyxc]

If you think someone else will finish in the top 11, tell us who, and WHY!

[Wizard]

Pick the TOP 5 EMass D1 Boys Teams, after Brockton.

:confused:

[polyxc]

:confused:
because everyone would vote for Brockton. We wouldn't learn anything more from having them on the poll.

[Wizard]

because everyone would vote for Brockton. We wouldn't learn anything more from having them on the poll.

Yes, but everyone will vote for Brookline, too.

[polyxc]

that's a good point.

still, Brockton is the runaway favorite.

If I had given Brookline the "sure thing" treatment, I would have added Lincoln-Sudbury.

Acton-Boxborough, St. John's Prep, Peabody, Billerica, Waltham, Newton North, Andover, North Quincy, and Barnstable are the other honorable mentions.

.

[polyxc]

Looks like the early favorites to qualify for the All-States are

Brockton
Brookline
Methuen
Xaverian
Newton South

For Xaverian and Newton South, it would be their first All-State team appearance for a few years. Does anyone know how long they have been away from the All-States?

[Big Foot Runner]

Yes, but everyone will vote for Brookline, too.
Some people didn't, apparently. I think they are less of a shew in then Brockton. Methuen and Xverian are the only other teams as of now over 50%.

[CHUCK Palahniuk]

that's a good point.

still, Brockton is the runaway favorite.

If I had given Brookline the "sure thing" treatment, I would have added Lincoln-Sudbury.

Acton-Boxborough, Waltham, North Quincy, and Barnstable are the other honorable mentions.


Who are on those teams? PRs please. I has no idea any of those teams were even decent.

I can't wait to see Brockton v. Brookline at FP and Northfield. This year is lookin' pretty dec for MA XC. Gettin' back to the Banks, Barnicle, Gras, Gill, Roche, Khalid, Harrington days?

[xcrunna]

Last year 800-2Mile the state was the strongest it's been in a while.
800- Sullivan, Mariarty at 1:53, host of guys under 1:57
Mile- Gill 4:14, Ashe 4:15, Polgar 4:17, Fullerton 4:18, Forbes 4:19 and it goes on...
2 Mile- Amirault 9:01, De Pina 9:19, Ogilive 9:21, lots more guys under 9:30

Sure, the times were kinda slow last year @ FP, but that was mostly because the course was in such poor condition. The guys who ran it were IMO as strong as ever.

[polyxc]

Who are on those teams? PRs please. I has no idea any of those teams were even decent.

You can look them up as easy as I can.

But to give you a start Lincoln-Sudbury has Jake Shoemaker, Noah McNeil, and Mike Ravasi returning. That gives them a good shot at a top 10 finish in EMass.

[CHUCK Palahniuk]

You can look them up as easy as I can.

But to give you a start Lincoln-Sudbury has Jake Shoemaker, Noah McNeil, and Mike Ravasi returning. That gives them a good shot at a top 10 finish in EMass.

I know L-S is REAL good. I've never heard of a single kid from any of those other teams. I'll look 'em up later.

[polyxc]

okay, you've got me going.

St. John's Prep has Pat Johnson, Jim Savage, and Justin Wheeler, plus some good JV kids. They have a chance to amke the top 10 in EMass D1 also, but I could understand if you hadn't heard of any of them.

[clifbar]

You can look them up as easy as I can.

But to give you a start Lincoln-Sudbury has Jake Shoemaker, Noah McNeil, and Mike Ravasi returning. That gives them a good shot at a top 10 finish in EMass.LS also gains incoming junior Jimmy Tyrell, ran a 10:00 as a sophomore during indoor, I think his first time running track!

And as for Xaverian, I know they're gonna have a strong 1-2, but not much else. I just checked emass's results from last year, and they graduate 2 out of their top 5, which other than Amirault/Higgins wasn't very strong anyways. Last year they beat us by 1 point, when their 1-2 were 1st and 7th; our 1-2 were 22nd and 47th. They need 3 kids who are at least mid-17's to low 18's if they're gonna make it to all-states.

And honestly, I don't know when the last time we made it to all-states is. I know that going into emass 4 years ago we had a guy that had run a 15:52 in Franklin Park at our league championships, and a very strong team backing him up, but he got sick and everything fell apart. (http://coolrunning.com/results/02/ma/Oct25_DualCo_set5.shtml - we had one at 16:38, 16:50, a 17:20 and 17:26)

[DeweyXC]

Looks like the early favorites to qualify for the All-States are

Brockton
Brookline
Methuen
Xaverian
Newton South

For Xaverian and Newton South, it would be their first All-State team appearance for a few years. Does anyone know how long they have been away from the All-States?

Newton South made the top 5 in their 1st year competing in D1 EMASS...2001. They finished 4th (SJP, Lowell, Brockton).

Xaverian has not made it since 90 (they won EMASS) or 91.

