WMASS2001

Western Mass Division 2 Championships
(Saturday, November 10th, @ Northfield Mountain -- cold, 40-45 degrees)

(the Lady Gaels on the starting line. L-R: marissa lapointe, evelyn powell, meghan lynch, laura jedrzejewski, laura macdonald, rose casavant, vickie cavanaugh)

The Lady Gaels finished off a terrific season with a tremendous effort at the Western Mass Championships this past Saturday. Though they came up short of their goal of making the state meet, no one can be disappointed with the effort and results of the race and of this season. The Lady Gaels were led once again by the trio of Evelyn Powell, Laura J, and Marissa Lapointe, who were all among the top 30 at the mile mark. Evelyn didn't have her best day (no doubt she will more than make up for it in the future!), but Laura and Marissa both stepped up to finish in the top 21. Also scoring for the Lady Gaels were Meghan Lynch, who completed her remarkable late season comeback by finishing a very respectable 51st, and Rose Casavant, who fought through a host of injuries suffered this season to finish 58th. Vickie Cavanaugh and Laura MacDonald completed their first championship runs in 68th and 86th respectively.
All in all, it was a great finish to a surprisingly successful and enjoyable year. Who would have predicted at the start of the season that we'd have four girls break 18:50 on our home course at Whiting? or that Vickie would run 19:23! or that Laura MacDonald would run 19:23 at the League Meet? or that Laura J would finish 19th on the tough hills at Northfield (since, as she says, she's terrible at hills!), or that Evelyn would win five individual races for us (most for any Catholic girl other than Jenn Campbell since 1988 at least)? And who would have thought that we'd end the season feeling as positive about things as we did the very first day of the season.
Personally, I thought this season was a tremendous success. Not only did everyone improve a ton, not only did we have a lot of success and a lot of fun, but we did it all together. No doubt about it, this season was a true and total team effort. I'm excited for next year already. Not only cause I think we're going to be pretty darn good, but because I can't think of anything I'd rather do than spend another cross country season running with and coaching this team. Thanks to everyone for all the support, encouragement, and advice along the way! See you in Indoor Track (I'll try to get a website for the winter season up and running one of these days...)

(Vickie Cavanaugh, Meghan Lynch, Laura MacDonald, Marissa Lapointe, Laura Jedrzejewski, Evelyn Powell, with Rose Casavant in front)

Individual Results:

19)Laura Jedrzejewski 22:28

21)Marissa Lapointe 22:33

38)Evelyn Powell 23:18

51)Meghan Lynch 24:04

58)Rose Casavant 24:19

68)Vickie Cavanaugh 25:06

86)Laura Macdonald 26:22

Team Results (21 teams total)

1.Mohawk (49)

2.Monument Mountain (101)

3.Lenox (105)

4.Frontier (127)

5.Mt Greyock (156)

6.Hoosac Valley (165)

No team score -- Pioneer, Athol, Granby, Turners Falls, Ware, St Joseph's, South Hadley