MIAA Division 2 Championship, 11/15/25

NCAA Southeast Regional

Before we get to the meet preview, Coach Blue would like to share this message with you:

Thank you so much for the thoughtful and cool gifts. But more importantly, thank you for letting me be a part of the team. I've learned that XC truly is a sport in which the individual gives themselves to the team, and the team uplifts the individual, leading to improvement for both. The dedication and persistence you folks have shown daily for the past three months to achieve that goal has been impressive. I'm proud of all of you. 

The product of your hard work is a trip to the "Meet of Champions"—an apt destination for a team like yourselves.

Be great on Saturday, be great always

-Coach Blue

I feel the same way; it's been an excellent season marked by noteworthy improvement in both fitness and tactical sense, impressive personal achievements and team accomplishments. With the Meet of Champions there's one final and justly earned chance to show what you're capable of. I'm also looking forward to spending some quality time with the fantastic gift you gave me which the internet says will take 8-9 hours to build. 

Live results

Meet Site:

Willard Park, Sherman Ave., Devens

Bus time 8:45 AM

Please arrive a few minutes early so we can get on the road in good time. If necessary, use the bathroom before we leave.

Race time 11 AM

Meet Information:

• Weather forecast: Mostly sunny, temperature around 40 degrees with NW winds 5-10 mph. It won't be a warm day, in fact this will be the coldest meet day of the season. Dress appropriately including layers to wear when you're either waiting for your race or after having completed your cool down. You may want to wear thin gloves and/or a hat during the race itself, and half tights (ideally black) if you have them. 
• Report to the starting line 10 minutes before your race is scheduled to start; keep your sweats on until the meet officials at the starting line tell you to remove them. Warmup clothes will be placed in the laundry basket which will then be brought to the tent. 
• Numbers will be assigned to you specifically for this meet; these numbers have an RFID chip attached to the back which interacts with a conductive mat at the finish line to record your time. The meet director has asked that athletes who aren't racing NOT wear their bib number if standing near the finish line; doing so can cause a false reading by the finish line mat. Also, don't crumple or fold your bib number. Finally, don't press the stop button on your wristwatch as you cross the finish line, since doing so might interfere with the RFID chip and your hand and wrist will obscure your bib number from view by the backup camera.

• MIAA tournament format 

Course Map (click to enlarge):

• Link to course map

• Starting from the NE corner of a large area of ball fields, the course is three trips around the fields. The first of these loops is the shortest, while the third loop is the longest and includes a trip into the woods with a short steep climb and descent. Soon after completing the third lap athletes turn off to the finish area.

• Due to the fact that almost the entire course is on grass, spikes should be worn (1/4" or 3/8").

• Medals will be awarded to the top 15 finishers. 

Uniform Return:

All athletes will return their uniform after their race. You can put the uniform in the laundry basket. Bring a change of clothes to wear after returning your uniform.

What to Bring:

• Uniform, including both jersey and shorts

• spare change of clothes

• Everyday training shoes

• Racing shoes

• Multiple layers of clothing including clothes to wear while warming up and cooling down, in addition to dry warm clothes for after your race

• lunch for after your race

• a bag to put wet clothes in

• Water bottle (filled)

• Snacks for post-race (chocolate milk will be provided using proceeds from the Wayland XC Festival)

• Folding chair

• Blanket (optional)

For Parents:

• A parking fee will no doubt be collected, I don't know what it is. Parking map.
• We hope to return to WHS around 1 PM.
• Dogs aren't allowed on or near the course.
• Snacks are welcome, but due to allergy concerns the Athletic Director has asked that any snacks be individually wrapped and ideally have the ingredients written on the label.

Week 13 Training Plan, 11/10 -11/15

Last one...

updated scouting

Monday 11/10 - Practice at 3:30 PM. Warmup including BURPEES followed by a PMR of 36 or 48 minutes. If it's a steady rain, do the entire warmup in the field house. Don't forget to wear a vest off campus. 

Tuesday 11/11 - Meet 9:30 AM at WHS for the ride to Devens. Warmup including CURTSIES, then a 30 minute run on the Willard Park course starting at an easy pace and getting a bit faster over the last 10 minutes. This will be followed by run-throughs and bounding over cones along with 4x100 meter run-outs at race pace or faster. Bring a lunch and dry clothes to change into, before visiting the Fort Devens Museum.

Wednesday 11/12 - Practice at 3:30 PM. Warmup including BURPEES followed by 10-12 minute jog, 5x800 alternating between repeats on the track (1,3,5) and on the small hill in the corner of the practice field (2.4). The repeats on the track should get progressively faster, while the second repeat on the field should be faster than the first one. The recovery interval after each repeat should be 2.5-3 minutes. Finally, a 10-12 minute cooldown jog.

