Division 1 Cross Country Sectional Championships: Boston College High Dominant; Needham, Billerica Girls Sweep Top Spots

Dominant teams at the top of the individual standings, solid team depth, standout personal performances. All were on display as the waves of Division 1 runners took to the 5-kilometer Northfield Mountain course on Saturday, November 9.

The top seven teams, plus the top 10 individual runners not on any of those teams, qualified for the Division 1 State Championship meet on Saturday, November 16 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 1A Girls

Greta Hammer crossed the finish line with the winning time of 18:13.91 and carried Needham High School to the team championship.

While the Rockets had no other finishers in the top 10 individuals, their 81 points were just enough to hold off Lexington (86), Weymouth High School (89) and Cambridge Rindge & Latin (95).

Aoife Shovlin of Cambridge was the runner-up (18:57.01), followed by Ciara Evans of Newton North High School (19:02.62), Sophia Juanes Seto of Cambridge (19:05.91) and Janie Conrad of Lexington High School (19:14.92).

Newton North (107), Braintree High School (186) and Wachusett Regional High School (190) rounded out the team qualifiers.

Division 1A Boys

Boston College High School swept the top three spots, led by Gregory McGrath’s winning time of 15 minutes, 50.23 seconds, paving the way for the Eagles’ victory.

John Wilson was the runner-up for BC High in 16:01.47, followed closely by teammate Shamus Larnard in third place (16:02.32). Their efforts helped the Eagles to a team score of 57, easily outpacing runner-up Brookline High School.

Lysander Duffield was the top finisher for the runner-up Warriors in fourth place (16:05.73). Altamo Aschkenasy placed seventh (16:21.36).

Also qualifying for the Division 1 State Championships were Andover High School (126), Lexington (135), Newton South High School (135), Lowell High School (169) and Shrewsbury High School (181).

Chris Guerin of Shrewsbury rounded out the top five individuals (16:05.78).

Division 1B Girls

Charlotte Tuxbury led a pack of Wellesley High School runners in the top four, but it was the runner-up finish of Emily Wedlake that keyed Westford Academy to the team championship.

Wedlake (18:53.94) and the Grey Ghosts finished with 50 team points, just ahead of Wellesley (55). Diya Shrestha (8th, 20:18.31) and Emily Deeks (9th, 20:19.08) also had key finishes with Westford.

Charlotte Tuxbury (18:46.1), who also won in 2022, was well ahead of a pack that included Emma Tuxbury in third place (19:27.02) and Maddie Tuxbury in fourth place (19:32.4) for Wellesley.

Macey Shriner of Plymouth North High School (19:37.77) rounded out the top five individuals.

In the team competition, the remaining qualifiers were Concord-Carlisle High School (105), Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (124), Winchester High School (136), North Andover High School (137) and Marshfield High School (172).

Division 1B Boys

Concord-Carlisle didn’t place a runner in the top 10 finishers, but instead used its superior depth to narrowly edge the rest of the pack.

The Patriots finished with 99 points, just ahead of runner-up Natick High School (102), with North Andover further back in third place (147).

Sawyer Bout was the top finisher for the winning Patriots, just outside the top 10 in 11th place overall (16:41). Luke Crounse (14th, 16:47.91) and Brendan Quinn (17th, 16:51.77) were close behind to back C-C’s winning effort.

Jack Graffeo of Westford Academy was the individual winner in 15:41.07, well ahead of runner-up John Bianchi of Natick High School (16:01). Ethan Sholk of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional (16:02.16), Jared Rife of Belmont High School (16:14.95) and Nick Walker of Winchester (16:15.1) were the other top-five finishers.

The remaining team qualifiers, in order of finish, were Arlington High School (171), Wellesley (187), Belmont (187) and Boston Latin School (195).

Division 1C Girls

Gianna McGowan raced home with the individual championship in a time of 18:44.15, and had plenty of help from her Billerica Memorial High School teammates to secure the team trophy, as well.

Kylie Donahue was in third place (19:42.5), just edging ahead of teammate Caitlyn Donahue (19:43.02), but their efforts helped the Indians finish with 36 team points. That was a comfortable margin ahead of runner-up Oliver Ames High School (65), which was led by a second-place individual finish from Braelyn Graham (19:29.42). Iole Apostoli was fourth (20:00.16) and Hannah Dupill ninth (20:09.01) for the Tigers.

Elyse Srodawa of Hopkinton High School placed fifth overall (19:47.87).

The remaining pack of team qualifiers included Central Catholic High School (132), Bishop Feehan High School (153), Notre Dame Academy (155), Hopkinton (174) and Milton High School (197).

Division 1C Boys

Chris Barbato took second place overall with a time of 16:24.54 and led Reading Memorial High School to the team championship.

Reading finished with 70 points to easily place ahead of Oliver Ames and Billerica, each of which had 106.

Billerica’s Mason Niles was the individual winner, outkicking Barbato and the pack for a finishing time of 16:19.36. Landon Sarney led Oliver Ames with his fourth-place finish (16:32.84), just behind Michael Upton of Catholic Memorial (16:30.12). Graham Heinrich of Marshfield took fifth place (16:40.76).

Rounding out the top seven teams to qualify for the State Championship were, in order: Woburn Memorial High School (154), Hopkinton (186), Algonquin Regional High School (188) and Sharon High School (202).