LS > NS > Arlington

From NS v LS v Arlington - XTi

From NS v LS v Arlington - 5D

Click here for photos by Dave Fineman
Click here for photos by Jennifer Reed
Click here for photos by George-1
Click here for photos by George 2
Click here for photos by Sue Chari
Click here for varsity results and JV boys results
Boys - 1st 12:
LS 21, NS 34
Taylor 13:50
Barnes 14:05
Ellersick 14:11
Melly 14:17
Uruci 14:22
I. Hoenig 14:25
E. Hoenig 14:41
Arlington 14:42
Mullin 14:59
Dailey 14:59
M. Barnes 15:10
Pearce 15:12

Girls - 1st 10:
LS 24, NS 31
Stock SO LS - 15:49
Keklak JR LS - 15:53
O'Keefe JR NS - 15:59
Fineman SR NS - 16:03
Reed SR NS - 16:03
Arthur SR LS - 16:41
Clarke SR LS - 16:44
Broecker FR LS 16:52
Laurence NS - 17:00

Last year Kelsey and Bridget ran 15:41 for the record.
Dan Beardslee (NS) has record at 13:29.
I have to say that Antony Taylor from Arlington looked like he was running easy yet was only 21 seconds off the course record.

From NS v LS v Arlington - XTi

From NS v LS v Arlington - XTi

NS v LS v Arlington this Wednesday at Cold Spring

Newton South versus Lincoln-Sudbury versus Arlington in a double dual meet this Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Cold Spring Park off Beacon St. in Newton. See you there.
Click here for MSTCA Massachusetts girls rankings 28 Sept. 2009
Click here for MSTCA Massachusetts boys rankings 28 Sept. 2009
Click here for Dyestat National XC rankings top 25 teams
For girls LS is ranked 13th and NS 18th nationally.
No Massachusetts boys teams make the national top 25.

Amherst Invitational -Sat. 26 Sept. 2009

Click here for Photos by Jennifer Reed
Click here for photos by Dave Fineman
Click here for photos by Sue Chari
Click here for complete results

Notes from the Course*

Amherst Invitational

September 26, 2009

The weather at Hampshire College was perfect for both the racers and the spectators. Cool morning air developed into long-sleeved-tee-shirt weather – the perfect fall day. I wasn’t originally too thrilled to be getting up at 6:00 am on a Saturday to make peanut butter toast and hot chocolate, but as with all running events, the fun of the day was well worth a few less hours of that precious commodity, sleep.

The drive out to Amherst was easy and beautiful, especially watching the fog rise from the valley and Hampshire College is a great place to watch a race because you are able to see the runners at different places along the course, provided of course that you are willing to run at least a mile in intermittent spurts! The first race of the day for NSXC was the Boys Freshman. The boys team took 2^nd overall only 10 points off of the winner Danbury! This group of boys should be a nice match up in years to come. Newton South placed three runners in the top 12, with Noah Rivkin (8 – 18:31), Nicholas Reed (10 – 18:34) and Joe Trask (12 18:38) all finishing within 7 seconds of each other. Jason Chari and Ben Eisenberg finished 23^rd and 26^th respectively and Mike Pezza, Jason Karys, Relj Nedelijkovic and Eric Zhang rounded out the South effort.

The Girls’ Varsity team took 1^st overall. The NSXC girls had a great start and all finished within the top 25 spots. Melanie Fineman (3^rd in 18:50)), Kathy O’Keefe (6 -19:02) and Madeleine Reed (8 – 19:08) controlled the first two miles of the race before being broken up by runners from other teams. Anna Laurence (18 – 20:03), Kayla Burton (19 – 20:06) and Elizabeth May (22 – 20:08) all finished within 5 seconds of each other.

The Boys Varsity team finished 10^th overall with individual finishes by David Melly, 11^th in 16:37 and Xhulio Uruci, 23^rd in 16:59. Alex Pearce (17:37) and Kyle Olson (17:42) finished 52^nd and 53^rd. Mickey Verlaque and Balazs Varady (who I heard had fallen at the start) finished 123^rd and 134^th.

The girls JV team tied for first place with Concord Carlisle and lost in the six place tie breaker, despite placing the top 6 girls in the top 25 runners overall. It was a great effort by all, with Jenny Epstein taking an early lead and never looking back, finishing well ahead of the pack in 21:07. Hannah Friedman (21:48) and Abby Pressberg (21:55) finished 5^th and 6^th respectively, followed by Katie Sandson (16^th in 22:38), Daphna Chissick (19^th in 22:41) and Zuzanna Skvarkova (25^th in 23:23). Sara Chari, Maya Alper and Rachel Hurwitz finished out the team effort.

