2025 Division 2 Cross Country Sectional Championships: Firsts for Boston Latin Academy; Whitinsville Christian Girls Roll Again; Weston Boys Rise Up

There was a mix of new and old among the team champions crowned at the 2025 Division 2 Cross Country Sectional Championships on Saturday, November 8 at Northfield Mountain. One school not only swept both boys and girls races, but they were the first championships in program history. The other four team winners were all repeats from 2024, although one school was doing it in a different division.

There were two repeat winners among the six individual champions.

The top seven teams, plus the top 10 individual runners not on any of those teams, qualified for the Division 2 State Championship meet on Saturday, November 15 at Devens. In addition, two wild card teams were chosen based on the cumulative times of their five best finishers.

Here is a recap, in the order the races were run:

Division 2C Boys

After winning three straight sectional titles in Division 3, Weston High School stepped up this year and didn’t miss a beat. The Wildcats finished with 88 points to outpace runner-up Dedham High School (101) and the rest of the field.

Chayse Parker of Oakmont Regional High School was crowned individual champion in 16 minutes, 59.35 seconds, just ahead of Benjamin Barron of Whitinsville Christian School (17:01.21) and Townsend Roussin of Dedham (17:01.35).
Matthew Fitzgibbon paced Weston’s team effort by placing fourth (17:22.1) and Wildcats teammate Aarav Mehta was eighth (17:34.77). Other scorers were Ryuji Nawa in 21st (18:04.0), Kevin Han in 25th (18:08.23) and Thomas Moser in 30th (18:21.08).

Oakmont’s Jayden Brostrom was fifth overall (17:23.76). Also in the top 10 were Levon Roussin of Dedham (sixth, 17:25.48), Jackson Doyle of Dover-Sherborn High School (seventh, 17:29.76), Nick Antonellis of Archbishop Williams High School (ninth, 17:36.05) and Christopher Pan of Dover-Sherborn (10th, 17:37.01).

Whitinsville Christian was third in the team standings (152), followed by Swampscott High School (184), Wilmington High School (193) and Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (193).

Division 2C Girls

Emily Flagg and Whitinsville Christian School continued their dominance of the sectional. Flagg finished in 18 minutes, 30.73 seconds for her third consecutive individual championship and the Crusaders captured the team title for the fifth year in a row.

Abby Flagg, who was the individual winner in 2022, took second place (18:54.43) as Whitinsville Christian scored 74 points to pull over the victory. Bishop Fenwick High School was second with 91 points.

Inez Smith took ninth for WCS (20:57.90), and Josephina Dyke rounded out the scoring with her 34th place finish (23:12.88).

Other top 10 individuals included Elise Casso of Falmouth High School (third, 20:14.24), Jessica Bourne of Weston High School (fourth, 20:22.080, Annabelle Averett of Swampscott High School (fifth, 20:42.220, Adelaide Sweatman of Bishop Fenwick (sixth, 20:42.93), Kelsey Kwiatek of St. Mary’s High School (seventh, 20:49.09), Grace Morasse of Lowell Catholic High School (eighth, 20:49.78), and Molly McIntyre of Norton High School (10th, 21:08.55).

Dover-Sherborn led the rest of the team pack, taking third with 176 points. Next was Norton (191), followed by North Reading High School (201), Wilmington High School (205), and St. Mary’s (218).

Division 2B Boys

Silas Gartner of Falmouth High School made it back-to-back individual championships, and Groton-Dunstable Regional High School won its wave for the third year in a row.

Gartner cruised to victory in a time of 16 minutes, 11.63 seconds, well ahead of runner-up Andrew Kosiba of Groton-Dunstable (16:28.93). But Kosiba was just one of the several standouts who helped the Crusaders to 59 points and an overwhelming victory in the team standings.

Greyson Duane, who was the 2C individual champ in 2024, settled for seventh place (17:05.13). Micah Pierantozzi (17:15.01) was 11th for G-D, Evan Solger was 19th (17:40.31) and Ashvik Yadav 20th (17:47.89).

Other top 10 runners were Calvin Miller of Amherst-Pelham Regional High School (third, 16:42.71), Nathan Palmieri of Pembroke High School (fourth, 16:51.18), Max Harrington of Holliston High School (fifth, 16:57.65), Michael Mohoric of Newburyport High School (sixth, 17:02.01), Zachary Mazzaferro of East Longmeadow High School (eighth, 17:05.61), Luca Domestico of Ashland High School (ninth, 17:11.3), and Henry Daggett of Northampton High School (10th, 17:13.26).

