Newton South races to second at All-State cross country meet

Years from now, Newton South girls cross country coach Steve McChesney and his Lion harriers will look back on the last two weekends on the trails and know they were part of something special. And McChesney has this fall's squad earmarked as one of the toughest he's ever coached.
 

Having lost Kelsey Karys and Bridget Dahlberg to graduation, and with injuries and illness plaguing the defending Division I EMass. and state champions, Newton South pulled out two supreme efforts to finish second to rival Lincoln-Sudbury in both meets.
 

``In all honesty, it was one of the best efforts that we could have given,'' McChesney said.
 

Heading into the EMass race, McChesney was seriously questioning whether he could field a team. Melanie Fineman was wearing a boot to protect a sprained ankle, Jenny Epstein was out with the flu, Elizabeth May still had a nagging hip problem and the Lions' top runner, Kathy O'Keefe, was experiencing pain in her ankle after twisting it on a cool-down run.
 

``I was worried about even making it to States, let alone taking a trophy,'' McChesney said. ``It was a trying week for the kids.''
 

But the Lions handled the mud and rain to qualify last week. Then they came back and finished with 102 points to clinch the runner-up slot to the Warriors' 52 in Saturday's showdown in the Div. 1 race at Northfield Mountain.
 

O'Keefe ran with the leaders early and took sixth place in 19 minutes, 35 seconds against a deep, tough field. Madeleine Reed had her best race of the fall, sprinting into the top 15 with her 13th-place 19:48.3. Fineman came back strong for 24th in 20:08.1, and Anna Laurence had an important, 34th-place finish with a 20:29.7 on the difficult 3.1-mile course. Freshman Kayla Burton nailed down 79th in 21:42.6, while Katie Sandson was 105th in 22:21.2. Epstein rounded out the South contingent with 130th in 22:59.9.
 

McChesney was far more worried before the Northfield race than his harriers. He sensed a calm confidence from his crew and had very little to say prior to them taking their spot at the starting line.
 

``I was in a panic, but they never doubted it,'' he said. ``The challenge of going up the mountain was no more daunting to them than running in the rain and muck at EMass. I didn't hover. I just told the girls they were ready.
 

``We started the season ranked No. 2, and we finished No. 2. We feel real honored to run with Lincoln-Sudbury. They were an unstoppable force this year. They executed all the way through.''
 

McChesney said the arrival of new assistant coach Ana Hyos has provided a ``big boost'' to the program. The former Saratoga Springs and Tufts University standout became an immediate favorite of the squad.
 

``She is just a real refreshing, big help for the team,'' he said.
 

South will be moving on to the Nike Northeast Regionals at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., to compete in the team championships.
 

``I think they have another race in them,'' McChesney said.
 

Newton North standout Margo Gillis spent the week before Northfield tending to tendinitis in her knee. A superb second-place finish to Lincoln-Sudbury's Andrea Keklak in the Div. 1 EMass race made the first-year harrier a legitimate contender to capture the state title.
 

While Gillis couldn't shake the pain in her knee, she still ran to an impressive eighth-place finish in the Div. 1 race in 19:41.2. The Bay State Conference champion was disappointed, but happy to finish in the top 10.
 

``I didn't do much training during the week,'' Gillis said. ``I knew my knee wasn't feeling great, and I didn't know what would happen.''
 

Gillis was very much in the hunt for the first mile-and-a-half, running in the huge lead pack of a dozen runners before Keklak and runner-up Carolyn Stocker of Westfield threw in a surge to break up the group.
 

Gillis struggled a bit, but never faltered.
 

``I felt like I was running, not racing,'' she said. ``My knee really hurt, but I wanted to run for the experience.''
 

Gillis spent yesterday icing her knee and putting her focus on Saturday's prestigious Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island, N.Y. She's hoping for a top-30 finish in the elite girls race before heading into the indoor track campaign.
 

``I was a little disappointed (with All-States), but I'm looking forward to Foot Locker and indoor track,'' Gillis said. ``I'm more of a middle-distance runner.''