Rockets Rise to the Challenge; Bring Home First Annual BSC Pumpkin Cup.

The captains with the cup!

Girls Dominate Conference Championships; Cullen Claims Individual Crown for 2nd Year in a Row!

Saturday October 26th at Coakley Middle School in Norwood, the Needham boys and girls cross country teams proved their meddle and won the first annual Bay State Conference Pumpkin Cup signaling joint dominance of the league by achieving the lowest combined team score.  The two teams collected just 94 points to outpace Newton North (182) and Brookline (208).

The Lady Rockets ran down the competition to finish first in the 12 team field scoring just 34 points and outdistancing runner-up Weymouth (66).  The win at the BSC meet came just three days after the girls sealed up their second consecutive conference title by defeating Wellesley 18-44 and extending their dual meet win streak to 29.

Margie Cullen & Sarah Armstrong run at the front of the pack.

Margie Cullen led the way for the Rockets, as she has done all season, winning the individual title and blazing the 5 kilometer course in 18:01!  Finishing second for the Rockets and third overall was Sarah Armstrong in a season best time of 18:25.  Kaleigh Hughes and Sammy Lerner worked well together throughout the race and finished 9th and 10th in 18:57 and 18:59 respectively.  Katie Horton and Julianna Donovan worked their way up through the field to finish just behind their teammates in 11th and 14th in 19:06 and 19:12.  Maddi Terry rounded out the varsity scoring running to a 22nd place finish in 19:50.

The varsity team performance wasn't the only story however as the JV squad led by Galia Bernat's 3rd place finish in 21:13 placed a close second to Weymouth getting outscored by a mere 4 points.  In comparison, last year's team lacked the depth that has emerged in 2013 and were unable to score in the JV competition.  Finishing behind Bernat were teammates Haley Filippine (7th), Courtney Barrett (9th), Camille Manoukian (10th) and Daria Fortin (16th).  In the freshman race, Jill Robins and Molly Retik led the way running to 7th and 8th place finishes respectively while Lily Auger crossed the line in 30th.

Boys Finish 2nd to Equal Highest Team Finish of the Past Two Decades!

Adrian leads the chase pack while John and Tommy hang tough.

This fall has been, at times, frustrating for the Rockets as they've battled through injuries and often felt ill-prepared to face the tough competition of the Bay State League.  But all of that vanished in the rear view mirror Saturday when the boys team finished second with 63 points, just 11 behind conference champions Newton North.  The runner-up placing avenged regular season losses to rivals Brookline and Wellesley and cemented the boys chances of a high finish at the Divisional Championships in two weeks.

Racing in only his third meet this season, Adrian Amaya returned to the line-up, reinforcing the team and leading the way finishing in 4th place overall with an impressive 15:48 for the 5k course.  The quartet of John Benner, Drew Khalaj, Tommy Kelley and Alex Turner provided the necessary depth for the team's success.  Benner ran comfortably in the top 10 for most of the race before ultimately finishing in 7th place in 16:06.  Khalaj and Kelley remained close to Benner for most of the race before finishing 13th and 16th and running times of 16:18 and 16:29 respectively.  Meanwhile Turner took a more conservative approach starting slower and working his way up through the field to finish 23rd in 16:37.  Alex Elman (31st), Nathan Maynard (47th) and Patrick Caron (49th) rounded out the team.

As with the girls team, the varsity race wasn't the only highlight as Needham's neophytes crushed the freshmen field scoring just 35 points to runner-up Brookline's 79.  Matt Mahoney led the way cruising to victory on the 2.5k course in 8:33.  Teammates Duncan Shaver, Chris Gillis, David Muir and Tejas Kelkar finished behind Mahoney to complete the scoring.  In the JV race, Cal Fleming turned in a gutsy performance to finish 7th in 17:34.

Next up for the Rockets are the Divisional Championships at the Wrentham Developmental Center on Saturday November 9th.  The girls' race is scheduled for 9:25 a.m. with the boys' set to go off at 10:45.

For complete results visit: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/13/ma/Oct26_BaySta_set1.shtml.

