AMHERST — Chris Gould has been either running or coaching at Amherst Regional High School since the 1970s, and for the entire time the ‘Canes boys cross country head coach has been involved with the program, the course has never changed.

But this year it’s different, and Northampton sophomore Mairead O’Neil blazed to a record on the girls side in dominant fashion.

O’Neil crossed the line in 21 minutes, 16 seconds, nearly one minute faster than the next competitor, en route to an easy first-place finish on Tuesday afternoon.

Amherst swept both races however, defeating the Blue Devils 20-42 on the girls side and 23-32 on the boys in what was both programs’ first meet of the 2024 fall season.

O’Neil, who is often chasing behind her sister, Maeve, knew she had a chance to cross the line first since Maeve couldn’t make it to Tuesday’s meet. She took full advantage of her big sister’s absence, pulling away from Amherst’s Merit McDonald (second place, 22:01) about two-thirds of the way through and never turning back.

“At the two-mile mark I started putting more distance between me and the girl behind me,” O’Neil said. “I really wanted to win because I knew I had a chance with my sister not being here. I wasn’t sure what I could do out here, but I thought before the race started I had a chance at winning. Once I had about a half mile left, I realized how much distance there was between me and [McDonald]. But it wasn’t until I crossed the finish line that it really set in.”

Asi de from O’Neil,  the next six finishers – including McDonald – went to the Hurricanes. They dominated their season opener with seven of the top 10 finishers. Genevieve Dole (third, 22:24), Brooke Nedeau (fourth, 22:38), Lillian Pope (fifth, 22:41), Skylar Fox (sixth, 22:51) and Felix Goeckel (seventh, 23:03) turned in solid races for the hosts.

Northampton’s Charlotte Shimpach (eighth, 23:12) and Zea Meerbergen (10th, 24:07) cracked the top 10 while Amherst’s Elizabeth Sawicki (23:28) slid into the nine spot to round out Tuesday’s scorers for the girls.

“I’m happy, and I think that the girls showed a lot of promise today,” Northampton head coach Linda Rowbotham said. “It was great to see that the folks that put the work in during the summer had some success today. I’m looking forward to what some of the younger athletes are going to do, because each time they run they get better and better.”

Blue Devils freshman Marie Oiry-Pater also completed the 5K course at Amherst on Tuesday, the first time in her life running three miles. Her friend and now-teammate Eliza LaCroix convinced her to try cross country this season, and after struggling with some of the training over the past two weeks, LaCroix was ecstatic for her classmate.

“I was impressed with [Marie], she did a really good job,” LaCroix said of her friend. “She’s never really run three miles before, and she did it today, so I’m proud of her.”

For the boys, Gould was without three of his top runners due to sickness and injury, so he didn’t come into Tuesday’s meet with the highest of expectations.

But the ‘Canes more than exceeded them with a 23-32 win over Northampton. Calvin Miller blazed through the new course in a time of 17:25 to take first, his teammate Nico Lisle (17:47) close behind in second. Northampton’s Gus Frey (17:57), Amherst’s Sam Woodruff (18:12) and Northampton’s Owen Daggett (18:35) rounded out the top five.

Miller said the gorgeous, cloudless and comfortable weather helped him cruise to his first-place finish.

“The conditions were great, and I’ve raced in some really hot weather and have had it not go so well for me, so for the weather to be this nice was great,” Miller said. “I wasn’t quite expecting how I would do because of the new course. I was just trying to get a feel for it, and it ended up going pretty good.”

With the uncertainty of who would pick up points for Amherst, Gould felt his team needed to grab the top three spots to come out victorious. That wasn’t the case, but he picked up a huge point from Myles Redington (20:13, 10th place) as Amherst’s fifth finisher. 

Redington, who isn’t typically a varsity runner, came up clutch for the ‘Canes.

“I thought that the only way we would win is if we took top three,” Gould said. “But we got a lot of contributions from guys who stepped up today and I’m very pleased. I’m a little surprised just because it’s the first meet and you never really know what to expect... Miles isn’t even a varsity runner and he ended up being our fifth guy today. He had no idea he would’ve been fifth, but he was. He was great today.”

Alden Pope (Amherst, sixth, 18:55), Henry Daggett (Northampton, seventh, 19:15), Isaiah Carnevale (Northampton, eighth, 19:53), Acer Verson (Northampton, ninth, 20:05) and Redington all finished in the top 10 in what was a close meet between the boys.

Girls races

Ludlow 16, Belchertown 47 – Kylie Fitzgerald paced the Orioles with a fifth-place finish (25:00), while Aubrey Harrington and Katherine Dorman were ninth and 10th to aid the Belchertown effort on Tuesday.

Frontier 27, Mohawk Trail 39
Frontier 15, Pioneer 74 — Sylvie DiBartolomeo placed first (19:07) while fellow Frontier runners Liv Christensen (fifth, 20:50), Madelyn Antes (sixth, 21:54), Maia Christensen (seventh, 22:03), Sasha Malo (eighth, 22:11), Perla Ordaz (ninth, 22:27) and Phoebe Radner (10th, 22:43) also finished in the top 10, helping the Redhawks earn a pair of wins on Tuesday in Northfield. 

Gateway 27, Easthampton 28
Gateway 19, Greenfield 36
Easthampton 23 Greenfield 32 – Anya Niles cruised to victory, traversing the 3.1-mile course at Littleville Dam in 24:49 to power the Gators to victory on Tuesday.

Gateway’s Ava Christie was third and teammate Lily Peloquin nabbed sixth. Easthamp ton’s Grace Pappadellas was the runner-up (26:21), with teammates Katie Cleland (fourth) and Fern Stauffer (fifth) earning top five finishes.

PVCICS 15, Monson 50
PVCICS 15, Palmer 50
PVCICS 15, Hopkins 50 — Sarah Fardal finished first (24:29), Ellery Maier third (25:06), Astrid Knyt fourth (26:23), Emma Vasovic fifth (27:21) and Eunice Lo sixth (27:44) as the Dragons crusied to three wins on Tuesday.

Boys races

Smith Voc 26, Westfield Tech 29 – Theo Wojcik crossed first for the Vikings with a time of 21:25, helping the visitors win a road dual meet at Stanley Park in Westfield.,

Teammate Cole Mattison-Gulotta was the second finisher overall in 21:41.

Samantha Pensivy was the lone Smith Voc runner in the girls race, and she took ninth overall.

Frontier 20, Mohawk 37
Frontier 17, Pioneer 46 – Luke Howard led a 1-2-3 sweep for the Redhawks, taking first in Northfield with a time of 16 minutes, 35 seconds on Tuesday.

Evan Hedlund (16:36) and Charlie Dennis (16:44) finished second and third for Frontier en route to the tri-meet sweep.

Ludlow 16, Belchertown 46 – Benjamin Les was the first Oriole across in fifth overall (17:07), while teammate Miles McNamara joined him in the top 10 thanks to an eighth-place performance (18:01).

PVCICS 15, Monson 50
PVCICS 15, Palmer 50
PVCICS 15, Hopkins 50 — The Dragons swept the top seven spots, with Grafton Tolopko taking first (19:21), Owen Bauman second (20:30), RJ Allen third (21:22), Asa Taggert fourth (22:23) and Frank Sup fifth (22:35).

This was a milestone meet for head coach Kevin Brown, as he reached 100 total wins coaching the boys and girls.