[CHUCK Palahniuk]

okay, you've got me going.

St. John's Prep has Pat Johnson, Jim Savage, and Justin Wheeler, plus some good JV kids. They have a chance to amke the top 10 in EMass D1 also, but I could understand if you hadn't heard of any of them.

didn't ask about them. check my post again.

[clifbar]

Well, Newton North is gonna have a solid front runner in junior Seb Putzeys, but I don't know that they've really got anybody to back him up.

Acton-Boxborough has soon to be sophomore Teddy Farley, who took second to Wortham in the DCL Freshmen Championships last year (Finch was in the Varsity race). He ran somewhere around 10:30 during track, and I think he's still got a lot of growing left to do, I expect him to improve quite a bit. They have a few other decent kids, but I can't think of anybody that will make that large an impact.
Fake Edit: I just checked last year's emass results, adn saw that I had forgotten about AB's junior Dan Grant, who I thought came out of nowhere during indoors. Apparently as a freshman he had been in the sprint/jumps group, then tried XC, and wound up switching to distance. During outdoor I think he was in the mid-low 4:40's.

[polyxc]

didn't ask about them. check my post again.
yeah, you are right, I mis-read your post. I didn't realize you had edited the list of teams I labeled honorable mention.

Waltham has Nick Kacher and Kerwin Vega, who are more than decent harriers. North Quincy has Matt Meyers. Andover has Pete Shaw.

Of the teams you mentioned, I think only AB and Waltham have a real shot at cracking the top 10.

[polyxc]

Last year 800-2Mile the state was the strongest it's been in a while.
800- Sullivan, Mariarty at 1:53, host of guys under 1:57
Mile- Gill 4:14, Ashe 4:15, Polgar 4:17, Fullerton 4:18, Forbes 4:19 and it goes on...
2 Mile- Amirault 9:01, De Pina 9:19, Ogilive 9:21, lots more guys under 9:30

Sure, the times were kinda slow last year @ FP, but that was mostly because the course was in such poor condition. The guys who ran it were IMO as strong as ever.
QFE!

[polyxc]

Xaverian and Methuen gaining on Brookline!

[msweenz]

Xaverian and Methuen gaining on Brookline!

People got hyped up on X last year too and they blew it bigtime at EMass. I'm not sure if Bleday was sick or something, but he had a real bad race that day.

[polyxc]

that was too bad for Bleday and Xaverian. Bleday was running real well early in the season.

[clifbar]

At DCL championships, which was at Franklin park, but in very heavy snow, and much worse mud than emass, everyone on our team EXCEPT for Sam Donovan ran as fast or faster than they did at emass (not counting Wortham - emass was his first 5k). I'm not trying to dwell on the past, but for Xaverian, one person had a bad day, and they beat us by 1 point... for us, 5 people had bad days.

[xcrunna]

At DCL championships, which was at Franklin park, but in very heavy snow, and much worse mud than emass, everyone on our team EXCEPT for Sam Donovan ran as fast or faster than they did at emass (not counting Wortham - emass was his first 5k). I'm not trying to dwell on the past, but for Xaverian, one person had a bad day, and they beat us by 1 point... for us, 5 people had bad days.
3 scorers only and there bad days were maybe 5-10 seconds off where they should have been. Bleday was a good minute off. He ran 16:30 in Brockton early in the season. MacIsaac ran 17 flat at Brockton too, so they all kinda seemed to be off at EMASS.

[msweenz]

I'm really not buying into the whole Newton South craze yet. Donovan's pretty solid, a top 15 guy for sure, but other than that, none of the other guys have proved themselves in cross. Wortham put down some solid 2 mile times for a freshman so he could have a real good season. Those are South's only 2 guys of note though.

[polyxc]

I'm not sure why you call it a "Newton South craze".

It appears like people think N-S is looking like #5 in EMass.

1. Brockton
2. Brookline
3. Xaverian
4. Methuen
5. Newton South

appears to be the current fan voting.

If Barger is healthy, he should be a solid third, Ben Finch will be a solid 4th, and they have very good depth, so I can see them qualifying.

Cambridge, Chelmsford, Haverhill, Lowell and Lexington will also be good, so as usual in EMass D1, it won't be easy.

[clifbar]

If Bargar is healthy, he should be a solid third, Ben Finch will be a solid 4th, and they have very good depth, so I can see them qualifying.I'm currently healthy, and am getting in some good training... I've actually been running with Ben quite a bit. However, I think our top 5 is going to be much more up in the air. You can take that as you may, but I don't plan on going into any more detail than that.

