Halfway through the regular season, the Bromfield boys cross-country team continues to lead the Midland Wachusett C League standings with a perfect 5-0 record following wins against Narragansett, Gardner, and Tahanto. The Bromfield girls record stands at 4-1, with the squad losing to Narragansett two weeks ago but besting Gardner and Tahanto last week.
Boys vs. Narragansett
For the boys, Price Day led the Trojans on Narragansett’s three-mile home course two weeks ago with a time of 18:02, finishing 26 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, sophomore Joe Capps from Narragansett.
Senior Patrick Griffin outkicked freshman Nick Steele down the stretch for a third-place finish overall. The remaining Bromfield scorers at the Narragansett dual meet were Matt Polimou (sixth) and Sam Dyer (seventh).
Bromfield’s depth was too much for the Narragansett squad as the Trojans stacked nine runners into the top 11 places. Newcomer Charlie Frost followed Dyer in eighth place while seniors Ian Harrington, Will Sullebarger, and Alex Ortiz were close behind.
Final score: Bromfield 21, Narragansett 40.
Girls vs. Narragansett
The girls faced their toughest competition of the year at Narragansett. This Baldwinville team finished first in the league and second in the district last year, with all their runners returning this year.
Narragansett was equally strong this year, besting the Bromfield girls 24-31. First in for Bromfield was Sophia Collins in third place, followed by Alexia Lipman (fourth), Kate Toll (seventh), and Kate Rowatt (eighth).
Shannon Barrett missed the race due to illness, allowing seventh-grader Alex Saganich (ninth) to achieve her first spot among the top-five scorers for the team.
Boys tri-meet
Last week, both teams traveled to Dunn State Park to take on Tahanto and the host team, Gardner, in a league tri-meet. Again, the boys proved dominant, with sound victories over both squads (Bromfield, 23-Gardner, 32; Bromfield, 25-Tahanto, 30). Tahanto’s coach was confident going into the meet that their strong returning runners, and the addition of transfer standout Hayden Smith from Nashoba would dominate the Trojans this season. Kevin Foster’s squad had other ideas, though. Bromfield’s top runner, Day, handily defeated Smith, winning the 2.6-mile course in 14 minutes, 36 seconds.
Next across the line was Steele in third position, finishing just one minute behind Day. Once again, Griffin used his patented sprint at the end to surpass Gardner’s top runner, good enough for a fifth-place overall finish.
Dyer and sophomore Frost rounded out the scoring positions for the Trojans. Frost is showing promise, with markedly improving performances each week.
A strong senior contingent of Sullebarger, Ortiz, Jared Gall, and Harrington grouped together to place 16th through 19th, respectively.
Polimou, who has been in the varsity top five for both other meets this year, hobbled to 21st place after rolling his ankle during the race.
Girls tri-meet
On the girls’ side of the Tahanto/Gardner tri-meet, the lady Trojans came up victorious as well against both squads. (Bromfield, 23-Tahanto, 29; Bromfield, 23-Gardner, 32).
The Trojans appeared strong and confident, tightly grouping runners one through five in the top nine places. Lipman finished second overall to Tahanto’s Kaitlin McGahie, crossing the line in 18:55. Collins was fourth overall, finishing the 2.6 mile course in 19:14.
Using Coach Taschereau’s race strategy of negative splits (where runners start conservatively, then progressively run each 800-meter segment of the race faster than the previous 800 meters), several of the girls achieved personal bests at the meet.
While working in groups throughout the race, Shannon Barrett, Kate Toll, and Kate Rowatt were able to close the gap on top finishers Lipman and Collins to within 65 seconds. The gap between Bromfield’s top runner and the fifth varsity runner was greater than two minutes in the first two races of the season.
Up next
This week, both squads will face the tough Tyngsboro teams. Then the boys travel to Rhode Island for the prestigious Ocean State Invitational over the weekend.
