Canton High School Competes in Hockomock League Cross Country Championships

With cold, but reasonable running conditions, the proved to display some of the best running in the state Saturday at Borderland State Park in Easton.

With five of the top twelve runners in the boys’ race, Mansfield earned its eighth straight league title with 44 points, while the Franklin girls team tallied 38 points for its second straight league title.

Mansfield Coach Julie Collins was thrilled with her team's victory.

“This is the eighth straight year that we won the league and OA [boys] were heavily favored,” she said. “On paper, if you look at our kids they were a very good team. They just hadn’t run well together on the same day in the same race. But today, our seniors helped us accomplish that.”

Both of the Oliver Ames squads finished second (boys, 52 points; girls, 38).

“I’m happy with the way the kids ran today,” OA coach Neil Levine said about his squad.

Individually, King Philip boys senior Chris Allen (15:46.05) and Franklin girls senior Alex Giese (19:08.14) won league titles for their first place finishes.

Rounding out the top five in the boys race were OA seniors Drew Beck (second, 16:03.64) and Andrew Kerester (fourth, 16:23.81), Foxborough senior Brendan Sullivan (third, 16:13.69), and Mansfield senior Dan Caughey (16:28.37).

OA senior Shannon Hickey (19:15.33), Franklin junior Lauren Hagen (19:20.64), Sharon junior Caroline Sun (19:26.82) and North Attleboro senior Lizzy Blanchard (19:37.90) all finished in the girls’ top five.

Among other notable performers, Mansfield seniors Brendan McCarthy (8th, 16:38.74), Kham Haleudeth (9th, 16:39.63), Mitch Negus (10th, 16:41.42) and Dave Morrill (12th, 16:48.41) all contributed to the Hornets’ triumph, while Franklin senior Andrew Hood (16:30.03) and King Philip sophomore Owen Gonser (16:32.59), both finished in the top 10. Stoughton’s Amy Kelly was the top freshman performer, finishing eighth in the girls race with a time of 20:29.64.

Here are the final team results:

Boys

1. Mansfield 44
2. Oliver Ames 52
3. Franklin 123
4. King Philip 144
5. North Attleboro 148
6. Sharon 155
7. Foxborough 165
8. Attleboro 243
9. Stoughton 349
10. Canton 357

Girls

1. Franklin 38
2. Oliver Ames 48
3. North Attleboro 97
4. King Philip 114
5. Stoughton 143
6. Canton 169
7. Mansfield 216
8. Sharon 227
9. Foxborough 243
10. Attleboro 273