As the season opened for Walpole High School’s Boys Cross Country team, there was a new, unfamiliar feeling. Some would call it legacy, others seniority, others confidence; there’s no definite term. What is for sure is the reason: on September 13, 2011, the Walpole boys runners entered the season with a team of over a dozen elite distance runners, an expanded group of enthusiastic coaches, and a thorough victory over Natick, 22-35.
Before the race, the runners were wary of Natick, but were appropriately confident of the strength of the Walpole team. “This is a good year for Natick– they were solid last year and they have a lot of returning seniors. But so do we; we’ve got a lot of strong runners,” said senior Chris “Feast” Conley. So many, in fact, that Walpole began the race with more boys than Natick despite benching three top varsity runners– seniors Justin Connolly and Ryan Morris, and sophomore Jon Kelland– to prevent overuse injuries. “I’m not too worried about this,” said senior Matt Zampi. “We’ve got a strong base. And we’ve got [Zach] Ganshirt.”
As the race began, Zampi was quickly proven right: senior Zach Ganshirt, the team’s number one runner, instantly took the lead, closely followed by Feast; Feast’s cousin, senior Tim “TC” Conley; and sophomore Anthony DiVirgilio. The pack of Walpole and Natick runners held strong up through the first bend and into the portion of the Town Forest that is Walpole’s course; then, the runners disappeared into the trees.
When they emerged, Ganshirt lead the pack by several seconds; Feast trailed, battling the number one Natick runner; and behind him, TC, DiVirgilio, and senior Bryan Rockwood battled a pack of four Natick runners. Then, they disappeared into the woods again, but this time not too much changed. Ganshirt maintained a comfortable lead for the second lap and Feast continued to race neck and neck for second place. The remaining pack, however, disintegrated, leaving TC and DiVirgilio sparring with a single Natick runner for the next three spots and leaving Rockwood and sophomore Sean Herlihy to try to secure the remainder of the top 10.
At the end of the race, Ganshirt took first easily, with a time of 13:31. Feast fought to the last step against a Natick runner, but ultimately lost out by a few seconds, with a time of 14:18. DiVirgilio and Rockwood lost to their man by a few seconds and took five and six, respectively. TC and Herlihy rounded at the top 10 for Walpole as TC finished in seventh place and Herlihy took nineth.
Walpole, then, took six out of the top 10 spots, against a team that was no joke, due to both raw talent and an obviously team-based coaching style. Although the boys comfortably won and showed outstanding depth, Coach Tim Giblin and his runners are not content to rest when it comes to improving the team. Said Ganshirt, “I was supposed to keep pace with Feast and Devo. I was supposed to be more in control. Giblin’s gonna be pissed…” And Feast, who achieved the fifth best Walpole record of all time, simply shook his head and said, “I couldn’t pass that Natick kid.”
This year, Walpole’s Boys Cross Country team should show pride in their accomplishment, but they won’t. They’re going to keep doing the things that made them great– pushing each other to grow, and spreading their hard-work ethic to new recruits. And that, more than any thing, is why this year’s gonna be a good one for the Walpole distance runners.
