WRENTHAM — Newton North’s Gabriel Grove considers himself very lucky to be running in the Bay State Conference.
“It’s a privilege to run in this conference,” said the senior. “There are a lot of great runners and Brookline is the best team in the state and one of the best in the country.”
Most of Grove’s competitors probably wished he took Saturday’s BSC Championships off.
Grove, a 4:26 miler and 9:21 2-miler, was brilliant.
Racing on the rolling Wrentham Developmental Center layout under bright skies in warm temperatures, the Tiger senior passed the mile in 4:49 with Wellesley’s Stephen Goehringer and Eli Merritt in tow. Grove made a strong move halfway through and put daylight between himself and the two harriers. He extended his lead and leaped across the finish line in a quick time of 15 minutes, 47.8 seconds for the win. Goehringer was also under 16 minutes with a second-place finish in 15:58.
Altamo Aschkenasy led Brookline’s juggernaut with third in 16:00.6. The Warriors’ top-five scoring harriers finished within 31 seconds of each other to take the team title with 39 points. The Raiders were a strong second with 41 points.
Grove, who has made the leap into the group of elite harriers in the state, was confident coming in that he’d be among the front runners. “I knew I was going to be in the front pack,” he said. “As soon as I got to halfway I knew I had it. I felt more relaxed (with a 4:49 first mile) than a lot of other races. This is the first race we’d tapered for all season.”
Along with Grove, Sean Kerin was the lone harrier in the top 10 who wasn’t from Brookline or Wellesley. The Walpole runner had a great day with ninth in 16:20.3.
