WESTFIELD – Much like he’s done all season, Dennis Simmons cruised to an impressive time on a picture-perfect afternoon during the PVIAC Cross Country Championships Saturday at Stanley Park.
The Mohawk Trail senior crossed the finish line in third place overall with a time of 16 minutes, 17.10 seconds, edging out the fourth-place finisher by just three seconds.
“By far his best race of the year, and once again, perfect timing. The big meets are coming up. I was really happy with his time,” said Mohawk Trail head coach Joe Chadwick. “It was really clever the way he ran. In the first mile he took the lead, and he knew (Riley Cole) from Northampton who won was really good, you know? So he tried something different and while he didn’t win, it still brought him to a good time.”
Frontier’s Luke Howard paced his side with a 47th-place finish (17:46), while Mohawk Trail’s Vincent Gauthier was 58th (18:06). Greenfield’s Erick Badillo was 64th (18:28).
On the team side, Greenfield finished 10th overall with a total score of 351. Mohawk Trail finished right behind them in 11th with 390 points, while Frontier finished 13th with 419 points.
The Frontier girls’ team managed to crack the top five on the girls’ side, with Leah Gump (13th, 20:45.20) and Sadie Ross (28th, 21:43.90) both placing in the top 30 to lead the Redhawks. Frontier finished fifth with a total score of 165, edging out Minnechaug by just seven points. That finish was also possible thanks to an impressive performance by their third runner Nicole Plasse (34th, 22:06.50), who stepped up to fill in the gap left by Sylvie DiBartolomeo, who was out sick.
“We’re really happy with fifth – we’re the second small school, Hampshire got third, we got fifth, and just to be not that far away from those big schools like Longmeadow and Amherst, I think that’s a pretty good accomplishment,” Frontier head coach Bob Smith said. “Leah Gump stepped up big time. She’s really becoming a monster on the cross-country course, I’m enjoying it. I think that the girls pulled together the way they had to do.”
Eighth grader Ellie Pinkham of Mohawk Trail also finished in the top 20 individually, crossing the line in 15th place with a time of 21:03.08. The Warriors finished ninth overall with 296 points.
Frontier’s Sasha Malo was 39th, while Mohawk Trail seventh-grader Natalie Lanoue crossed in 47th. Other top 70 finishers included Greenfield’s Ava Fortin (55th), Mohawk Trail’s Valerie Bzomowski (56th) and Frontier’s Abigail Howard (58th).