The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys varsity cross-country team is headed to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) state finals. On Saturday, the team tied for sixth place at the MIAA divisional championships in Northfield Mountain, enough to qualify for the finals, which will be held this Saturday, Nov. 15, at Fort Devens’ Willard Park.
In the division championships this past weekend, running against 25 of the best teams in Massachusetts and 178 individual runners, the Vineyarders scored 193 points to secure a spot in the finals. Only the top seven teams qualify for the state finals.
“We had a good meet,” said Head Coach Joe Schroeder. “The kids ran well on a tough course, and we were psyched.”
Senior Louis Costa placed 13th to lead the Vineyard team in the meet on Saturday, followed closely by freshman runner Ben Fuller, who finished 15th. The Vineyarders earned their sixth-place qualification mainly through their middle-of-the-pack-finishers: Nicholas Gomes placed 42nd, Mason Burns 58th, and Robert Riis 65th to round out the Vineyard team.
“You’re only as good as your fifth man,” said Schroder. “You can have a great one and two, but you need to do the work in the back end too, and it was really awesome to see those guys step up.”
Ideal weather conditions greeted Vineyard runners on Saturday in Northfield, but the course itself was uniquely challenging compared with what Island runners usually experience. The first mile of the race starts out uphill, and levels off in the second mile before finishing downhill on mile three. Vineyard runners were able to preview the course on Friday, the day before the meet, to get a feel for it.
“The atmosphere is hard to describe. Everybody is on edge, even though they run all year. It’s a different vibe at this meet, “ said Schroeder. “It was absolutely gorgeous there, though. It was 52 and no wind … a great day to race.”
The state finals qualification marks an improvement from the team’s showing at last year’s divisional meets, where they finished in eighth place, just missing the state-final cutoff. The Vineyarders also secured the Cape and Islands League title recently.
On the girls’ side, Sophia Alves finished 29th and Nevah Fitzgerald 30th — just three seconds apart, but 12th and 13th among individuals, missing being among the 10 qualifiers for state by two spots.
“Our kids work hard in silence. Not a lot of people know about our team until they start doing something great,” said Schroeder. “We have a good group of kids, and we are looking forward to this weekend as well as next year.”
