The Codfish Bowl XC Classic took over the grounds of Franklin Park this past Saturday morning – and the weather was perfect, unlike past years where the meet fell on the last hot day in September. The low-key invitational was not a part of the USATF-NE Grand Prix, but offered athletes a first run at the famous course that the Club New England championships (and a few college conference meets) will take place on.

On the men’s side, a new face by the name of Thomas Toth, broke off early and ran a solo time trial up front to destroy the field in a time of 24’49. Nick Green (HFC Striders) and Kevin Greene (Flynn Running Project) would follow up with times of 25’39 and 25’56. The team battle would come down to a fight between the Greater Boston Track Club and Merrimack College. The GBTC team of Andy Chalmers, Andrew Dwyer, Sherif Ali (who ironically is a current undergrad at Merrimack out of XC eligibility), Dan Lewis, and Eric Hinrichsen would come out on top, totaling 22 points to Merrimack’s 33.

The women’s race also saw some neat results. Two Phillips Andover Academy high schoolers would lead the charge through 3k before Alice Wasserman of Tufts made a late charge to make up the ground and eventually throw the hammer down for the win in 19 minutes 1 second. The two Andover ladies, Carmen Bango and Michaela Jones, would hold the 2nd and 3rd spots in 19’05 and 19’11. Wasserman would also lead her Tufts team to a dominant victory with Phillips Andover placing a distant second. Other scoring members for the jumbos included Sydney Smith, Lily Corcoran, Kelsey Tierney, and Clara Wagner.

You might remember Michaela Jones from our write up on the Run for the Troops 5k back in April, where she won in 18:01.

Check out some meet results, courtesy of USATF-NE: Women Men

Side note: The USATF-NE XC circuit will continue with the Wayland XC Classic on Columbus Day weekend, October 11th.