Wins first postseason championship since 1982
THE MEMBERS of the Warrior boys’ cross country team proudly display the Division 4 Eastern Mass. championship trophy and banner on Saturday at the Wrentham Developmental Center.
Published in the November 14, 2016 edition.
WRENTHAM — Most people outside of the sport of cross country think it is strictly an individual sport. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Scores are tallied by totaling the first five finishers of each team in a race. To be successful a team needs to have a strong involvement by a number of members of the team beyond those five runners.
The Wakefield Warriors are a prime example of what a team can accomplish if there is a long term commitment and focus by the whole team. They push each other every day. Through all the miles, through the necessary hot and humid summers, the strength training, the track workouts, the hills; they do it all together. They make each other better.
On Saturday, the Warriors took home the 2016 Division 4 Eastern Massachusetts State Championship at the Wrentham Developmental Center. It is the first boys’ cross country title since 1982. It is also the first title for any Wakefield team since 1999 when the football team won the Super Bowl.
The Warriors captured the title and did so in dominating fashion as all five scorers placed in the top 21. They scored an impressive 38 points after totaling their top five runners’ positions. Their total was well below second place team Melrose, which had 99 points.
Tewksbury placed third with 101 points and Westwood placed fourth with 157 points. Duxbury was fifth with 166 points, while Burlington was sixth with 182 points. There were 23 scored teams in the race. There were 162 runners from those teams.
Not only did the Warriors win the team title but they proudly have the 2016 individual champion in junior Matt Greatorex who ran a very smart race from start to finish.
Greatorex kept his composure and ran stride for stride with Melrose’s Adam Cook and Nauset’s Brian Brooks for most of the way. Shortly after the two mile mark Cook pulled away and Greatorex kept pace with his league rival. Although Cook was victorious at the Wakefield/Melrose meet earlier in the season Greatorex got the better of him in Wrentham on Saturday to become the first Wakefield champion since Kevin Crowley in 1972. His winning time was 16:19.23 over the 5K rolling course.
The rest of the Warriors were also amazing in the biggest meet of their season. Although Greatorex, Cook and Brooks had the lead at the two mile mark, senior Adam Roberto, senior Nick McGee and junior Tommy Lucey were looming about five seconds back with a mile to go. Senior Ryan Sullivan was not far behind.
The victory was looking imminent at the two mile and the boys worked to maintain position in the last mile.
Impressively Roberto and McGee were able to finish in fourth and fifth ahead of one of the pre-race favorites, Nauset’s Brooks. Roberto finished with a time of 16:36.64 while McGee ran 16:37.17.
Lucey ran an astounding 40 second personal best on the Wrentham course to finish in seventh with a time of 16:47.21.
Sullivan ran a hard fought race and toughed out a 21st place finish in 17:06.59 to help the Warriors secure the title.
Senior Jack Stevens ran a strong race as well placing 30th in a time of 17:26.81. Junior Riley Brackett was 91st with a time of 18:46.43 to round out the seven Wakefield runners in the meet.
“The boys really came to compete today. They have been focused on having a strong postseason for quite some time and this was very important to them. I’m so proud of them to have the confidence to run from the front and mix it up with the best of them,” said head coach Perry Pappas. “They work so hard every day and have proven all season in workouts and races that they were strong enough to take the victory.
“Greatorex was exciting to watch and has really made a name for himself this season. It was great to see the dominance in the top 10,” added Pappas. “Roberto proved he is one of the best out there and McGee and Lucey chose the right time to have a breakthrough race. Sullivan fought through a side stitch and still ran a good race without giving up. Stevens ran one of his best races the season and can make an impact against Hopedale next week.”
The Warriors will now set their sights on an All State title next weekend at the Gardner Municipal Golf Course. They will compete at 2:30 p.m. and hope to defeat Hopedale of Central Mass. as well as the other small schools in the state. The last time the Warriors raced Hopedale they lost in a tiebreaker a month ago at the Twilight Invitational.
