Boys cross country: Westford’s Jack Graffeo cruises to Div. 1 win

DEVENS — For most of the last four years, Westford Academy’s Jack Graffeo had been running in the shadow of current Stanford harrier and former teammate Paul Bergeron. On Saturday, however, Graffeo finally had his moment.

The senior hung with a talented pack for the first portion of the Div. 1 state championship before he decided to put the hammer down. When he did, no one could respond and he was able to soak in his first state title and the third in a row for the Ghosts.

“It means so much to win this,” Graffeo said. “To get my first state title against a special group of talented runners is amazing.”

That group of talented runners helped to create a dramatic run for the team title.

Lincoln-Sudbury’s Ethan Sholk was the runner up to Graffeo but from there the battle for the team trophy was on.

BC High had Shamus Larnard, Greg McGrath and John Wilson finish fourth, fifth and sixth but Brookline had the depth down its lineup to help offset the Eagles trio. Altamo Aschkenasy was third and Lysander Duffield was ninth as the Warriors put all five of their runners in the top 31 to beat the Eagles by 13 points for the team title.

The Div. 2 race had plenty of juicy storylines as a packed field put on a tight race. Falmouth’s Silas Gartner watched Marblehead go 1-2-3 last week in the sectionals and the Clippers ace wasn’t about to let the Magicians have their way again.

Gartner ran with the pack early before he finally opened some distance on Marblehead’s Nate Assa in the final lap and was able to cruise down the stretch for a 10-second victory.

The Magicians got a sixth place as well from Will Cerutti but it was consistency that got Longmeadow over the top to win the program’s first state title by 32 points over the Magicians.

Monument Mountain’s Everett Pacheco had to work in the final meters to claim the Div. 3 individual title but he was able to pull away from Parker Charter’s Henry Jacobson for a comfortable win.

It wasn’t all bad for Parker Charter as Jacobson’s second place and a fourth from teammate Nate Henshaw helped their squad win a third team title in the last four seasons. Hamilton-Wenham was second and Weston was a distant third.