Thursday 11/13 - off

Friday 11/14 - Practice at 3:30 PM. Warmup followed by a 10 minute jog, two sets of short intervals on top of the aqueduct, 10 minute cooldown.

Saturday 11/15 - MIAA Division 2 Meet of Champions at Devens. More details in a forthcoming post.

MIAA Division 2B Championship Results - 11/8/25

The final stage of the season arrived yesterday at the Northfield Mountain Recreation Center, with the top WHS athletes racing against the best runners from other Massachusetts schools of similar enrollment size. This is the first of two rounds in the state tournament; unlike with other sports there are no power rankings or brackets. Every school with a team can enter up to seven runners in the Divisional round, with the top five from each school comprising a scoring team. Only the top teams and the fastest individual finishers who aren't on those top teams make it to next week's Meet of Champions, the final race of the official high school calendar in Massachusetts.

The over 200 schools competing in the state are broken down into three divisions based on school size, with Division 1 schools being the largest and Division 3 schools the smallest. Each division is further broken down into three "waves," again based solely on school size. Each of the waves has twenty to thirty teams competing; not every team fields the necessary five runners to make a scoring team. Wayland competes in 2B which sits squarely in the middle of the size breakdown, with 2A schools being a little larger and 2C schools a little smaller. 2B also includes DCL opponent Bedford, which has almost exactly the same student population as WHS. 2C includes Weston. All other DCL schools compete in Division 1, as they have substantially larger enrollments than Wayland, Bedford, and Weston.

The top seven teams in each wave and top ten individuals not on those top seven teams qualify to next weekend's second and final round, where all the qualifiers from 2A, 2B, and 2C face each other in the Division 2 Meet of Champions. There are also two wildcard teams qualifying from across all three Division 2 waves. Last year the boys team finished 4th at this meet, while Mia Rent and Arya Samaratunga qualified as individual wildcards in the girls race.

The three divisional round meets are held at three separate facilities--Wrentham Developmental Center, where Wayland competes every year in various invitational meets, Willard Field at Devens, and Northfield. The mere mention of the word "Northfield" strikes fear in the hearts of many athletes and their coaches, due to the vertical relief of the course. Vertical relief is defined as the difference in elevation between the lowest and highest point of a specific area, in this case a cross country course. The vertical relief at Wrentham is probably no more than 10 feet. At Willard Field, with a climb up Malvern Hill in the third mile it's probably a bit less than 50 feet. The vertical relief of the WHS Cross country course is about 30 vertical feet. At Northfield, the vertical relief is over 200 feet. Most of that elevation change comes in the form of a grinding stair-stepped climb from the 600 meter mark of the course to just before the mile mark. For the remainder of the 5k (3.1 mile) course, this elevation gain is given back in a gradual fashion. With the finish line being right next to the starting line, the net elevation change of the course is of course zero, which comes as no comfort to anyone who's raced at Northfield. In fact, the Northfield course has inspired no shortage of kvetching over the years from athletes and coaches (the coaches perhaps more so). In addition, this particular course is one that no Wayland athlete had raced on since Brett Baker in 2009. For the Wayland athletes racing this year the goal was the same as always, to run the course in a steady, well-paced way that would yield the best possible result for each individual runner. 

The boys were the first to race. Based on meet results over the course of the season, it seemed likely that the boys would be competing for one of the wildcard spots, as there appeared to be at least seven teams that had a stronger lineup on paper. Luckily the races aren't run on paper. In a championship race, it's every team competing against every other team at the same time. It can be very difficult to determine past the top couple of teams who might be filling the rest of the team places. It was clear that Wayland had done well, with Ryan Foley moving up from somewhere around 20th early on to finish in the top 15 and score a medal. He was followed closely by Brandon Hopps who was in the top 20. It's worth noting that their finishing places at this tournament level race were better than their places at the DCL Championship, attesting to the strength of the DCL. 

Behind the Wayland top two Ryan Young had another strong effort to finish in the top 50 (there were 167 finishers total). The Wayland scoring five was completed by Archie Baker and a hard charging Reese Migdal, and the Wayland seven was rounded out by seniors Matthew Tan and Morgan Fallace. It was clear that the Wayland runners had raced the course well. What was not so clear was if it would be enough to earn a spot into next week's Meet of Champions. When the results were tallied, in fact Wayland came 6th of 23, and with a top 7 finish have qualified for the MOC. In the end, multiple teams that would have/could have/should have beaten Wayland were each missing a key runner from their results earlier in the season. It's also likely that some opponents were overwhelmed by the terrain. This is the fourth year in a row that the boys team has qualified; in addition, the Wayland boys team has a streak of top 10 finishes in this first round of the tournament going back to 2019.

