For as long as anyone can remember, Walpole Girls Cross Country had never beaten Newton North.
Not once. Not ever.
That is — until this season.
In a tri-meet against Needham and Newton North (Two of the strongest teams in the Bay State Conference and in Massachusetts as a whole) on September 3 at the Cold Springs course in Newton, Walpole Girls Cross Country pulled off an upset against Newton North by a score of 26-31 (lowest score wins) and lost to Needham by a score of 20-36. Senior Captain Allie Morris (2nd overall in 18:50) led the upset with a strong early-season performance; however, junior Kyra Arsenault (20:39) placed 11th overall to seal the upset. Her emergence as a fourth runner for the Rebels behind junior Alyssa Murphy, sophomore Stephanie Forester, and Morris gave the team the depth they needed for the upset.
With the loss of graduates Kristen Coyne and Jackie Applin (two of last year’s top five runners and top point scorers), Arsenault’s performance bodes well for the Rebels.
“Last year we had a gap between our 1-3 runners and our 4-7 runners and this needs to be addressed [this year],” said Assistant Coach Gillian Hogan. While Arsenault stepped up to finish 11th place overall, Walpole’s fifth runner Tess Lancaster placed 20th with a time of 22:13 — 1:34 behind the fourth runner. To win the Herget for a third consecutive season, the Rebels need a fifth runner to step up.
According to Coach Hogan, she expects “pack running and an emphasis on stepping up” to be the focus for this season. From the performances so far, the fifth runner most likely will be Lancaster, junior Molly Rockwood, senior Captain Colleen O’Connor or senior Emma Campbell. However, many freshmen also performed extremely well in the 1.6 mile JV race.
Specifically, freshman Danielle Borelli won the JV race with a time of 11:40. Freshmen Sylvia Lanni (11:57) and Nadine Chamoun (11:59) also are in the mix. Over the course of the next few meets, Head Coach Jamie Farrell and Coach Hogan most likely will give the freshmen opportunities to make an impact on varsity.
Along with repeating as Herget champs for the third year, the team also set another big goal: qualifying for All-States as a team. Last year, Morris was the sole Walpole qualifier for All-States, as the team came up two places short of an automatic bid at the EMASS Division III state meet last November.
“We will have to work extremely hard to accomplish these goals,” said Morris, “but I believe we have the potential to do so.”
On Wednesday, September 10, Walpole Girls Cross Country faces Milton at Houghton’s Pond. Milton — led by junior Collette O’Leary and Head Coach Tom Shaw — is a much improved team that also has a lot of freshmen talent. Because they defeated Framingham and Norwood (two weaker teams in the conference), the Rebels do not know what to expect from Milton’s top runners.
