BOSTON - So let's have the Hornets and Warriors race - after all, the Mansfield High Hornets and the Seekonk High Warriors proved themselves to be among the most elite cross country teams in the Commonwealth.

And let's let Hornet senior captain Patrick McGowan and Warrior senior captain John Gregorek both wear No. 1 bibs too, both leading their respective Division 2 and 4 fields of individual runners Saturday at Franklin Park at the MIAA Meet.

With McGowan clocking a personal best time of 16:02 on the rain-saturated 3.1 mile course and with teammates Shayne Collins and Brendan Boyle right at his heels, claiming the No. 3 and 5 spots respectively, Mansfield High captured the MIAA Division 2 Championship Meet title with 58 points, its second fewest points ever - successfully defending its title, its fourth title over the past five seasons.

With Gregorek successfully defending his personal title in the course-obliterated Division 4 race at 16:47 and a trio of teammates also in the top 20, South Coast Conference champion Seekonk High captured the team title with 51 points, well ahead of runnerup Newburyport (101), which had just two runners in the top 20.

**Fortunately for the Hornets of MANSFIELD, they ran in the first race of the day when the Boston course was not being stampeded upon by hundreds of runners. Still, though, it was pouring rain, "the conditions were unbelievable," said Mansfield coach Julie Collins of the Hockomock League champion Hornets overcoming all obstacles. McGowan, who took third in the mile run at the MIAA Meet during the spring outdoor season and third at the New England Meet, won his first major race, "a great race," said Collins of the tactical work. Moreso, he had his Hornet teammates beside him, Collins, a junior, who took third at 16:25 and Boyle, a senior, who was fifth at 16:34.

"Those three frontrunners are a knockout punch," explained Collins. "That's outstanding. The team has worked hard for five months for this - their miles paid off."

**SEEKONK emerged victorious in the Division 4 race as a team with Gregorek running "a smart race," according to Warrior coach Eli Mello. The nationally ranked Gregorek outran Old Rochester's Dana Dourdeville (16:51) by four seconds over the final 600 yards. "The puddles were a foot deep when the race began," added Mello. What enabled the Warriors to burst ahead was juniors Nathan Larrimer and Cody Archambault finishing 7-10 respectively, within 10 seconds of each other and classmate Ryan Brown taking the 14th spot, a stride behind at 17:48. "That's what we wanted to do, we had to break up Newburyport," said Mello of the pack of Warriors.

**In the Division 2 race, BISHOP FEEHAN was second only to Pembroke (34 points) with three runners among the top 20 finishers, totaling 85 points. "They're for real, they're right up there with Mansfield," said Shamrock coach Bob L'Homme of Pembroke, which had five runners among the top 17 finishers.

The Shamrocks' triumvirate of seniors finished within 14 places and 36 seconds of each other, Bob McShane taking fifth place at 17:00, Tim Gill finishing 13th at 17:28 and Alex Murray taking the 19th spot at 17:36. McShane had the lead at the mile mark.

"It was probably the second most miserable day for a race that I've been involved with," said Bishop Feehan coach Bob L'Homme. "The wind was blowing hard, but at least it was not that cold. There was a huge puddle at the mile mark and one kid fell and was under water. Fortunately, the kids saw that and avoided it. The kids said that it was fun. We have white uniforms, but they were all brown when they came in." **In the Division 3 race, DIGHTON-REHOBOTH High will have two runners at the MIAA State Meet in junior Jake Medeiros and senior Colin Hoye, who finished 13th and 22nd respectively. But the real surprise was Falcon freshman Eric Thompson, who finished at 18:23, the first rookie in the race to finish, having the fifth best time among all rookie runners in the four classes. "We exceeded our expectations," said D-R coach Ben Pease.

**In the Division 1 race, ATTLEBORO High junior Connor Kelly was the Bombardiers' top finisher, taking 56th place at 18:08. Attleboro finished 19th overall among the entered teams.

**In the Division 2 race, NORTH ATTLEBORO High senior captain Max Nolan was the first Red Rocketeer across the finish line, taking the 39th spot at 17:40. North finished 17th in the field as a team. "We knew that the times would be off because of the weather," said North coach Ann McGrail, "but for the kids, they all said that it was actually fun."

**Also in the Division 2 race, David Logan was the first KING PHILIP runner across the finish line for the Warriors, taking the No. 131 spot.