Photos courtesy of Kim Benner. Full album can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/107787430639967656086/102613BSCConferenceMeetNorwoodMA?authkey=Gv1sRgCOn5so265Z-UiAE&feat=email.

Rockets Roll Over Natick and Norwood; Benner Wins Boys Race.

After starting the season with three tough meets, the Rockets finally had room to breathe.  Wednesday October 2nd, the boys team got decisive wins over Natick (21-36) and Norwood (15-50) to improve their win/loss record to 5-2.  Employing a pack strategy, the Rockets were led by sophomore John Benner getting his first career win and running 17:38 for the 5k course at Cutler Park.  Finishing just steps behind Benner was teammate Drew Khalaj clocking in at the same time.  Tommy Kelley finished in 4th place overall for the Rockets with Derek Howes in 6th and Alex Turner in 8th.

L-R: Needham runners Noah Adler, David Muir, Sid Yadav, Chris Gillis, Will Cordonnier and Tejas Kelkar.                                                            

While the boys meet was far from close, the girls meet was a blowout.  A pack of six Needham runners let Natick's Sarah Lagan go early and made no effort to reel her in as they ran to a blanket finish with Olivia Corkery leading the way in 21:43.  Behind Corkery were teammates Sammy Lerner, Kaleigh Hughes, Katie Horton, Sarah Armstrong and Margie Cullen finishing in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th place.  The Lady Rockets beat Natick 20-41 and Norwood 15-50.

L-R: Sarah Smith, Galia Bernat, Claire Connors (partially obscured), Courtney Barrett, Rachel Blaustein and Maddi Terry.

Full results can be found at: http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/School.aspx?SchoolID=19349.

Photos courtesy of Kim Benner

Girls Continue Dominance, Boys Get a Split Decision.

And the varsity girls are off!

Wednesday September 25th the Rockets traveled to Walpole High School, home of the Rebels, for a double-dual meet against Newton North and Walpole.  Last year the girls meet with Newton North was closely contested with Needham coming out on top 28-29 in a battle for the ages but this year the Rockets methodically dismantled the Tigers from the start running away with the victory 23-33.  The race against the Rebels played second fiddle as the Rockets came out on top with a score of 20-40.

Camille Manoukian runs to a 4th place finish in the girls JV race.

Margie Cullen and Sarah Armstrong, as they have done all season, continued running well together and finished 1-2 in 15:32 and 15:34 for the 2.57 mile course.  Both girls broke the previous course record of 15:44 held by Newton North's Margo Gillis.  Rounding out Needham's varsity seven were Sammy Lerner (6th), Kaleigh Hughes (9th), Julianna Donovan (making her season debut in 10th), Katie Horton (12th) and Maddi Terry (15th).  Camille Manoukian and Haley Filippine ran well in the JV race to finish in 4th and 5th places running 12:51 and 12:56 respectively for the 1.78 mile distance.

The boys meet between Needham and Newton North was a contest of strength up front versus overall depth and the Rockets nearly prevailed dropping a tight race against the Tigers 25-30.  Senior captain Adrian Amaya running in his first meet of the season couldn't quite match the pace of Newton North stalwarts Mike Schlichting and Gabe Montague and finished in 3rd place behind the Tiger duo covering the varsity course in 13:27.  North's third runner crossed the line next ahead of a trio of Rocket runners captain Tommy Kelley, Drew Khalaj and John Benner all of whom were clocked at 13:45.  Next in was North's fourth followed by Needham's Alex Turner in the final scoring spot.  Rockets ran valiantly but in the end couldn't overcome the 1-2 punch of Schlichting and Montague.  The Rebels however were no match for the Rockets as Needham came out on top 19-38.

Alex Turner races to an 11th place finish overall.

In the boys JV race, freshman Matt Mahoney got his first career win finishing in a course record of 9:55 for the 1.78 mile distance.  Behind Mahoney were five other Needham athletes in the top ten; Jacob Anderson (3rd), Alex Caswell (5th), Mike Newfield (8th), Cal Fleming (9th) and Sam Cruickshank (10th).

Matt Mahoney outdistances the competition in the boys JV race en route to victory.

Full results can be found at: http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/School.aspx?SchoolID=19349.

Photos courtesy of Rich Benner and Rebecca Turner