Warriors captured fourth straight M.L. Freedom division title with a new cast of runners
THE WMHS girls’ cross country team captured a fourth consecutive Middlesex League Freedom division championship and had a lot of success in 2014. In the front row (from left to right) are Abigail Harrington, Maeve Conway, Reilly McNamara, Sara Custodio, Emily Hammond, Lauren Sallade, Joanna Hammond, Catherine Urbano and Jordan Stackhouse. In the back row (from left to right) are Coach Karen Barrett, Hailey Bishop, Gillian Russell, Emmalee Connors, Marissa Pesce, Victoria Popp, Sarah Filleul and Sam Ross. Missing from the photo is Kubra Umit. (Donna Larsson File Photo)
By JIM SOUTHMAYD
WAKEFIELD — If this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Wakefield Memorial High girls’ cross country team then the Warriors didn’t get the memo.
Wakefield captured its fourth straight Middlesex League Freedom division and continued its dominance in the division with nearly an entire new cast of runners.
The Warriors lost their two non-league meets against Middlesex League Liberty division powers Woburn and Lexington. But in the Freedom division, the Warriors posted a 5-0 record to four-peat as M.L. Freedom division champs.
Wakefield lost to Woburn (19-42) and Lexington (18-44) to be 0-2 out of the gate. But the Warriors didn’t get discouraged as they posted victories over Watertown (20-39), Stoneham (18-37), Wilmington (15-45), Melrose (22-39) and Burlington (25-30).
The meet against Melrose was a showdown of M.L. Freedom division unbeaten teams at the time and the finale against the Red Devils proved to be quite a challenge as Burlington gave the Warriors everything they could handle. But Wakefield emerged with the league title once again.
“I am really proud of the girls’ efforts this season. When we started back in August, I refused to call this a rebuilding season,” said Coach Karen Barrett, who finished her eighth season at the helm of the Warriors. “The fact that we lost six seniors was going to be a huge hurdle to get over but I had faith in the summer running that the returners did. Through hard work and mental toughness, the girls executed very difficult workouts. They never complained and came to every practice prepared and ready to give it 100 percent.”
So while Wakefield lost the group that nicknamed themselves the “Wolves,” a whole new group of “Wolves” picked up where the old group left off. Once again, Wakefield ran with a pack mentality and it showed during the dual meet season.
The Warriors were led by Middlesex League Freedom Division All-Stars Emily Hammond, Lauren Sallade, Sara Custodio and Abby Harrington. Hammond and Sallade were the senior co-captains, Custodio is a junior and Harrington is a sophomore.
The rest of the returning juniors on the team were Reilly McNamara, Sam Ross, Catherine Urbano and Marissa Pesce.
There were two more returning sophomores on the roster. They were Maeve Conway and Emily Heil. One sophomore, Jordan Stackhouse, was new to the team. She played soccer last year.
There were five freshmen that came out for the team. They were Sarah Filleaul, Victoria Popp, Gillian Russell, Emmalee Connors and Hailey Bishop.
The rest of the seniors on the teams were Joanna Hammond and Kubra Umit.
“Before every meet we got in a team huddle and said, ‘I will not let myself down, I will not let my coach down and I will not let my team down.’ This group of fantastic girls did not let anybody down,” said Barrett. “We finished our huddle with ‘No Guts, No Glory.’ I am glad the girls got all the glory for their performances this season. Being four-peat champs is quite an honor.”
In addition, Wakefield finished a solid fourth at the Middlesex League Championship meet and topped all the teams from the Freedom division. At the Div. 4 Eastern Mass. meet, the Warriors finished ninth overall.
With the loss of four seniors, Wakefield has a number of all-stars and returning underclassmen. Even though it will be difficult, Wakefield will be going for its fifth straight Freedom division crown in 2015.