EDIT:
I'm really not buying into the whole Newton South craze yet. Donovan's pretty solid, a top 15 guy for sure, but other than that, none of the other guys have proved themselves in cross. Wortham put down some solid 2 mile times for a freshman so he could have a real good season. Those are South's only 2 guys of note though.And as for not proving themselves in cross, I think our freshman team proved quite a bit last year... Except for Wortham/Finch, none of them got to run a 5k in Franklin park (and I think 17:29/17:44 respectively for freshmen proves quite a bit), but I think winning the freshmen race at every invitational they ran in (Bay State, CMI - wasn't officially team scored, but we took 1, 2, 17, 19, 20, 21, Coaches - score of 63 points/won by more than 40, and DCL frosh championships - took 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 w/out Finch) definitely says something.

[Sit 'N Kick]

EDIT:
And as for not proving themselves in cross, I think our freshman team proved quite a bit last year... Except for Wortham/Finch, none of them got to run a 5k in Franklin park (and I think 17:29/17:44 respectively for freshmen proves quite a bit), but I think winning the freshmen race at every invitational they ran in (Bay State, CMI - wasn't officially team scored, but we took 1, 2, 17, 19, 20, 21, Coaches - score of 63 points/won by more than 40, and DCL frosh championships - took 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 w/out Finch) definitely says something.


yes they may have dominated in freshmen races but they still havent done much in varisty races......im not saying they arent going to but until they do, which they are very capable of, we cannot say they will

[clifbar]

Finch/Wortham did quite a bit in varsity races in xc, and the rest of our freshmen have gotten quite a bit of varsity experience during track, ranging from dual meets to the league meet to the class and all-state meets.

[msweenz]

I'm currently healthy, and am getting in some good training... I've actually been running with Ben quite a bit. However, I think our top 5 is going to be much more up in the air. You can take that as you may, but I don't plan on going into any more detail than that.

EDIT:
And as for not proving themselves in cross, I think our freshman team proved quite a bit last year... Except for Wortham/Finch, none of them got to run a 5k in Franklin park (and I think 17:29/17:44 respectively for freshmen proves quite a bit), but I think winning the freshmen race at every invitational they ran in (Bay State, CMI - wasn't officially team scored, but we took 1, 2, 17, 19, 20, 21, Coaches - score of 63 points/won by more than 40, and DCL frosh championships - took 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 w/out Finch) definitely says something.


my class won coaches both my freshman and sophomore year. as a senior, we finished 9th at the all state meet. just because you dominated freshman races doesnt mean you will at the varsity level. im not saying that you wont, but im waiting for the season's first big invites to see if you guys really are going to be legit.

[Sit 'N Kick]

Finch/Wortham did quite a bit in varsity races in xc, and the rest of our freshmen have gotten quite a bit of varsity experience during track, ranging from dual meets to the league meet to the class and all-state meets.


1729/1744 arent much in varsity races (yes they were freshmen but still if they are your 2-3 guys this year they will have to drop some significant time to be a solid 2-3) and sorry varsity track races do not prepare you for varisty xc races

[mcrun33]

Is Steve McChesney the boys NS coach still? If he's involved at all, I like their chances this season.

[clifbar]

In name, Matt Capstick is now the NS boys head coach, he's a NS alum and recent graduate of BC, where he was captain of the XC team. However, Steven is still considered to be the boy's assistant coach (and Girl's head coach), and things are more or less the same.
And yes, I know that 17:29/17:44 aren't really great times, but they have both significantly improved over the course of the year during track, as has the rest of our team, especially our incoming seniors (other than Donovan)...

[Professor Plum]

1729/1744 arent much in varsity races (yes they were freshmen but still if they are your 2-3 guys this year they will have to drop some significant time to be a solid 2-3) and sorry varsity track races do not prepare you for varisty xc races
This is what you might think, but take my freshman class as an example. There were 3 of us who ran varsity as freshman, me, Mike Burnstien, and Rob Gibson. The only one of us who ever ran the varsity 5k (at Franklin Park) was Rob Gibson, who ran 18:06 in the snow. Gibson had a lot of sucsess on the track, he ran 9:54, I had no sucsess indoor but ran pretty well outdoor running 4:50, and Mike Burnstien did not have sucsess either season, only running 5:09. In the fall, Gibson ran 16:30, Burnstien ran 16:55, and I ran 17:04, (would have been more 17:01 if it wasn't for an incodent involving a patch of mud.) Anyways, the Newton South freshman seem like they are better prepared than we were as a group - and with good summer miles I have no doubt they will do excellent. People need to realize these guys are legit.

[polyxc]

Cambridge R&L doesn't have a lot of votes.

Why is that? They shouldn't be unknowns after last year.

[clifbar]

I checked the results from Bay State, Emass, and All-State - Cambridge returns 3 of their top 6 from last year according to Emass/Allstate, and 2 according to the Bay State results... however, at all 3 meets, they only had 6 guys in the varsity race, and they had none in the JV at Bay State

are they even gonna have a full team?

[polyxc]

...However, I think our top 5 is going to be much more up in the air. You can take that as you may, but I don't plan on going into any more detail than that.

that can only be a good sign for Newton South!