The girls raced next, with a trio of Wayland runners taking on the vagaries of the Northfield course. As she did at last month's DCL Championship, Ava Miller led the way for Wayland with a strong effort that placed her just inside the top 40 out of 142 finishers. 9th grader Henrietta Schoeffler, whose affinity for Vermont meant she wasn't the least bit perturbed by the climbing on the course, also finished in the top half of the field. Rounding out the Wayland team was co-captain Ainsley Jay. While this group wasn't enough to be a scoring contingent, they acquitted themselves well and with none of them being seniors, we're looking forward to having them be joined by teammates next year to compete as a full team again. 

boys results

girls results

splits for WHS athletes - there are none to share, as the layout of the course is such that it's quite difficult to both see the start of the race and be there at either of the two mile marks along the course. If you happened to record your splits on your watch feel free to share them with me for future reference. It's safe to say that the first uphill mile went significantly slower than on any other course this season. 

WHS team and individual results at the MIAA and DCL Championship, 1997-present 

MIAA Division 2B Championship, 11/8/25

Live results

Meet Site:

Northfield Mountain Recreation Center, 99 Millers Falls Road, Northfield   

Bus time 9:15 AM

Please arrive a few minutes early so we can get on the road in good time. If necessary, use the bathroom before we leave.

Race Schedule

Boys race 12:30 PM - Baker, Fallace, Foley, Hopps, Migdal. Tan, Young (alternates - Conley, Hopper)

Girls race 1:15 PM - Andrus, Jay, Miller, Schoeffler

Awards Ceremony 2:15

Meet Information:

• Weather forecast: Partly cloudy, temperatures in the high 50s with W wind around 10 mph. Dress appropriately including layers to wear when you're either waiting for your race or after having completed your cool down.   

• Report to the starting line 10 minutes before your race is scheduled to start; keep your sweats on until the meet officials at the starting line tell you to remove them. Warmup clothes will be placed in the laundry basket which will then be brought to the tent after the start of the girls race.   

• Numbers will be assigned to you specifically for this meet; these numbers have an RFID chip attached to the back which interacts with a conductive mat at the finish line to record your time. The meet director has asked that athletes who aren't racing NOT wear their bib number if standing near the finish line; doing so can cause a false reading by the finish line mat. Also, don't crumple or fold your bib number. Finally, don't press the stop button on your wristwatch as you cross the finish line, since doing so might interfere with the RFID chip and your hand and wrist will obscure your bib number from view by the backup camera.

• Qualification for next week's Meet of Champions (MOC) is explained in page 3 of this document.

• Medals will be awarded to the top 15 finishers.  

• girls teams in Wave 2B

• boys teams in Wave 2B

Course Map (click to enlarge):

• the trail map of the entire facility from which the rather unsatisfactory map above was made. By comparing the course map above to this facility map you can get a better sense of the elevation changes involved. The course is comprised mostly of parts of the 10th Mountain, Hemlock Hill, Sugarbush, and Tooleybush Turnpike trails. If you know how to read contour lines, which are a gray color on the map, you can see where the course is steepest both up and down hill. 

• this course features the most vertical relief (difference in elevation between highest and lowest point) and thus the most elevation gain of any course this season. The bulk of the climbing is between the 400 meter mark and the mile; the remaining 2+ miles of the course gradually gives back this elevation gain for the most part.  

• Due to the fact the course is almost entirely on grass spikes should be worn (1/4" or 3/8").

Uniform Return:

Those athletes who don't qualify for the MOC can put their uniform in the laundry basket. Bring a change of clothes for after you're done racing.

What to Bring:

• Uniform, including both jersey and shorts

• spare change of clothes

• Everyday training shoes

• Racing shoes

• Multiple layers of clothing including clothes to wear while warming up and cooling down, in addition to dry warm clothes for after your race

• lunch for after your race

• a bag to put wet clothes in

• Water bottle (filled)

• Snacks for post-race (chocolate milk will be provided using proceeds from the Wayland XC Festival)

• Folding chair

• Blanket (optional)

For Parents:

• A parking fee will no doubt be collected, I don't know what it is.
• We hope to return to WHS sometime around or a bit after 4 PM.
• Dogs and bikes aren't allowed on or near the course.
• Snacks are welcome, but due to allergy concerns the Athletic Director has asked that any snacks be individually wrapped and ideally have the ingredients written on the label.

