Pinkerton harriers fall just short again

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November 5, 2009

Lancers run to a strong third place finish

By Rich DiSalvo

Do you ever have DÃ©jÃ vu? Don't ask the members of this year's Pinkerton Academy boys cross country team. The looks on their faces as the team awards were being announced at this year's Class L championships said it all. "This can't be happening again."

After spending the 2009 season working towards the state championship race, a race they hoped would erase the memories of last year's six-point loss to Bishop Guertin where every single Astro posted personal best times, they all stood and listened nervously as the top seven teams were announced in reverse order at the awards ceremony.

After all runners had crossed the Derryfield Park finish line, they knew that once again, this year's race was too close to call, and that they couldn't be sure of the results until they were announced just minutes after the race had ended. Still, just like one year ago, the team felt that surely they must have run well enough to win. After the third place team was announced they held their collective breathe and heard what they dreaded to hear. They had come up short once again.

The margin of victory? Not again - Six points. All they could do was shake their heads. They has just placed four runners in the top 10, all five scorers in the top 18, and all seven in the top 25. All seven runners posted times under 17:00 on the tough course. As head coach Mike Clark later noted, these were all marks that had never been achieved before by a team that didn't actually win the title. Pinkerton's average time among their top five was 16:12, faster than had ever been run at the Class L meet. Bishop Guertin's average time this year just happened to be faster - a stunning 16:08 average.

"You have to give them credit," said Clark after the race, "that's why they're nationally ranked - they ran an incredible race." They certainly had to in order to win it.

Senior Francis Hernandez of Bishop Guertin took the lead at the top of the starting hill and never looked back. He won the race in a time 15:43. Bishop Guertin's top five finished first, second, fifth, 12th and 16th overall for 36 points.

Senior Chris Pietrocarlo led the Astros, who are nationally ranked in their own right, placing 3rd in 15:58. Sophomore Tony Anzivino ran a sensational race, smashing his personal best time for the course, and placed fourth overall in 16:01. Senior Jake Hawkins was seventh in 16:07 followed by senior Sean Leighton (10th, 16:20), junior Kevin MacPherson (18th, 16:37), and seniors Mike O'Hara (22nd, 16:55) and Doug Ainscow (24th, 16:59).

While Pinkerton and Bishop Guertin were battling it out for the title, there was another battle being waged on the course for third place, which ended up being taken by Londonderry. The Lancers entered the meet ready to make a mark and finished the day with 126 points to take third place.

"Going into it, we thought it would be very tight between us and Concord," said LHS head coach Matt Smith, "so to beat them and Central by 14 points was really exciting."

Senior Justin Walker led the way with an 11th place finish in 16:22. He was followed by juniors Cameron Rouleau (28th, 17:09), Brandon Spera (31st, 17:11), and Pat Hawkins who placed 33rd in 17:13. Sophomore's J.R. Winn (44th, 17:29) and Devereux Geiger (47th, 17:33) rounded out the Lancer effort.

"For the most part, we're a young and hungry team," said Smith. "These guys know all about the Londonderry teams from the 1990s that won championships and they want to make their own legacy." He pointed out that his team also knows that despite running well on Saturday, they have a great deal of work ahead of them to get to where they want to be as a team. They'll be tested again this weekend as they take a shot at qualifying for the New England Championships at the Meet of Champions.