Championship season reached new heights today for WHS cross country athletes. A new format for the MIAA Cross Country Tournament meant a new site to visit for the first round, with the Division 2 schools racing at the Gardner Municipal Golf Course. On a soggy, undulating sinuous layout it was important to not get sucked out too quickly in the early stages. Not all 5k courses are created equal and this one offered unique challenges.
The boys raced first and leading the way were the 9th grade dynamic duo of Luke Chisum and Owen Williams led the way finishing 20th and 21st. They were followed by Thomas Creavin, Daniel Narvaez and William Morris rounding out the scoring five and Michael Wightman and Kyle Reece completing the Wayland top seven. When the results were compiled two somewhat remarkable things became clear:
- Chisum and Williams (the top two 9th graders in the race) qualified as wildcard individuals for next week's second and final round of the tournament, the Divsional State Championships. The qualifying criteria are laid out on page 4 of this document. No WHS athlete has qualified for the second round of the tournament since 2016 (Graham Macklin and Sarah Tully). No WHS 9th grader has qualified since Tully in 2013.
- The boys team finished 8th, narrowly missing the final qualifying spot. Note that Wayland is the only team in the top 10 that has no 12th graders anywhere in its top seven. Only Ludlow in 7th can claim no 12th graders in their scoring top five. Also, just 13 points separated 7th and 11th place indicating how tightly contested these spots were. This meet promises to be quite competitive next year.
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