Hello from Mansfield, MA - Home of the Hornets
2010 MANSFIELD BOYS CROSS COUNTRY--PREVIEW
The 2010 MHS Boys XC season will be a very interesting one, as the Hockomock League, the MIAA Eastern Mass. Divisions and the Team itself go thorugh major changes. The League will be divided into 2 divisions (large schools/small schools) for the Fall XC teams after the addition of the Attleboro Bombadiers into the Hock.
There will be 5 teams in the larger schools division: Attleboro, North Attleboro, King Phillip, Franklin and Mansfield. The 5 schools in the smaller schools division are: Foxboro, Canton, Stoughton, Oliver Ames, Sharon. Teams will face off against each team in their respective division(s) in a dual meet format (no Tri-Meets) and the entire League will race one championship race at the Hock Championships for League supremacy in October. There is also a new MIAA Eastern Massachusetts Divisional Championship format for this Fall. Instead of 4 divisions, there will now be 6 divisions based on school size for the EMass races. Mansfield will remain in EMass Division II, but will have to contend with a few more quality teams that drop down from Division I. The Hornets will have to work hard to defend their divisional title and punch a ticket to the State Championships the following week in November.
June 2010 saw the graduation of 3 seniors from the 2009 State Championship squad. Pat McGowan (2009 Individual State Champ), Brendan Boyle (8th at States), and Matt Hernon. The 2010 Team will have a few big shoes to fill if they want to challenge a very strong, returning Oliver Ames team for the Hock Championship and make a run for another EMass title. The Hornets just might be able to re-load if returning athletes do their critical summer base running and step up when the real racing begins. Look for senior captains; Matt Cioe, Shayne Collins and Ryan Petrella to push the team towards success. Collins, 2-time Boston Globe All-Scholastic, should lead the pack pulling along the rest of the Hornets. Cioe, coming off an outstanding spring track campaign, is primed to move forward in his XC performances. Mid-distance man, Ryan Petrella (a surprising 7th man on the 2009 team) will be expected to make sure runners 3-4-5 keep the gaps to runners 1 & 2 at a minimum. Senior Joe Cole will be returning to the trails this Fall after taking a year off. Joe ran varsity his frosh/soph years and will be an impact runner. Junior Josh Lampron (800 meters--1:55) will be taking cross country seriously and will be relied upon by his teammates to contribute to scoring. MHS has a talented, hard-working group of rising juniors that will attempt to fill those big shoes. Kham Haleudeth, Zach Frazier, Mich Negus, Nate Michener all had excellent spring track seasons and should be in the mix for top 7 potential. Returning senior Adam Osowski has the ability to join the top pack in races along with rising sophomore, Conor Monks who had a superb freshman year.
Success is a TOTAL team effort. ALL runners should be training daily and attending as many Captain's practices as possible. Happy Trails!!