Local cross country runners enjoyed strong performances at the Division 1 state championship meet in Saturday at Franklin Park in Dorchester.

Madison Granger from Belchertown finished in fourth place overall while the Amherst boys and girls cross country teams finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the team competition.

Granger, who finished 59th as a junior, posted a time of 18 minutes, 55 seconds on the 3.1-mile course.

"It was kind of surreal, I was just happy beyond belief," Granger said.

Granger will continue her career next year running in three seasons for Duke University.

"She's one of the hardest workers that I have ever coached," Belchertown coach Jason Woodcock said. "She's very talented and very deserving of fourth place finish. She wanted to go out with a bang and she certainly did."

Granger explained how she was able to perform well on Saturday.

"I had good start from the beginning, if you don't get out fast you get stuck in the crowd on the first turn," Granger said. "I was out in the front of the pack at the beginning and was able to stay my spot at the front through out. I was actually in fifth most of the race but in the end I sprinted and was able to overtake the girl for fourth."

The Amherst boys had high expectations going into the state meet. Their sixth place finish didn't quite make those expectations because of a somewhat flat race ran by their players.

"It was not a disastrous race," Amherst coach Chris Gould said, "We just had two or three guys who ran a little flat, It's just hard to keep up the intensity with these big races week after week."

The Hurricanes top five finishers were Ryan Mathers (54th , 16:56), Jesse Coull (55th, 16:56), James Traester (63rd, 17:02), Dylan Wight (76th, 17:07), and Steven Kolt (121st, 17:26).

"We didn't run totally sharp today but we are still happy that we finished sixth in states on a sub-par performance," Gould said. "This was definitely a team that surpassed all of our and their expectations this year, And we got to a better place than we thought we'd get to this year."

The Amherst girls also had high expectations but were ecstatic about taking seventh.

"It was a great way to end the season," girls coach Eric Nazar said. "We did really well. I was really happy. It reflects pretty closely to where we were all this season."

Senior Audrey Gould finished ninth overall at 19:19. Gould is the first Amherst girl to finish in the top 15 at states since 2005.

"I was really happy for her and it was a good finish for her career," Nazar said.

Mel Devoney (36th, 19:56), Emmy Zimmerman (53rd, 20:18), Sara Vannah (103rd, 20:59), and Kate O'Brien (135th, 21:33) rounded out the team's top five.

Other local female individuals who competed in D-1 race were Serena Sarage of South Hadley (60th, 20:23) and Eliana Zimmerman from Northampton (115th, 21:14).

The Holyoke Catholic girls cross country team competed in the Division 2 race and finished in 16th. Staci Rezendes led the Gaels in 32nd place (19:59), followed by Audrey Boraski (87th, 21:03) and Sarah Jones (113th, 21:36).

Local individuals in the D2 race were Natalie Mako of Frontier (16th, 19:26), Brittany Dalton (62nd, 20:47) and Julie Roberts (139th, 22:04) of Hampshire, Abigal Imelio (96th, 21:12) and Casey Imelio (129th, 21:51) of Granby and Katie Clark of Gateway (120th, 21:42).

The Northampton boys had three individuals at D-1. Alex Sullivan was the top finisher in 21st (16:31), followed by Sam Coates-Finke (39th, 16:47), and Charles Hale (97th, 17:18).

Sam Powell of Holyoke Catholic (111th, 18:06) and Ian Barber of Hampshire (141st, 18:33) competed as individuals in D-2.