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Congratulations to Franklin girls and Mansfield boys for their championship efforts at the Jamboree. It's still early – not just for the victors to dust off trophy case space but also for the other teams to throw in the towel. Some of the really important stuff is a long way off – hundreds of cumulative team miles away.

 

I also want to give some kudos to those teams that met success in another way.

 

The concept of the Jamboree is to have your best runner in race #1, second-fastest in #2 etc. That makes the competition meaningful for everyone. For example, if I had Steph Mc run the third race we could have had a race winner but of course at the expense of the kid who really deserved that spot. You get the idea!

 

Of course, getting all five runners in the right spot is more difficult than it sounds. People have good and bad races, and sometimes a plan backfires.

 

So here's my first “jamboree concept:” award. It goes to the teams whose athlete results matched the position in which they were placed.

 

The big winners were all boys' teams. Foxboro, Franklin and King Philip were perfect. Special kudos go to #5 Matt Howley of Franklin because if he had gone three seconds faster he would have beaten their #4 man Rob Leverone. That would have ruined everything. OA came close but that finishing kick by #3 Pat Annand got him a 5-second advantage over #2 Jake Marcus. I guess you can't blame a guy for running too fast! Mansfield was also pretty close. The trio of Barca, Erwin and Meagher are too close to call correctly. It may change from meet to meet.

 

The tie-breaker for these three teams should be the results of the “B” teams, but unfortunately I don't have those results. If any B-team or open race runners beat any of the top-5, they should hand back the trophy. Never mind. There's no trophy.

 

No girls' teams were a perfect 1 thru 5. King Philip came the closest – one second away to be exact. Their #4 Erin Knowlton beat their #3 Pagen Safizaden 11:05 to 11:06. It's pretty tough to fault Mansfield. Their spread from #2 to #5 was 6 seconds. So, they got #'s 1-3 correct but the Bailey's were reversed, Elaina in the 5-spot beating Kate from the 4-spot by a decisive three seconds. You know how those family rivalries go!

 

Franklin got 1 thru 3 right and only reversed 4-5. Stoughton joined those three and NA for at least getting #1 and #2, again Mansfield and Franklin getting 1-3.

 

I choked – but then I knew it before the race. Had I gone with the results of the Attleboro meet I would have had my runners in the correct order. Reversing a senior and sophomore who train great together was my downfall. Each wanted the other to get the #3 spot – not because either thought it would improve their chance of winning – but because of mutual respect. I gave it to the senior.