Week four: tracking the Newton South girls cross country team

(A weekly series chronicling the journey of the Newton South girls’ cross-country team, culminating with the All-State meet Nov. 21 at Northfield Mountain).

The South girls will see Dual County League rival Lincoln-Sudbury down the road, with a bit more on the line. But Wednesday’s dual meet, featuring the top two girls’ programs in the state, was a treat. Ranked 13th nationally, L-S edged the No. 19 Lions for the second straight season, pulling out a 24-31 win. Last fall, L-S edged South by three points, but the Lions went on to win the Dual County League, divisional and all-state titles.

Lincoln-Sudbury runners Corey Stock and Andrea Keklak took the first two places, with South’s Kathy O’Keefe placing third (15 minutes, 39 seconds), followed by Melanie Fineman (4th, 16:03) and Madeleine Reed (5th, 16:03). Anna Laurence was ninth (17:00).

‘‘This is the best girls dual meet in the state all season,’’ said South head coach Steve McChesney . ‘‘This year our teams seems to be mirrors of each other and both feature tested and proven front-runners and are very deep teams.’’

On Saturday, the club made the two-hour trek west for the Amherst Invitational, which featured a 21 teams from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. The Lions (54 points) took first, outrunning Dennis-Yarmouth (128 points), Amherst (ranked fifth in Division 1), and Concord-Carlisle (ranked seventh in D-1).

Fineman ran a personal best, finishing the 5K-course third, with a time of 18:50, followed by O’Keefe (19:02), Reed (19:08), Laurence (20:03); Kayla Burton (20:06) and Elizabeth May (20:06).

‘‘This meet always draws a pretty good field and has a nice friendly atmosphere,’’ said McChesney. ‘‘The meet director has led the Amherst girls to many all-state titles while remaining very real and humble. His meet has taken on his character and we choose to run it because it revives our spirits in good competition.’’

Up next

On Wednesday, the Lions take on Dual County League foes Bostons Latin and Waltham in a tri-meet. The following week, there is no meet scheduled, giving McChesney’s runners a chance to ‘‘recharge and revive their muscles,’’ according to the head coach, and prep for the Catholic Memorial Invitational on the 17th.

Stepping forward

Senior captain Melanie Fineman shaved 34 seconds off her personal best time at the Amherst meet, covering the 3.1-mile course under 19 minutes for the first time. Fineman, O’Keefe, and Reed are the only runners on the team that have run the course in less than 19 minutes.
‘‘Only the top runners in the state hope to break 19 minutes for a 5K,’’ said McChesney.

‘‘Melanie came back from a lot farther back than most kids to break it. Once Mel improves, she stays there and there is no looking back for her. She can repeat her best days when needed.’’

Coach McChesney’s running tip:

Vary things. If you are a recreational runner, you can keep things fresh by running different runs at slightly different speeds. If you are a competitive racer, variation is a keystone to success. I learned this while running for the maybe the greatest high school program in history, at South Eugene, and also while running at the University of Oregon.
If you keep repeating the same things in training you will get good at a few things while your competition mixes it up to be able to adjust to anything. Real racing has so many variables and you should ready for anything. Doing the same training over and over again can also make you stale and lessen the enjoyment of the sport.
Our workouts have more than one focus in any given workout. To be ready for anything in a race means that we run our kids through a very wide range of distances and paces in any given workout. We will also switch gears within any given single interval and prepare for a wide range of possibilities.

Compiled by Sapna Pathak