NORTHFIELD — Living in a hill town certainly has some distinct advantages for athletes. For the Hampshire Regional girls cross country team, a home course in Westhampton that features some elevation prepared the squad for the MIAA Divisional 3A-3B-3C championships on Saturday.
The Raiders used the preparation to capture their second straight Division 3B championship at Northfield Mountain Recreation Center. Hampshire Regional finished with 65 points ahead of second-place Hamilton-Wenham (79 points).
Runners dealt with cold but not freezing temperatures on an overcast day. Kathleen Barry placed third (19:50.7) in the Division 3B race. The course in Northfield has its fair share of elevation.
“Where we live, we are in the hill towns,” Barry said. “We are used to the hills. Our home course starts with a really big hill. We had the mentality that we run hills all the time and are prepared for this.”
The Raiders even spent time in Northfield during the summer. Barry’s time exceeded expectations on the difficult course.
Kathleen Barry of Hampshire Regional reaches the finish line in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Evan Hedlund of Frontier Regional reaches the finish line in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Owen Cubi of Hampshire Regional finishes up at the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Maia Christensen (center) of Frontier Regional participates in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Virginia Krezmien of Mohawk Trail Regional reaches the finish line in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Harper Hake of Pioneer Valley Regional reaches the finish line in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Farrah Lemay of Frontier Regional reaches the finish line in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo 
Trevor Sullivan of Granby participates in the MIAA Division 3 championships, Saturday in Northfield. Credit: ADAM HARGRAVES / Staff Photo
“We all knew every inch of it,” Barry said. “I did not expect to go sub 20 on a course like this. I wasn’t feeling great today. Just wanted to score well for the team.”
Brooke Hockenberry was the next finisher for Hampshire in fifth place (20:07). Ada Corner (20:52) and Charlotte Niswonger (21:14.4) were 11th and 14th, respectively.
“We all want it,” Hockenberry said. “When we come to practice we like to have fun but we are here to work to get faster. We feed off that…it makes us better. We are competitive. We train a lot on hills. That gives us an advantage.”
Hampshire moves on to the MIAA State Championship meet on Saturday in Devens.
“Everyone has to stay on their game for next week,” Hockenberry said. “Anyone can win on any given day. We’ve had success so far, but we want to win next week.”
In the Division 3B boys race, Frontier Regional’s Evan Hedlund used some motivation from last week’s Western Mass. second place finish to fuel a blistering performance. Hedlund finished in first place (16:02.2) by 16 seconds. The time was the best by any runner at the entire event. Hedlund was second in the same race last season.
“I hate losing more than I like winning,” Hedlund said. “Using last week, I was expecting to do a lot better than I did. It was disappointing. On top of that coming into postseason, states was the most important race of my whole career honestly. Getting second last year, the only point of the season was to win. “
Hampshire Regional’s Owen Cubi placed eighth (17:13.7) in the Division 3B race. Teammate Hobbes O’Sullivan was 11th (17:25.4) for the Raiders, who finished second in the team standings.
In the Division 3C race, Mohawk Trail Regional’s Virginia Krezmien saved one of her best performances of her career for the biggest stage, finishing in second place (19:49.7) for the Warriors.
Krezmien used some caution in the opening of the race to turn on the afterburners later in the competition.
“Last week after going out a little bit too fast I really had my pacing strategy down,” Krezmien said. “I didn’t go out too crazy. I got a good spot around 10th place, up the hills I just worked my way up passing one person at a time. At the top I just decided I was going to go, and I went for it. I didn’t slow down.”
Violet Lukens placed sixth (20:09.2) for PVCIC in the Division 3C race.
Belchertown’s Asher Johnson-Jones placed third (17:04.2) in the Division 3A race. Granby’s Trevor Sullivan grabbed a ninth place finish (16:46.6) for the Rams in the Division 3C race. PVCICS’s Grafton Tolopko (16:47.0) finished just behind Sullivan in 10th for the Dragons.
Harper Hake took 12th (20:58.1) for Pioneer Valley Regional in the Division 3C race. In Division 3C, Easthampton (seventh) and Frontier (sixth) and PVCICS (fourth) all qualified for girls state competition. The PVCICS boys also qualified with a sixth place finish.
In Division 3A, the Belchertown boys qualified with a fifth place finish. Team winners were Greater Lowell Tech (boys, girls 3A), Littleton (boys, 3B), Hopedale (boys, 3C) and Mount Greylock (girls, 3C).