**FOXBORO High sophomore Brendan Sullivan continued to declare his "up and coming" status among the state's elite runners, taking ninth place in the Division 3 race at 17:18, the first Hockomock League finisher in the field.

**After taking fourth place at the MIAA Vocational Schools Meet in Upton, the TRI-COUNTY boys' team finished 29th overall in the Division 4 race. Junior Kory Hoyt, who was the Cougars' best finisher (12th) at the Vocational Schools Meet, took 65th at 19:10.

**Also in the Division 4 race, "it was a really rough day," said NORTON coach Kent Taylor, the Lancers being without a half-dozen runners due to injury and illness. Junior Tim Johansmeyer was the Lancers' first finisher at 110.

MIAA Division Cross Country Championship Meet

At Franklin Park, Boston

MIAA Division 1 Boys' Team results: 1-Lowell 67, 2-Methuen 107, 3-St. John's Prep 128, 4-Brookline 157, 5-Lexington 175; 19-Attleboro 494.

MIAA Division 2 Boys' Team results: 1-Mansfield 58, 2-Concord-Carlisle 115, 3-Oliver Ames 134, 4-Reading 173, 5-North Andover 174.

MIAA Division 3 Boys' Team results: 1-Pembroke 34, 2-Bishop Feehan 85, 3-Marblehead 158, 4-Sandwich 165, 5-Medfield 172, 8-Dighton-Rehoboth 313, 13-Foxboro 397.

MIAA Division 4 Boys' Team results: 1-Seekonk 51, 2-Newburyport 101, 3-Hamilton-Wenham 127, 4-Old Rochester 233, 5-Weston 241, 29-Tri-County 764, 31-Norton 812.

Attleboro placements: 56-Connor Kelly 18:08, 86-Joe Murphy 18:40, 103-Ethan Fullerton 18:46, 142-Jake Arsenault 19:14, Cory Lemay 19:23, Keith Pruker 19:47, Mitch Nixon 21:00.

Bishop Feehan placements: 5-Bob McShane 17:00, 13-Tim Gill 17:28, 19-Alex Murray 17:36, 26-Will Clerx 17:43, 27-Kevin O'Brien 17:46, 35-Peter Corkery 18:00, 42-Tom Marcotte 18:06.

Dighton-Rehoboth placements: 13-Jake Medeiros 17:29, 22-Colin Hoye 17:39, 58-Eric Thompson 18:23, 103-Tom Ford 19:03,

117-Mason Saleeba 19:13, 131-Alex Branagan 19:25, 159-Nick Vincelette 19:40.

Seekonk placements: 1-John Gregorek 16:47, 7-Nathan Larrimer 17:33, 10-Cody Archambault 17:43, 14-Ryan Brown 17:48, 24-Ken Cabral 18:06, 60-Mark Hafley 18:59, 61-Jake Silva 19:01.

Norton placements: 110-Tim Johansmeyer 20:10, 160-Caleb Tripp 21:08, 163-Dan Sugar 21:13, 172-Cameron Eisnor 21:25, 207-Mike Gillis 22:33, 210-Christian Delano 22:44.

Foxboro placements: 9-Brendan Sullivan 17:18, 49-Tyler Lorenz 18:13, 87-Conor Foley 18:52, 111-Ben Alden 19:11, 141-Andrew Bradley 19:30, 166-Joe Tierney 19:46, 174-Andrew Moses 19:53.

King Philip placements: 131-David Logan 19:09, 180-Matt McCarthy 20:28, 184-Colin McFarland 20:40, 195-Phil McCarty 21:08, 196-Mitch Roberts 21:12, 197-Chad O'Neil 21:12, 203-Andy Lamb 21:30.

Mansfield placements: 1-Patrick McGowan 16:02, 3-Shayne Collins 16:25, 5-Brendan Boyle 16:34, 27-Matt Hernon 17:25, 26-Jeff Boyle 17:26, 48-Matt Cioe 17:49, 67-Ryan Petrella 18:09.

North Attleboro placements: 39-Max Nolan 17:40, 101-Brian Carroll 18:37, 103-Nick O'Leary 18:38, 128-Parker Fitzgibbon 19:00, 133-Mike Curley 19:08, Alan D'Adamo 19:58.

Tri-County results: 65-Kory Hoyt 19:10, 137-Ian Boyce 20:46, 157-Andrew Kerr 21:03, 199-Tom Whearty 22:09, 206-Brian Murphy 22:32, 235-James Eblan 23:47, 237-Alex Drake 23:58.

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