The boys cross country team won the MIAA Division I State Championship meet on Saturday, November 19, at Franklin Park. With a score of 110 the team secured their first back-to-back state championship win under coach Michael Glennon’s tenure.
“It is the first time we were able to do that,” said Glennon. “This group of seniors has really meant a lot to the program. This is our third championship in the last five years, and it is a big deal for us to keep the program going.”
Outperforming the runners from Lowell High School, who socred 147 points to come in second place, seniors Chernet “Chewy” Sisay, Mark Perry, Evan Sternstein, Matt Goroff and junior Aaron Klein scored for Brookline.
“Evan had a great day today.” Sisay said. “Aaron was up there the whole season, but he had an off day today. That is part of cross country. Some days you have it; some days you don’t. He was our fifth and he closed it out.”
Sisay and Perry finished the race 12th and 13th overall. They finished neck and neck with Sisay passing Perry in the last 200 meters to finish the race.
“I think Chewy was a little behind where he wanted to be,” said Perry. “He wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Knowing Chewy, he probably wanted to go for the win.”
Sisay wasn’t thrilled to finish 12th, he finished 10th the past two years, but he was pleased with how well Perry had done.
“Mark and I go way back.” Sisay said. “Knowing he is at my shoulder and him knowing I am at his shoulder, it was big for the team. The closer the gap we have, the better the team we are.”
“We are going to remember this moment for a long time,” added Sisay. “I know he and I will talk about it 20 years from now saying, ‘We won the state championship.’”
While Glennon liked what he saw out of Sternstein, he expected the three, four and five runners to run tighter as a group.
“Aaron ran much slower than I thought he was going to run,” said Glennon. “Last week we ran much tighter as a group. Had we done that we would have been winning and winning and winning.”
That being said, they were winning and winning and winning. Sternstein finished 27th, Goroff 51st and Klein in 83rd.
Junior Jesse Fajnzylber and senior Tharindu Weeresinghe were the alternates for the team finishing 104th and 134th respectively.
The next goal for the team is the Nike Cross Nationals Northeast Regional meet which will be held in Wappingers Falls, New York next weekend.
“For this team it is states, states, states. Because ultimately, you want to think about what your ultimate meet is going to be,” said Glennon. “We could pull something off next weekend and it could be great but it is not expected. In 2007, it was all about Regionals and about going to Nationals. There was no one challenging us in the state. It is just a difference of where we are right now.”
“We expect a lot,” he added. “I think that everyone rises up to that level of expectation, so this is what is normal for us. This is what we expect. This is what happens. Here we are.”
(Photos by Kerry Grove)
