Jake Klim's Massachusetts 

a preview of the Massachusetts State Meet

by Jake Klim (Jake is a runner and film major at University of Maryland Baltimore County, but his heart still belongs to Massachusetts - this is his first column for DyeStat)

Massachusetts and cross country, two words
that have become paired ever so often in the last
couple years. After the successes of Jonathon
Riley, Andy Powell, Abdirizak Mohamud, Franklin
Sanchez to name just a few, Massachusetts has had
the opportunity of baring some of the greatest
high school distance runners in the country. Now
all of the above have come and gone, some to
respected colleges while others have dropped
running all in general. Who is left? Who is ready
to step it up to the next level? Well, 
Massachusetts may not have the superstars it had
during its past three years of distance glory
(1996-1998), but it still has got the depth just
as it had in 1995, but more so now.

Tristan Colangelo has certainly stepped up his
talents, breaking 4:20 as a sophomore, as
has Somalian native Said Ahmed. Then there are
the current rising stars such as Marshfield's
Matt Emond who ran an impressive sub 15:20 effort
at the Brown Invitational, and BC High's Bryan
Gartrell who came out of no where and bested
Ahmed at CMI with a 15:53.

What about the capable
Josh Barshard,  who can either destroy his
competition or be destroyed by it. He has run sub
16 at Franklin Park, and finished 10th at the All
State Meet in '97 as a sophomore, but he is very
unpredictable. Geoff Atkinson of Norwell raced
extremely well at last years NE Footlocker
Regional, but only ran a 16:55 at CMI this
year-very unpredictable. Jon Drappi of Saint
Johns Shrewsbury who after running 2:00 for the
800m, decided to give cross a try. What a
difference he has made. He gave Ahmed quite a
scare at the Bay State Invite after running 16:00
to Ahmed's 15:53. I don't think MA has seen this
guy's full potential and feel he can be this years
Dark horse at All States. 

Colangelo's highly
touted teammate Josh Palazola has an impressive
track resume, but it will be interesting to see
what he can do on the mountain (Northfield that
is). I do not think this towering 6 and a half
foot junior poses as much as a threat as the rest
of them. Colangelo has run Norhfield at the
states 3 years ago when it was 12 degrees
outside, so he knows what those hills are like.

You bet that Gloucester is going to be ready for
it too; they always are.  Coach David Dunsky does a
good job at peaking them at the right point of
the season. Saint Johns (S) is going to be a
force to reckon with though. They have the depth
and the manpower to dethrone the Fishermen, but
it all comes down to who can run the hills. 

What I am trying to get at is that the race is
not already won, it is anyone's bag. It is not
like past races; it is actually going to be a
race, not a blow out by Mohamud or Riley (although
last years races were pretty close Powell vs.
Sanchez in D2, Colangelo vs. Ahmed, Curran, and
others in D1). The team title is also up for
grabs, this year Gloucester is going to have some
competition reclaiming it. But before the All
State Meet comes the Class Meet, which is this
weekend, and here are my rough predictions. Keep
in mind that some schools like English change
classes every year so it is hard to figure out
what class each runner (and their respected
school) will be in...

EMASS Ranking:
Class A
1. S. Ahmed-Boston English
2. B. Gartrell-BC High
3. J. Barchard-Somerville
4. B. Rowe-Kim-Brookline
5. J. Bartoloni-North Quincy 

Class B
1. T. Colangelo-Gloucester
2. M. Emond-Marshfield
3. J. Polazola-Glocester
4. R. Hamond-Whitman Hanson
5. J. Shoemaker-Lincoln Sudbury

Class C
1. N. Brown-Wellesley
2. A. Afrarian-King Philip
3. S. Santoro-Oliver Ames

Class D
1. M. Thomas-Amesbury


to comment on this article, send email to Jake Klim [email protected]