Led by junior Tessa McClain, the Bromfield girls cross-country team wrapped up an outstanding season with a 14th-place finish in the MIAA Division 2 All-State Girls Cross-Country Meet, held Nov. 18 at Stanley Park in Westfield.
McClain placed 10th with a time of 20:03 minutes among 171 runners on a slippery 5-kilometer course covered with snow.
Tessa McClain at a previous meet. (Photo by Isabel Barton)
Bromfield was one of three central Massachusetts teams that qualified for the Massachusetts all-state meet, having placed third behind Littleton and Parker Charter Essential School at districts the week before. In the state meet, Littleton placed first and Parker sixth.
In the boys Division 2 meet, junior Will Squire, who had qualified as an individual runner, placed 28th among 177 runners with a time of 17:58.31.
Based on the team’s third-place performance on the Westfield course the week before and the condition of the runners, girls Coach Ellis Toll said he encouraged each athlete to try for a personal best.
“Both the course and the competition had the potential to be the fastest that they’d seen all year, so it was the perfect chance for them to be a little selfish and achieve personal goals as a reward for their hard work this fall,” he wrote the Press in a recent email. “[But] as soon as we got to the course, Marisa Steele (the boys coach) told us that the course was running about a minute slow due to sloppy conditions throughout. A quick tour … confirmed that it was almost entirely covered in either slushy snow or mud, so at that point any expectations we had went out the window. That being said, the entire team deserves credit for fighting through conditions that were some of the toughest I’ve ever seen.”
Toll especially commended Will Squire, the lone runner from the boys team. “Running by yourself in order to prepare for this kind of meet, let alone traveling and competing solo, is really tough, and he handled it really well and was rewarded with a top-30 finish. “
MIAA Division 2 Girls Cross-Country All States
Results
- 10. Tessa McClain, 20:03.47 minutes
- 57. Helena Justicz, 21:56.39
- 73. Molly Squire, 22:24.53
- 110. Hannah Beckman, 23:17.63
- 144. Emma Squire, 24:25.77
- 167. Hannah Chiou, 26:01.06
