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