The Boys JV race was the last of the day. NSXC ran four boys in the race with Victor Miosescu finishing first for South and 22 overall in 18:51., David Wortham in 20:07 and Max Ezekial in 21:43. Two other runners competed but are not listed in the official results - Nate Weaver ran with Jon Rothendler's number and finished in 19:38. Cameron Olia also ran but I have no results for him.

Newton South just missed taking back home the coveted Crowley Trophy by 3 points. The Award is given to the School with the best combined boys and girls scores. Not a bad showing by NSXC!

In a shout out to John Huth, a philosophical comment and observation…..I am always surprised at how quickly 6 hours (or any amount of time) can pass during one of these invitational meets or league meets. I get caught up in the energy of those gathered and warmed by the cheering for all the runners, including those who finish last and well behind the pack. It is especially wonderful to observe the athletes tearing around the course to cheer for each other. I wonder whether it is the sport or the athletes drawn to the sport that make this happen, probably more likely both (much like the nature nurture debate). Go runners!

 *An occasional missive after races (best expected when a rainy non-work day follows a race day!

NS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland photos

Photos from last Wed double dual meet.
Click here for photos by George

From NSHS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland

From NSHS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland

From NSHS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland

From NSHS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland

Girls at Hartford Riverfront Race

Newton South finished 4th in the Invitational race of 6 top teams.
8 Kathy O- Keefe, JR, 19:01.9
12 Madeleine Reed, SR, 19:25.0
17 Kayla Burton FR 19:59.3
21 Anna Lawrence SO 20:08.0
23 Elizabeth May SR 20:28.7
Click here for full results
Click here for video of race
Click here for photos of JV race by Sue Chari

Boys at McIntyre race at Franklin Park

Click here for full results
Click here for photos by George
Boys Varsity Race:
31 Xhulio Uruci 12 Newton South 17:18.5
33 #2830 David Melly 11 Newton South 17:20.4
94 #2836 Klye Olson 12 Newton South 18:12.9
108 #2839 Alex Pearce 12 Newton South 18:21.0
189 #2850 Balazs Varady 12 Newton South 19:27.6
195 #2837 Dan Pasquale 11 Newton South 19:32.3
227 #2835 Camy Olia 12 Newton South 20:16.4
TEAM: 19 Newton South 441; 29 31 92 106 183 189 221
Total Time: 1:30:40.40 Average: 18:08.08
I don't have time to post the rest of the results now. Anyone who could write it up and Email me, I'll post.

NS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland

There was a meet today at cold spring park between NS and Concord-Carlisle and Wayland.
boys varsity: CC > NS > Way
girls varsity: NS > CC > Way
Photos to come. I took complete photos of the results. Could someone connect the runners with the numbers?
Click here for complete results
Click here for photos by Jennifer Reed
Click here for photos by Sue Chari
Click here for photos by George
The coaches:

From NSHS v Concord-Carlisle v Wayland

team tents

From past years cross country and track parents have bought heavy duty high quality 10'x10' tents for meets. At times these tents were left at the school and used by other sports teams. This has consistently been a disaster with damaged tents being returned.
I have the newest tent (E-Z UP Eclipse II steel) with about 14 broken struts and other miscellaneous damage. The new struts are about $9 each plus shipping. The repair cost might be around $200. I'd like to take up a little collection this time rather than buying parts myself. When repaired it is important that the tents not be kept at the school unless it was a locked up running storage compartment. The best has been a student -parent keeping the tents at a home and bringing them to the bus for meets. Perhaps, we can do a collection at the next meet.
(A little update: Repairs done on this tent were with incorrect strut sizes and probably caused much of the present damage).

