Lutz wins Division 1 boys race
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NORTHFIELD - For several years the Northampton High School cross country program has been building itself into a respectable contender in western Massachusetts.
Instead of just claiming the occasional outstanding solo runner (usually female), the Blue Devils have been developing into real teams, the kind that know how to run in a pack and pull each other along with every runner ready to put out the sustained burst of effort that makes a difference of one or two crucial points in the score.
A year ago in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 meet, the Northampton boys qualified for the first time ever to compete as a team in the state championship.
And Saturday on the challenging course at Northfield Mountain, the Blue Devils passed another milestone as junior Ian Lutz became the first Northampton boy to win the race.
"We came here to see what we could do," said a happy, muddy Lutz shortly after covering the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 26 seconds, first among the 137 in the Division 1 field. "I didn't look back at all, and I didn't know I had it until I crossed the finish line.
"It's really great," he added. "I'm excited. I don't know # I guess it'll hit me tonight."
Lutz led the Blue Devils to a third-place finish with 84 points, six behind Amherst Regional which was five back of Ludlow in the closest three-way competition any of the organizers could remember.
All three boys teams will compete in next Saturday's state meet, also at Northfield.
Building on a season of training in all weather, including a rainy race in Thetford, Vt., that Lutz described as much worse than Saturday's 50-degree steady drizzle, he led a tightly bunched Northampton team up the steep hill in the first half-mile of the course, then pushed ahead of the best of Amherst, Ludlow, Longmeadow, and the other 16 schools in the race.
By the halfway mark Lutz was alone in the lead, and he held on for an impressively strong finish.
Having won his first individual championship at the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference meet Nov. 7, Lutz said he felt well prepared for Saturday's race.
"It helped," he said of the PVIAC victory.
One Northampton girl previously won the western Massachusetts individual championship - Caitlin Kolodzinski in 1993.
Did anyone behind Lutz think that catching him was possible?
"Not really," said Hurricanes junior Nick Benfey, who finished second in 17:35.
With Benfey as their top runner, the Amherst boys did almost exactly what they expected they would have to do to win the team title, yet the Hurricanes' score of 78 fell short of the Lions' 73.
Although Benfey won a three-mile battle with Dan Crowley of Ludlow to take the runner-up spot, the Lions captured the championship by placing their runners third, ninth, 13th, 17th and 31st.
"Last week Crowley outkicked me at the PVIAC and I knew I hadn't pushed enough," said Benfey,
As he turned onto the final flat, grassy quarter-mile of the mostly hilly course on Saturday, Benfey was running head-to-head with Ludlow's ace. "I heard one of my teammates yelling at me, #No regrets!' and I pulled it out and sprinted," he said, beating Crowley by less than two seconds.
Before the race, Amherst coach Chris Gould said he thought his team would win its third straight western Massachusetts championship if its seventh runner placed ahead of the fifth finisher for the Lions.
The Hurricanes achieved that goal as their seventh runner, Mychal Carter finished 27th, four places ahead of Ludlow's number five, Marck Bashaw. But the numbers favored the Lions when they put three runners ahead of Amherst's two runner, Ian Davies, who placed 14th in 18:08.
The Hurricanes' other scorers were senior Alexander Wallace (16th in 18:12), sophomore James Traester (22nd, 18:27) and senior Surya Murty (24th, 18:33).
Second Blue Devil finisher was sophomore Alex Sullivan (10th, 17:59). The other Northampton scorers were juniors Harrison Hunter (20th, 18:25) and Tim Callahan (25th, 18:40) and senior Neal McKenna-Donnelly (28th, 18:46).
South Hadley, led by junior Dan Fitzgerald in 29th place (18:49) finished 12th with 345 points.
Belchertown, whose top finisher was senior Justin Ivey (46th, 19:26) was 16th (435) among the 20 teams.
Division 2 boys
The boys Division 2 race was won by sophomore Mark Hegarty of Springfield Cathedral. He splashed through the mud and around the puddles in 17:13, the fastest time of any runner on Saturday.
Lenox won the team competition with 84 points, followed by Monson (117) and Mount Greylock (133).
Best among local finishers were Frontier Regional junior Caleb Chapley (8th, 18:19) and Holyoke Catholic sophomore Sam Powell (9th, 18:20). Both qualified to compete in the state championship next Saturday.
"Caleb in the top 10 # that's great!" said Red Hawks coach Bob Smith, who is in his 32nd year.
Assessing his team's 14th-place finish with 329 points, Smith added, "We had no seniors on our team today, and that's exciting. Now we'll work on one to five" # getting four more runners closer to Chapley in big races next year.
The Gaels were fifth of 19 teams, with 176 points. Gateway Regional was 10th with 227, Hampshire Regional finished 13th (303) and Granby was the final team with 552.
