WHS cross country had its best day as a program in over 20 years at the MIAA Division 2B Championship held earlier today at Stanley Park in Westfield. This meet is the first round of the tournament for high school cross country; for most teams and individuals it's also the last.
The over 200 schools competing in the state are broken down into nine "waves" based solely on school size. Division 1 (waves 1A-1B-1C) are the largest schools (most of the rest of the DCL schools are in Division 1). Wayland competes in 2B which sits in the middle of the size breakdown and also includes DCL opponent Bedford, which has almost exactly the same student population as WHS. The smallest schools compete in Division 3 (waves 3A-3B-3C), a group that includes DCL foe Weston. Each of the nine waves has between 20 and 30 teams. The top 7 teams in each wave and top 10 individuals not on those top 7 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 State Championship.
The Stanley Park course got a lot of rain Friday night into Saturday, necessitating the postponement of the meet to Sunday morning. While there was very little standing water on the course there were some patches of slippery mud in the woods. The course itself features a net elevation drop over the first mile, followed by a mostly flat second mile. The course loops back on itself such that the third mile covers much of the same ground as the first, but in reverse. This means the elevation lost early on must be regained and it's possible to get drawn out too quickly early on.
The girls raced first and after the initial mad dash across the open field at the starting line, the WHS runners settled into a sustainable rhythm. The Wayland team was led by Arya Samaratunga who cracked the top 25 with a strong middle mile and then holding her position in the latter stages. She was followed by senior captain Bella Thoen who moved up well in the second half of the race passing people who had bitten off more than they could chew. The girls scoring five was rounded out by Sofia Ciciarelli, senior captain Grace Marto, and Michelle Yee. who ran together early on. Sofia and Grace had particularly good pacing throughout. Junior captain Selena Liu rounded out the Wayland team, which finished 13th overall. This is the highest team finish for a WHS girls team in this level of the tournament since 2011. With many of the top places occupied by athletes from teams that were among the top 7 overall, both Samaratunga and Thoen qualified among the top 10 individuals not on one of those teams. They're the first Wayland female cross country runners to qualify for the State Meet since Sarah Tully in 2016.
The boys raced next, in a race that went out exceedingly fast. A year ago the dynamic duo of Luke Chisum and Owen Williams qualified individually as 9th graders but the team missed out, finishing 8th. With all of last year's scorers back a year wiser and fitter and 10th grader Will Jackson in the fold as well, the hope was to qualify as a team this time around. Over the second half of the race WHS runners moved up well with Chisum and Narvaez finishing 5th and 6th overall. Jackson followed finishing inside the top 30, and Daniel Narvaez was the fourth Wayland runner in the top 50. Senior captain Thomas Creavin rounded out the scoring five with a well executed race throughout. Senior captain Will Morris and junior Michael Wightman completed the WHS varsity contingent.
When the results were tallied, Wayland had finished third as a team. While the specific setup of the MIAA cross country tournament has changed multiple times over the years, what hasn't changed is that the first round involves 20+ teams from schools of about the same size racing each other. No Wayland team has finished as high as this year's nor has any Wayland team qualified as a team for the final round of the tournament since 1997. For perspective, the athletes from that '97 team are now pushing 40.
Samaratunga, Thoen and the boys team will be racing next at the Division 2 State Championship on Saturday. This meet will be held on the grounds of the former Fort Devens near Ayer.
Splits and times for WHS athletes
Championship results (DCL, MIAA) since 1997
In case those links don't work I took pictures of the printed results:
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