A select group of Wayland runners made the trip to Wrentham Developmental Center, the first of three visits WHS will be making to this course during the season. The conditions, overcast and cool, wouldn't seem great for being outdoors but it was near perfect cross country weather. While there was rain in the area yesterday, the ground had drained reasonably well and the course, almost entirely grass, was running quite fast.
A comparison to the results of last year's meet shows a couple of things. First, there were a lot more athletes competing in this year's edition of the meet compared to a year ago. Anywhere from 60% more finishers to more than twice as many depending on the race. Two of the boys races had over 300 people in them, which is getting to the limit of what the course can handle. This made for very competitive and deep races across the board, front to back. The other thing that stood out is that Wayland athletes who competed here a year ago enjoyed improvements in their personal best time on this course, in some cases by an impressive amount.
To put today's races in context it helps to look at the all-time list for Wayland athletes at this venue, which has been in use since 2010 with a year off in 2020 due to the pandemic. Viewed in this light there were some exemplary performances today. Will Jackson ran the second fastest time for boys on the 5k course, and Arya Samaratunga is firmly in the top 10 for girls with her first try at the 5k after having raced the 3k course in the past. Amy McCormack is in the top 20 in her first 5k cross country race ever. On the 3k course, Sofia Ciciarelli improved her time of a year ago and moved into the top 10 for WHS athletes, and Leo Ciccarelli ranks in the top 10 for Wayland boys.
splits and times for WHS athletes
overall meet results:
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