Like the runners who participate in the sport, the high school cross country season
seems to zip by pretty quickly each fall.
The Manchester Essex boys’ and girls‘ cross country teams opened up against Amesbury on Sept. 14, and were done with the 2023 regular season less than a month later, with both teams falling to Cape Ann League rival Hamilton-Wenham to close out the schedule. Up next are a series of postseason invitationals that should test two teams that saw success in 2023 - The girls team finished 2-2 overall, and the boys were 3-1.
“We are now moving from our competition phase of training to our championship phase,” explains ME cross country coach Steve Whittey. “This puts more emphasis on speedwork and starts lessening the total quantity of running. The three championship meets are Cape Ann League on Oct 28 at Wrentham, Division 2C on Nov. 11 at Wrentham and – if we qualify – the Meet of Champions on Nov 18 at Devens.”
While both teams did pretty well during the regular season, the invitational meets represent a higher level of competition for the Hornets. The Manchester Essex cross country program added Gloucester to its traditional Manchester/Essex/Rockport co-op for the fall of 2023, a change that brought with it a jump in challenge with a move from invitational meets against Div. 3 teams to Div. 2 competition.
Whittey points out that his teams participated in regular season invitationals including the Frank Kelley Invitational, Bay State Invitational and Bob Glennon Twilight Meet in Cape Cod (which was run on Oct. 13) which could serve as a gauge for how Manchester Essex runners might fare against the next level of competition.
“Our runners have performed well at the invitational meets we have competed in,” explains Whittey. “Using the invitationals to see where we stand against other Division 2 teams in our wave [Wave C], both teams are on the bubble to qualify for the Meet of Champions.”
If either the boys or girls team misses out on qualifying for the Meet of Champions at Gardner Golf Course on Nov. 11, the top 15 runners not on a qualifying
team have a chance to participate in the meet as individuals. Prior to that, Hornets runners will compete against the rest of their division in the Cape Ann League Open on Oct. 28.
While their coach describes his team’s as being “on the bubble” when it comes to qualifying for Meet of Champions, both Manchester Essex teams seem to have the talent to make a run at getting there, including top runner Finn O’Hara on the boys’ side.
“Finn O’Hara has been our top runner,” says Whittey. “In the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational [on Oct. 13], Finn placed seventh with a personal record of 16:00. In Wednesday’s meet against Hamilton-Wenham, Finn came in second behind James Reagan. This was the first dual meet he didn’t win in three years. He will have a chance at a rematch on October 28 at the Cape Ann League Championships.”
At the same time, Sabine Cooper has made a similar impact for the girls’ squad.
“Sabine Cooper has been the top runner on the girls’ team,” explains Whittey. “She was able to medal at the Bay State Invitational last Saturday and run a 20:37 personal record at the Twilight meet Friday night.”
Other standouts in 2023 include Henry Stevens and River Silva.
“Both of them are consistently scoring, usually as the fourth runner on each team which, is a big improvement for each of them from last year,” says Whittey.
The addition of Gloucester runners has benefited the teams overall, with the influx of talent making up for the bump up in challenge when it comes to Div. 2-level opponents.
“The addition of the Gloucester runners has been great,” says Whittey. “Since the Manchester Essex runners have been in a co-op with Gloucester in outdoor track for years, most of the runners already knew each other as teammates. Three of the top 6 boys are from Gloucester, [including] Colby Rochford, Lyall Cunningham and Aidan Woods. Gloucester’s Faith Castellucci is our second-place girl while Grace Castellucci is our seventh or eighth runner. This has given each team some needed depth.”