Awards Night and Varsity Lists

Next Wednesday November 12th there will be an end of season celebration held in the Commons at 6:30. Everyone will receive a certificate of participation. We'll recognize the recipients of team-specific awards including Most Improved, Rookie of the Year, and MVP. There are also Coaches' Awards and Booster Awards that will be given out. Plus the always popular prize bag blowout, a highlight of this event. New this year, there will also be photo opportunities with the Trash Monster. We hope to be done by around 7:30. 

While on the subject of recognition, the athletes listed below have earned varsity status for this season. An explanation of what it takes to be varsity in what is a no-cut sport can be found on pages 6 and 7 (of course) of the team policies and FAQ document. A checklist for both teams can be seen under the "varsity tracking" tab of this spreadsheet.

Girls:

Brynn Andrus

Abigail Conley 

Ainsley Jay

Ava Miller 

Henrietta Schoeffler

Cordia Wang

Boys:

Archie Baker

Leo Ciccarelli

Thomas Conley 

Morgan Fallace

Ryan Foley 

Noah Goldstein 

Elliot Hopper 

Brandon Hopps

Reese Migdal

Cyriaque Schaff

Matthew Tan 

Edge Wheeler 

Ryan Young

Week 12 Training Plan, 11/3-11/9

Scouting

MIAA tournament guidelines

Northfield Mountain Trail Map

XC Course Map

Saturday's Division 2B Championship meet is the highest level competition to date this season. Everything leading up to Saturday in practice is intended to help optimize performance in that race. We're not reinventing the wheel here, so no major changes are afoot other than a further reduction in training volume. These workouts are less about building fitness than confirming it. 

In the days leading up to the meet you can build on the gains in fitness you've made throughout the season by getting to bed at a reasonable hour, drinking water regularly throughout the day (to the tune of around 48 ounces a day), and eating a nutritious balanced diet. Like the last two weeks, there's a scheduled day off during the week, which is Thursday. 

For people that aren't racing on Saturday and either haven't had an opportunity to run a mile time trial or would like to try it again, we'll be doing a mile time trial on Tuesday as well. Athletes who are racing on Saturday won't participate in this. 

Finally, it's important to note that with the clocks turned back it will be getting dark quite early. The reflective vests are a must when running off campus.

Monday 11/3  - Practice at 3:30. Warmup including BURPEES followed by a CMR of 36 or 48 minutes. The PMR will then be followed by 5x150m (100m race pace, 50m faster than race pace) with a 150m jog recovery.

Tuesday 11/4 - Practice at 3:30. Warmup including CURTSIES followed by a short length run including run-throughs and bounding over cones

Group A: 24-28 minutes
Group B and C: 32-36 minutes

There will be a meeting after practice for the people racing on Saturday. Site TBD, likely in the Commons.

Wednesday 11/5  - Practice at 3:30. Warmup including BURPEES followed by a 12-15 minute jog, 3x400 at 5-10 seconds per mile faster than race pace, mile at race pace, 3x400 at 5-10 seconds per mile faster than race pace. Wrapped up with a 10 minute cooldown. The recovery between each 400 is 60-90 seconds, with 4.5 minutes before and after the mile.  

OR

Warmup, 10-12 minute jog, 3x100 meters at mile race pace followed by mile time trial. 10-12 minute jog cooldown.

Bring racing shoes today if you have them, particularly for the time trial. 

Thursday 11/6 - off

Friday 11/7  - Practice at 3:30 PM. Warmup followed by a 10 minute jog, two sets of short intervals on top of the aqueduct, 10 minute cooldown.

Saturday 11/8 - MIAA Division 2B Championship at Northfield Mountain. More details in a forthcoming post. 

Sunday 11/9 - off

Frank Mooney Invitational Results - 11/1/25

On a day best described as blustery, a select group of Wayland athletes competed on the fast Wrentham Developmental Center course layout. This is the second time this season that Wayland has raced at this venue, with the first visit being back in September on a much warmer day at the Frank Kelley Invitational. While the team tent didn't fare so well in the windy conditions the runners did much better. There were multiple personal best times and four medal winners (top 40 in their race). These included Ryan Young who finished 6th in the 10th grade boys 5k, Thomas Conley who finished 12th in the 9th grade boys 3k, and Henrietta Schoeffler and Brynn Andrus who both won medals in the 9th grade girls race finishing 12th and 28th. 

With the changes this year to Franklin Park, the courses at Wrentham are the longest-standing ones where Wayland Cross country competes, having been in use since 2010. 

Overall results

Splits for WHS athletes 

Wayland performance lists for Wrentham Developmental Center, 2010-present