Cross Country runs the show

Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Article by: Norwood Record - Mike Stoller

Norwood star Kelsey Colbert finished first among the Mustang girls, crossing the line at 23:12, and placing 36th out of 74 runners at the Bay State Conference cross country championships at Coakley Middle School this past Saturday. Photo by Zalina McGuire


Norwood hosted the Bay State Conference cross country championships for the first time in program history last Saturday at the Coakley Middle School.

"It’s spectator friendly [and] it’s a true 5K course, which people like," Norwood head coach Jim Forrest said. "Beginning the championship season, we feel that this is about as best a place as you can do. And we’ve got a pretty good crowd here that I think will build on that."

Norwood got the opportunity to host the event after Milton did the honors the last eight years at Houghton’s Pond.

"We spent time trying to figure out the logistics in putting this together, and Norwood’s a great community, too," Forrest said, while also thanking Norwood athletic director Brian McDonough and Principal George Usevich. "We got a bunch of people that came out to help us with the course management and dealing with things that could popup [such as] how people are going to get across the viewing area, and then when they want to get out, what are they going to do.

"I wanted to have approval by the [BSC] coaches," Forrest continued. "I wanted to come out and run something that’s not gonna end up in a disaster, of course. So I wanted to have an informed decision by the conference."

The plan went well, and the Mustangs were off to the races.

"I invited people to come out [when we ran] a JV-freshman race and [they] seemed pretty excited about it," Forrest said. "I think they like being able to watch their kids [and] see them multiple times and really be able to coach them during the race, as opposed to a lot of other cross country venues, [where] you see them maybe twice, a good venue you would see them three times. So you’re going to really be able to see the race develop here. And the varsity race will really be something cause you’re vying for the [conference] championship."

In addition to running the event, Norwood got a good showing to boot in the highly competitive BSC. The Mustangs garnered seventh place out of 11 teams with a score of 181, beating out Framingham (226), Milton (243), Natick (256), and Braintree (291) along the 3.1-mile course. Brookline won the event with a score of 33, followed by Newton North (80), Weymouth (96), Walpole (99), Wellesley (106) and Needham (151).

"We’re looking to move up a couple of spots," Forrest had said before the boys’ varsity meet, referring to the team’s 2-9 record during the regular season. "We’ve run really well of late, so I think we can move up. We were a little disappointed by our season record with only two wins for the boys, so we’re looking to finish in the top six, top seven today, and beat a couple of teams that beat us during the year."

As hoped, Norwood got sensational outings from their senior tri-captains, Steve Curley, Billy Glynn and Rob Sheehan, who placed 25th, 31st, and 39th, respectively, out of 78 runners. Curley crossed the line at 18:23, while Glynn and Sheehan finished at 18:47 and 19:15.

"Curley, Sheehan and Glynn have been the heart and soul of this team for their two or three years," Forrest said.

Billy Rydzewski and Rich Farah fared well, finishing 42nd and 44th. Rydzewksi crossed the line at 19:29, while Farah finished at 19:32. James O’Connor (20:12) and Peter Fiske (20:58) also competed for the Mustangs.

Weymouth’s Steve Sollowin won the event, crossing at 16:42.

For the Norwood girls, Kelsey Colbert finished a stunning 36th out of 74 runners, crossing at 23:12.

Jen Sobol (25:44), Annuli Okoye (26:33), Ali Maoof (26:36), and Catie Kelly (27:38) also competed.

Senior co-captains Katie Welter and Jayne Galvin were missed due to injury.

"But they really helped to a resurgence of our program here," Forrest said of the two leaders.

Newton North’s Margo Gillis won the race in a time of 19:38.