Hello from Mansfield, MA - Home of the Hornets
2009 Cross Country Review
- Undefeated Dual Meet Season
Mansfield 19 Oliver Ames 36
Mansfield 15 Oliver Ames 36
Mansfield 18 Foxboro 42
Mansfield 19 Franklin 38
Mansfield 15 Sharon 50
Mansfield 15 King Philip 50
Mansfield 15 Stoughton 48
Mansfield 17 Canton 42
- Mansfield wins Hockomock Championship meet with 23 points
- Mansfield wins MSTCA Coaches Invitational at Northfield
- Mansfield wins Eastern Massachusetts Div 2 Championship
- Mansfield wins Massachusetts State Div 1 Championship
Shayne Collins negotiating Franklin Park Pond at the Division 2 Eastern Ma State Meet
Patrick MeGowan making his move on Anthony Taylor with less than a mile to go at the State Division 1 Championships at Northfield
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2009 - Mansfield defeats Oliver Ames and North Attleboro at Boderland
Moving their home to Borderland State Park was a good idea, as the Hornets took advantage of a course they enjoy running on and handed arch rival Oliver Ames a 19-36 defeat. Placing 1-2-4-5-7 enabled the team to begin their defense of both the Hock title and the State title a winning combination. Leading the way were junior Shayne Collins and senior Patrick McGowan, the two mainstays of the team. Their time of 16:32 was only 4 seconds off the best time run on the course (McGowan last year). Brendan Boyle was only 20 seconds back at 16:58, a personal best on the Borderland course. Rounding out the top seven were Matt Hernon (17:45), Jeff Boyle (17:48), Matt Cioe (17:56) and Ryan Petrella (18:15).
Team Scores:
19 Mansfield
36 Oliver Ames
15 Mansfield
50 North Attleboro
October 17, 2009 - MSTCA Invitational at Northfield Mountain
Mansfield Handles first big challenge with win at MSTCA Meet at "The Mountain"
An early morning road trip up to beautiful Northfield produced another feather in Mansfield's cap as they won the prestigious MSTCA Invitational on the course where the State Championships will be held. Mansfield totaled 79 points with Brookline coming in second at 128 points and Marshfield 133. A total of 27 teams competed in the division 1 race. Senior Patrick McGowan, junior Shayne Collins and senior Brendan Boyle let the way with a 2,5,8 place finishes respectively. Senior Jeff Boyle, running in his first big invitational finished 28, closely followed by Senior Matt Hernon (38), Junior Matt Cioe (49). Junior Ryan Petrella finished out the scoring for the Hornets in 82nd place.
October 24, 2009 Hockomock Championship at Boderland State Park
Mansfield Boys XC won their seventh straight League Meet Title at Borderland State Park finishing with the team's lowest score ever of 23 points. This is a 2 point improvement over last year's State Championship team and 3 points better than the 2006 team that finished 3rd in the State. Patrick McGowan was crowned individual champion on the 5K course with a winning time of 16:11. He was followed closely by Brendan Boyle (16:18) and Shayne Collins (16:21) with the Hornets taking the first 3 spots. Oliver Ames' Drew Beck raced well in that lead pack of 4 that separated themselves from the main field during the second mile. Meanwhile, Jeff Boyle and Matt Hernon were steadily moving forward after suffering mishaps in the first 120 meters of the race. Jeff finished an outstanding 7th place in 17:03 after being knocked to the ground on the gravel and coming up with 2 bloodied knees. Matt Hernon continues to make significant progress as Mansfield's crucial 5th man. Matt grabbed 10th place (17:18) after being spiked on the top of his foot causing his racing shoe upper to split open. Matt also returned to the team tent bloody but battle tested! Perhaps equally as impressive, Mansfield's next 5 fastest guys on the course: Matt Cioe (17:33), Ryan Petrella (17:49), Kham Haleudeth (18:01), Tommy Cunningham (first in the JV race in 18:02), and Josh Lampron (18:07) were all within 34 seconds of each other in a phenomenal display of team depth.
November 14, 2009 Eastern MA Division 2 Championship - Franklin Park
For sure global warming had come to Boston as a wet, humid day provided the venue for 8 high school divisional races and two NCAA Regional Qualifer events. The course was more like the okefenokee Swamp in Florida than the scene of a mid-November Cross Country carnival in Boston, MA. In some places the water was hip deep, but that did not stop Mansfield from coming home with its second consecutive Easter MA Division 2 title. Under the gallant leadership of Patrick McGowan (1st), Shayne Collins (3rd) and Brendan Boyle (5th), the Hornets ran to a fairly easy victory. Matt Hernon (26th) and Jeff Boyle (27th) rounded out the top five. No other team was able to score under 100 points.
November 21, 2009 Massachusetts State Division 1 Championship - Northfield Mountain
Mansfield returned to "The Mountain" intent on duplicating their impressive won of October 17th, against Brookline. However, the second go around wasn't quite as easy for the boys, as Methuen, Brookline and Lowell made some very good strides in getting closer to matching Mansfield man for man. Patrick McGowan had a great race, reversing the placing from their first meet, as he defeated Anthony Taylor of Arlington this time around. Brendan Boyle ran a super race as well, placing 8th with Shayne Collins right behind in 9th place. The top three had done an admirable job and now it was up to the other varsity runners. However, it was quite some time until the 4th Mansfield runner came into sight and it wasn't the usual guy (Matt Hernon). Instead it was Matt Cioe fighting for every spot as he headed down the final straight, finishing in 69th place. Now, Mansfield needed only one more place, but here is where it got a bit difficult for the Green and White. Matt Hernon and Joe Boyle were no where close to Matt Cioe. In fact, it would take another 30 runners before a very hurting Matt Hernon, who had run so well in the Frank Park Swamp, was having major problems getting to the finish line. Eventually he would fall, fall again and then force his 6 foot plus body up and take one agonizing step after another towards the finish line. One more fall, and one final effort to flop over the line was all he had left in him. His crossed the line in 105th place, colapsing in a heap of mud on his final step. It would take almost 30 minutes before the final results were tabulated. It took all time time for Matt Hernon to pull himself together again. But the wait was worth it as Mansfield managed to hold on and win their second title in a row. Amazingly, the three top runners for Mansfield had scored high enough that Hernon's finish was four points ahead of Methuen.