Behind Groton-Dunstable in the team chase were Amherst-Pelham (138), Northampton (165), Pembroke (174), Ashland (220), Wayland High School (222) and Newburyport (241).

Division 2B Girls

Lucy Downin became Holliston High School’s fourth individual champion in five years, navigating the course in 19 minutes, 19.25 seconds.

Meanwhile, Amherst-Pelham Regional High School repeated as team champion despite not putting a runner in the top 10. But the Hurricanes put four runners from 11th to 16th, all in a span of 20 seconds, and compiled 79 points to edge runner-up Northampton High School (86).

Ella Austin was Amherst-Pelham’s top runner in 11th (21:26.0), and led the pack of Hurricanes with Genevieve Doyle (12th, 21:27.36), Lilly Pope (14th, 21:33.93) and Nina Holden (16th, 21:46.78).

Northampton’s Mairead O’Neil was runner-up in 19:24.61. The rest of the top 10 included Quin Wilcox of Wakefield Memorial High School (third, 19:38.31), Meghan McEleney of Groton-Dunstable Regional High School (fourth, 20:05.47), Sophia Warnetski of Ashland High School (fifth, 20:21.28), Addison Poulter of Bedford High School (sixth, 20:25.27), Maeve Burns of Tewksbury Memorial High School (seventh, 20:51.01), Grace Conklin of Danvers High School (eighth, 20:53.44), Emerson Harrington of Holliston (ninth, 21:01.74), and Emma Dorich of Foxborough High School (10th, 21:15.51).

Holliston was third in the team standings (108), followed by Ashland (157), Newburyport High School (167), Danvers (209) and Pembroke High School (221).

Division 2A Boys

Boston Latin Academy placed three runners in the top 10 overall and the Dragons took home the first sectional championship in program history.

Ethan Halpern of Longmeadow High School was the individual champion in 16 minutes, 46.22 seconds, well ahead of runner-up Seamus Canniff of Brockton High School (17:08.15).

Canniff was trailed closely by Bradon Spiess (17:10.64), whose third-place finish set the tone for Latin Academy’s 46 points and easy win over Walpole High School (80) and 2024 state champion Longmeadow (84).

Adam Kramer (17:12.7) was fifth for the Dragons and Khalid Jama (17:22.42) in 10th. Ryan Collins (17:24.21) was right behind in 11th and Nathaniel Iliff (17:36.68) 18th.

Henry McCormack of Melrose High School (17:11.97) took fourth and teammate John Strong (17:15.45) was sixth. Next were Owen Ahlfont of Walpole (17:16.41), Henrik Adams of Marblehead High School (17:18.55), and Finn O'Connor of Longmeadow (17:20.42).

Melrose (96) was fourth as a team, followed by Marblehead (134), Masconomet Regional High School (142) and Duxbury High School (237).

Division 2A Girls

Sara Blanco and Boston Latin Academy made history by taking home the first individual and team championships in program history.

Blanco finished with a winning time of 19 minutes, 38.16 seconds and paced the Dragons to their team score of 74, which put them clear of Marblehead High School (89), Westwood High School (94) and the rest of the pack. Blanco just edged out runner-up Lauren Raffetto of Canton High School (19:38.93) at the wire.

Anjuli Claire Szydlo (20:30.17) added a 10th place finish for the Dragons, who also got scoring from Neve Flynn in 12th (20:40) and Maya Friedmann in 23rd (21:39.95).

Marblehead was led by the 7-8 finishes of Sarah Munroe (20:18.1) and Marrietta O’Connell (20:22.52).

Ila Zollo of Walpole High School took third (19:46.31), Reilly Powell of Melrose High School was fourth (19:53.85), and Bridget Flynn of Norwood High School placed fifth (20:01.29). Also in the top 10 were Maggie Joyce of Minnechaug Regional High School (sixth, 20:16.16) and Madison Gibeau-Schmitt of Masconomet Regional High School (ninth, 20:42.22).

Walpole edged Melrose for fourth place, each finishing with 114 points. Canton was sixth (127) and Minnechaug seventh (202).