This article appears courtesy of the Springfield Republican.
November 11, 2007 Sunday Republican
By Fran Sypek
NORTHFIELD - Two traditions continued yesterday, and the adage - once a champion, always a champion - was so true.
In the Division I Western Massachusetts girls cross country championship meet, Amherst Regional won for the 13th straight season and 17th in the past 19 years. In Division II, Mount Greylock of Williamstown captured its 11th sectional title since 1981.
That’s domination, and no two girls programs have experienced as much success in their respective divisions as the Hurricanes and Mounties.
Amherst, Pittsfield and Northampton earned the right to compete for Division I state honors Saturday at Gardner. Mount Greylock, Holyoke Catholic and Monson qualified for the Division II state meet.
Lauren Litscher was probably the most surprised person at Northfield Mountain. The East Longmeadow senior, who had an outstanding regular season, won the Division I girls race by covering the 5K course in 20 minutes, 46 seconds.
"I’m shocked," Litscher said. "I never expected this."
In Division II, Kristen Veit repeated as individual champion. The Holyoke Catholic junior was one of three runners - all in Division II - to post sub-20-minute times.
"I proud of Kristen - she ran a great race and had to work very hard," Holyoke Catholic coach John Goda said. "She’s been thinking about this since day one of the season." Veit finished in 19:24.
But the wins for Veit and Litscher were bittersweet. Holyoke Catholic, the favorite going into the meet, finished second and East Longmeadow placed fourth to narrowly miss qualifying for the state meet.’
"Kristen would much rather win a Western Mass. title than an individual one," Goda said. "She’s not celebrating right now."
Depth was the key for the Hurricanes. They may not have that one dominant runner, but the Hurricanes placed four runners among the top 10 to finish with 34 points, 56 more than runner-up Pittsfield.
Keri Lambert led Amherst by finishing second in 20:54. Chole Zimmerman was third (21:09), Maya Nair Nonan sixth (21:10) and Leah Hakke ninth (21:27). Overall, Amherst had six runners among the top 15.
"We had a great week of practice and we’ve been looking forward to Western Mass. all year," Lambert said. "We wanted a championship."
Zimmerman, a sophomore, has a knack for coming up big in big races.
"She’s been so reliable for us," coach Art Keene said.
Veit and Mohawk’s Elisabeth Salen (sixth at 20:55) were the only non-Berkshire school runners to crack the top 10 in Division II.
Late fall has traditonally been Veit’s time. She eschewed individual glory for the good of others, both on her team and the opposition.
Her four wins during the regular season were hardly indicative of her talent. She could have easily added to her victory total.
In her first race this season, Veit spotted Mohawk’s Heather Pierce going the wrong way on Palmer’s course when she called out to her opponent and told her she was about to take a wrong turn.
Pierce won that race, the only race she would win her senior season because she suffered a season-ending broken leg in her next meet against Pioneer. Thus what Veit did was aclass act by a true champion.
Veit may have won other races as well, but ran with teammates to help them push themselves toward the ultimate goal of being at their best for the sectional meet.
"Kristen is all about the team," Holyoke Catholic senior Diana DeMont said. "She has so much character."
Mount Greylock, Mohawk and Frontier remain as the only three Division II schools to win a sectional championship. Holyoke Catholic was able to end Amherst’s domination of the PVIAC’s last weekend and the Gaels had every reason to believe they would join that exclusive club.
"Greylock’s a great team and they ran a great race," Goda said. " We ran hard, we ran the best we could, but we just didn’t have our best day."
Mount Greylock was led by Jackie Lemme, who finished fifth at 20:25.