Head Coach Jamie Farrell and her varsity Girls Cross Country have had their eyes on Weymouth since day one. The Wildcats are seeded second in the Bay State League, while the Rebels are seeded fifth. Even though the girls beat Weymouth last year, the Wildcats came more prepared this year to steal the victory with a score of 26-31. Boys Cross Country had their strongest meet of the year, taking a win with a close score of 24-31. Weymouth boys are seeded fourth, while Walpole is seeded fifth in the league.
The girls race was a blood bath between junior Allie Morris and Weymouth junior Ashley Betts, but more of a strategic race between the top 3 Weymouth girls. Morris stuck with the top three Wildcats for most of the race; however, the Wildcats used the home course to their advantage and left Morris behind on the hills. In the trail pack, senior Captain Kristen Coyne, senior Jackie Applin, and sophomore Alyssa Murphy worked together to stay in between groups of Weymouth runners.
Murphy said, “The Weymouth girls had the strategy of starting off very slow in the beginning and then picking it up the hills. This threw us off because we were trying to pace ourselves off of them, but it was challenging and they were good compeition to race against.”
Sophomore Kyra Arsenault competed in her first varsity race with teamate sophomore Tess Lancaster. Both underclassmen ran the race controllably staying close with other competitors around them for pacing.
Boys Cross Country had one of their most exciting races this year. The boys lost to Weymouth last year so they were all anxious to see what they could do this year with about the same competition against one another. The Rebels captured 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 place with their top runner, senior Pat Connell running 15:16. Connell only lost by 10 seconds, while teamate senior Captain Anthony Divirgilio finished close behind with a time of 15:25. Junior Mike Orsi rounded out to take fifth with a close time to Divirgilio at 15:25. In the trail pack of runners, junior Brendan Wohler and senior Mikey Van Der Linden ran 15:33 and 15:36 respectively to close out Walpoles top runners.
The Junior Varsity race made a good showing with Walpole clinching the top 4 places for the girls, and 1,3,4,5,6 place for the boys. Freshmen had their big show with Stephanie Forester and Delaney Murphy running 14:54 and 15:07. Luke Bererdinelli and Jack Bushway ran 1,3 with times of 12:34 and 12:41.
Both teams now have record of 4-3. Walpole will race against Natick on October 9, 2013. Last year the girls beat Natick to clinch the Herget title; Natick is the second to last team to beat in the league.
Senior captain Mackenzie Wilson said, ” It’s going to be a tough meet, but I feel like the girl’s team is ready to step up and fight for the win.” The boys have lost to Wellesley earlier in the season which does not qualify them to be Herget Champions.
