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Cross Country 1999

Western Massachusetts preview 

In his Massachusetts preview, John Molvar denigrated the Internet awareness of Western Massachusetts.  This is a response from somewhere west of the Quabbin.  

by Eric Nazar

Molvar, just because you aren't willing to 
give the effort (or lack the proper knowledge of computers and the internet, 
which ever it may be) to find results from Western Massachusetts does not 
mean they do not exist. If you, as you claim, "follow the national scene," 
you must do it only by visiting dyestat. As seen in past years, your 
predictions rely upon less than complete information, and thus are faulty. 
If you would take some time and actually research what you claim to be 
predicting, and statistically compare results from various races (as opposed 
to just what happened in the last big race), maybe you would gain some 
credibility. If you still lack the ability to find WMass results, then I 
see it as my duty to enlighten you.

As to that actual "State Meet" preview:

In truth, the Massachusetts State Meet will be held on Saturday, November 
20th, at Northfield Mountain, as the three year cycle swings back to Western 
Mass. This Saturday, the 13th, on the other hand we will see the regional, 
or divisional state meet qualifiers. As Molvar has done a relatively good 
job (better than I could do, at this point) with his EMass preview, I shall 
only attempt to enlighten on WMass.

As those of us with access to the internet (or anyone else who lives in 
WMass) know, the Northfield course has been altered dramatically. Sadly, 
this spells doom for Jonathon Riley's (15:12) and Mary Cobb's (17:30) 
spectacular records. On the plus side, the new course is a lot better than 
the old one. Instead of the first quarter mile being steeply uphill, now 
the first _3/4_mile_ is steeply uphill. After that it's rolling up and down 
with a gradual down hill trend and the last mile on the flats. The course 
is now much more of a spectator course, and in my opinion, should be a 
better runner's course as well. It's too bad for me that they didn't change 
it last year. The motivation for the change occurred sometime early this 
summer, when a torrential rainstorm created a giant chasm just before the 
half mile mark. Rather than enlist construction equipment and vehicles to 
tear up the trails to fix it, they altered the course instead. As always, 
the EMass guys should get a kick (no pun intended) off of running the hills, 
after being used to the pancake-flat Franklin Park (you call Bearcage a 
hill?!?!, that's not a hill) course.

WMass Preview (since I'd like to make it to Psych class on time, I think 
I'll have to limit this to the boys only, as Molvar does his preview, though 
I'm sure (unlike he) I could give a reasonable girls preview as well.

Division One:

Despite a subpar outing at last weeks PVIAC (Pioneer Valley Interscholastic 
Athletic Conference) Championships, which include every team from the two 
leagues and four divisions in the Valley, Amherst is still the heavy 
favorite for the D1 title.

Despite lacking a strong frontrunner, the Hurricanes, with a tight top 6, 
have defeated closest challenger Cathedral three times in three meetings, 
the margin of victory increasing with each race. Cathedral is much more of 
a dual meet team, with a strong top two, but after that, a serious lack of 
depth. Seeing who takes the third spot State qualifying spot should be the 
most interesting part of the race. The Berkshires (and especially the three 
D1 Berkshire teams: Taconic, Pittsfield and Wahconah) are incredibly weak 
this year, and can only yield a couple decent individuals. Despite this, 
they may be able to sneak a team in, because after Amherst and Cathedral, 
the Valley is hurting for good teams as well. The race should be between 
Minnechaug from the Valley, and the three Berkshire teams, who were 
separated by a scant total of ten points at last Saturday's Berkshire meet.

Individually, Cathedral's James Lamoreaux will be the favorite. After his 
controversial win at PVIAC, albeit with a slower time than expected, LamX 
should face little challenge at WMass. With Mohawk's Neal Graves nursing a 
superficial knee injury and instructed by his coach to run back with his 
team, the anticipated showdown never materialized. Earlier in the season, 
at the Wickham Park Invitational in Connecticut, Lamoreaux ran within 2 
seconds of Graves time in the championship race, in winning the Seeded race. 
Unfortunately, the two will never race again in HS cross country, so the 
best we can do is compare times. South Hadley's diminutive wonder Matt 
Mulvaney should challenge Pittsfield front-man Mark Cazavelan for the two 
spot, with Cathedral's Number 2, Brian Markey, in close pursuit. Follow the 
Amherst top 3 of Emil Cunningham, Adam Greeney and Jon Rosen.

WMass D1
Teams
Amherst
Cathedral
Taconic
Minnechaug
Wahconah
Pittsfield
Longmeadow
East Longmeadow

Individuals - * indicates individual state-meet qualifier
1. Lamoreaux, Cathedral
2. Mulvaney, South Hadley*
3. Cazavelan, Pittsfield*
4. Markey, Cathedral
5. Cunningham, Amherst
6. Adam Greeney, Amherst
7. Rosen, Amherst
8. Frontera, Wahconah*
9. Fiedler, Minnechaug*
10. Buell, Westfield*
11. Brown, Taconic
12. Holden, Monument*
13. Woodbury, Westfield*
14. Anda Greeney, Amherst
15. Tyson, Amherst
16. Juravich, Amherst
17. Robertson, Wahconah
18. Weinmann, Longmeadow
19. McLellan, Minnechaug
20. Heady, West Side

WMass D2

Not only do we have the internet, but we also have an internet trash-talking 
forum, and the king-of-trash talking over the last few days, has been 
Berkshire champ Bryan Dragon (yes, they call him "Dra-gon") of Mt. Greylock. 
After suffering an early defeat, Dragon has been unstoppable. Of course, 
he hasn't ran in any big meets, so hasn't gotten any real competition, 
something which he will surely receive saturday from Graves and the Mohawk 
boys. Let me say it straight out, Mohawk will win states. They are far 
away the best D2 team in the State, and if their 5th man comes together, 
could challenge the likes of Gloucester and the St. Johnses, were they ever 
to race them.

Led by the indefatigable red-haired junior Neal Graves, the warriors are 
still a young team. Number two, Matt Moss, who is just now getting into 
good racing shape is also a junior, and three and four men Simon Taylor 
(arguably the best Frosh in the State,) and David Burnham (sophomore) still 
have multiple years remaining.

After Mohawk should bring a close race for the two remaining state meet 
qualifiers between Athol, Mt. Greylock (who some beleive may have peaked too 
early, and all agree is seriously hurting for a 5th man) and Dragon's Hoosac 
Valley squad, with Holyoke Catholic close behind. The seasoned Hoosac boys 
appear the tentative favorite, but Athol should give them a good run, and if 
Greylock digs up a number 5, look out. Individually, look for Catholic's 
Brian Donaghue to be up with Dragon and the Mohawk boys.

D2
Teams
1. Mohawk
2. Hoosac
3. Athol
4. Mt. Greylock
5. Holyoke Catholic

Individuals
1. Graves, Mohawk
2. Moss, Mohawk
3. Dragon, Hoosac
4. Donaghue, HC
5. Taylor, Mohawk
6. Burnham, Mohawk
7. Dunn, Greylock
8. Parker, Frontier
9. Williams, Athol
10. Pruner, Gateway
11. Hackman, Lenox
12. Shattuck, Mohawk
13. Durning, Greylock
14. Chadwick, Mohawk
15. Bingham, Lenox
16. Erickson, Greylock
17. Fournier, Athol
18. Kiley, Athol
19. Chipchase, Hoosac
20. Lukasiewicz, HC

Good luck everyone,

Eric Nazar

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