See How They Win

The Boston Globe west has decided to cover the Newton South cross country team. I happened to be at practice when the Globe reporter, Sapna Pathak, was watching the team. Steven introduced her to me and she peppered me with questions about the team when I ran for NS. The only part she quoted wrong was about the amount of competitiveness between my coach and Steven. My coach was very competitive but he was also negative. Steven is competitive and positive. Everyone wants to run for Steven.
Read the story at:
http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/articles/2009/09/13/winning_newton_south_cross_country_coach_shares_his_love_of_running/

NSHS alumni results

I've just bookmarked a pile of college XC sites to at least report a few results. Please send in or comment on ones I missed.
- Dartmouth Invitational 3.3 miles; 12 Sept.2009
9 Dahlberg, Bridget, FR Boston College, 20:49.50 9
friend of NS runners:DCL Bedford:
16 Gault, Jon, FR Dartmouth College, 26:44.10 16

- Bentley v Brandeis Dual Meet, 6K, 4 Sept. 2009
1. Sam Donovan, Brandeis, 19.54

- Cornell v Army dual meet 6K, 11 Sept.2009
3 Stephanie Pancoast Cornell Sr 18:34.4 (WestfordAcademy)
4 Kelsey Karys Cornell Fr 18:53.9
When Kelsey was a HS freshman and Stephanie was a HS senior, they fought each other for the DCL XC championship with Kelsey winning. They are now teammates at Cornell.
Cornell photo:


- Baltimore Metro Cross Country Meet - 5K - 9/4/2009
15 Long, Alexander, FR Johns Hopkins, 5:27.1, 16:56.01
- 2009 Navy Invitational - 8K - 9/12/2009, Annapolis
61 Long, Alexander Johns Hopkins 5:37.4, 27:56.90

- 2009 Duquesne Duals - 9/5/09 - 8K
54 Ben Finch CMU 28:23:00
- Waynesburg Invitational - 12 Sept. 2009 - 8K
8 Ben Finch CMU 27:32

- 2009 Redlands Cross Country Invitational - 9/12/2009 - 6K
65 Cameron Fenn, Cal Tech, 5:49, 21:41, 44

- Engineers Cup; Saratoga Springs 12 Sept. 2009 - 8K
22 Weaver, Matt Mit 28:13.62

- Trinity College, Wickham Park, Sept. 12,2009, 5K
42 William Cha, Trinity, 17:34, 5:40

1st dual meet, NS v AB at AB

Both AB girls and boys appear to be greatly improved.
I don't have a story or results. Rumor is boys: AB 26 NS 31 or 32 or 33.
Xulio and David went 1,2 but AB then bunched the rest. I'm sure the team can't wait for number 1 returner, Yugi.
AB girls took 1,2 but NS then took many of the next places. NS 27 AB 30. The results photo is scored incorrectly.
Remember that only 7 from a team can score.
Click here for photos by Jennifer Reed
Click here for photos by Dave Fineman
Click here for photos by Sue Chari
Waiting for results.


I just looked at the photos and it looks like the tradition continues. Should have warned the team to quintuple team Steven.

Steven's preseason team review

From Steven:
We are currently ranked 2nd in the state, 2nd in the Northeast region (New England, NY and PA) and 19th in the nation. I feel that we are not there yet and have lot of work to reach those goals. But I do believe that we have the talent and desire to make those things happen.

I have been coaching at Newton South now for 20 years and I have seen a lot of new and exciting starts to the year and also to the cross country season. This ranks as one of the most exciting starts to our season and year. Our team this year may very well be the deepest team in school history and that is saying a lot as our 1998 JV team beat the Saratoga Springs JV team which was considered at the time the best JV team in the nation. We return All Americans Madeleine Reed, Kathy O' Keefe, Melanie Fineman and also Elizabeth May from our All State championship team of last year. They are joined by fellow team captains Sara Chari and Maddison Willert who were part of the All State team as alternates. We have so many promising new athletes that I will not list them to keep the pressure off of them and also to allow them to earn mention.
But the real story is that we have so many others that will contribute at a varsity level this season as well as having a great JV team. Most years picking the state meet team is pretty clear cut but for maybe one spot. This year we may have a dozen or more kids with a shot of making the state team. We have a lot of kids with limited experience who came in with little mileage, but have promising talent.
I have told our girs that the team that we returned is already among the top 5 best teams in the state history when you look at their best times. This is a very special team and they will make their mark. But what we may all remember about this season after it is done is about just how many kids did make their mark.

This will be a fun season!!!

The season is about to start

Steve and Matt will have team previews shortly.
There are 16 incoming freshman boys and at least 9 freshman girls.
The first meet is against Acton-Boxborough tomorrow. It should start at 4 but please verify if you are thinking of going. It is a great course with lots of opportunities to watch. It looks like the last meet at Acton-Boxborough was 21 Sept. 2005. That means this whole team is unaware of the "tradition". Bring your swimsuits for a dip after the race. I can't be there tomorrow. Hopefully someone can take some shots and send the link to me to post.
21 SEPT.2005 PHOTOS: