Prior to the cross-country season getting underway, Wachusett Coach Patrick Bova sat down with his team and the Mountaineer boy runners came up with three goals that they wanted to accomplish: go undefeated during the regular season, win their league championship, and qualify for the All-State Meet. 

During the regular season, the Mountaineers were able to run the table and finish 5-0, then went on to capture their first league championship since 2018 while qualifying for the All-State Meet for the first time in seven years. Wachusett placed 8th at the D1A State Meet and 12th in the All-State Meet.

“We entered the season with high hopes, and our varsity group came into camp having put together a good summer’s worth of work,” Bova said. “We had a very strong top seven group that had a good amount of varsity experience.”

Over much of the season, senior captain Benjamin Duffy found himself as the Mountaineer’s top runner and set the tone for the rest of the squad. Running right on Duffy’s heels was junior Brady Bartley. As the number-two runner, Bartley was able to pick up his performance and take it to the next level come the end of the season. He became the team’s top runner over the last three meets, where he was the individual champion at the League Meet, finished 12th at the State Meet and 18th at the All-State Meet. Bartley’s performances were the best by a Wachusett runner since the format changed in 2021.

In addition to the team’s top two runners, Wachusett was also paced by senior captains Chris Pickett and Elias DeWeese as well as senior Colin May. Junior Heath Hebb and sophomore Ryan Godfroy also made huge contributions to the team, especially down the stretch where they finished as the number three and four runners, respectively. 

According to Bova, the team’s success this season was based on the competitiveness and a team-first culture that the captains helped build. 

Although the Mountaineer boy runners were able to have success this past season, the squad will be losing four of its top seven runners and Bova will be looking for others to step up and move into varsity roles. Bartley, Hebb and Godfroy will give the Mountaineers a formidable top three that they can build upon, but the coach knows that both Algonquin and Shrewsbury will be returning three of their top runners as well.

“Our goal will be to be in the mix for the League Championship again and that will likely be decided by whichever team in our league has their four to seven runners step up the most,” Bova said. “On the state level, we are also looking to stay in the hunt for a state qualifying spot, but like I said before, we are really going to need our younger guys to put in the work between now and then for that to happen.”

Much like the boys, the girls’ cross country team was not only excited to begin the new season, but they also knew that they had the capability to be competitive against most teams they would be facing. Coach Mike O’Malley noted that the team’s goals are always the same: they wanted to compete well and try to win all their dual meets while gaining experience running as a team at the early mid-season invitationals. With those goals being accomplished, Wachusett could look to perform at their peak during the championship meets at the end of the season.

During the September Bay State Invitational, the female Mountaineers finished in second place just three points behind Bishop Feehan, the winner of the race. O’Malley was happy with the team’s results, especially running against some of the better teams in the state. The girls would go on to win the Wachusett Invitational and finish in the top 10 of the Twilight Invitational, a race in which many of the top teams compete.

During their dual meet season, Wachusett managed to once again go undefeated and continued to run well at the League Championship Meet, taking home the title. Entering the Division 1A State Tournament, the Mountaineers were looking to improve upon last year’s top 10 finish.

“The girls turned in a great performance, finishing fifth overall and earning a place to compete as a team in the State Meet,” O’Malley said. “We finished the season at the State Meet finishing ninth overall, which was another of our goals to start the season.”

The team was led by senior captains Madi Mulroy, Tea Morini, and junior captain Naomi Witt. They set the tone at practices while getting the team to compete at the level they did during the season. Individuals who took on major roles at different times throughout the season were freshmen Annika Kindorf, Sarah Martin, Julia Hall, and Keira Chabot; sophomores Amelia Gracey, Emily O’Connor, Izzy Abdella, and Maya Lussier; juniors Kailyn Brenn and Clara Robinson; and seniors Jayla Bertrand and Mari Munzert.

“All played a role in making the team what it was, along with the rest of the girls that made up our team,” O’Malley said. “We are certainly looking forward to next year, with all the young talent we will have returning, and thank our seniors for their time in the program.”

The Mountaineers will be only graduating one girl from this year’s squad and will have six experienced runners coming back next fall. With a high percentage of runners returning, O’Malley will once again be looking for the squad to get stronger as a team and repeat, if not better, the results from this year.