Although the conference and regular seasons are over, the Peabody cross country team still has unfinished business.
“Right now, with the NEC (Northeastern Conference) over and weekend invitationals heading into the cross country state meet and hopefully beyond, we are certainly very happy where everybody is. I think we took care of our responsibilities trying to win the NEC regular season, which they accomplished – and then the league meet yesterday,” said Peabody coach Fernando Braz. “These kids have been here for the last few years and have been able to repeat, so we are very happy where they are and we are happy they have been able to meet every single challenge so far. Hopefully, we can continue and be competitive at the state meet.”
The Peabody girls won the conference meet, with the boys coming in fourth.
“Right now, I think we need to, as a team, make sure our No. 1 and No. 5 runners are closer together because that will create a better team result. That’s usually the key to cross country: How close can your first runner and your fifth runner be?” Braz said. “What is the gap in time between the first and the fifth? that’s the thing we can really improve on and that comes with practice, belief, and confidence coming into the meet.”
There are a few runners who have stood out to Braz throughout the season.
“To be honest, the way the season has been going, we have alternated our positions in terms of our No. 1 through whatever,” he said. “I would have to say, right now, the one that has really come through for us is our senior captain Leah Buckley. She’s been our most consistent runner all year.”
It has been a successful season for Peabody, but there’s more to achieve if you ask its head coach.
“It comes with our consistency, practices, and the commitment they have made to do all the little things. [We have] gone undefeated in the regular season, won the Bay State Invitational, coming in third in the Catholic Memorial Invitational,” Braz said. “Those were opportunities to compete at the state level and invitational level. So far, they have responded really well to the competition at every level.”
“Our No. 1 goal was to be competitive in the league and we were by winning the division and also trying to repeat the conference meet, which we did,” Braz said. “Our third goal is to advance from the divisional meet to the All-State Meet, which on Nov. 9, you have to be in the top seven as a team. This is something that the girls did last year. They finished sixth last year and advanced to the All-State Meet. As consistent as we have been in repeating from a year ago at the dual-meet level, conference level, and also at the state level, I think our goal now is to try to repeat last year’s opportunity to advance to All-State.”
The Tanners have had quite a few memorable moments, to boot.
“We hope the best is yet to come. Obviously, winning the league title is up there. I would say when we head up to the Bay State Invitational and compete there, winning that was the highlight so far because you have teams from all over the state,” Braz said.
Next up for the Peabody is the divisional meet on Nov. 9 when it will be at North Field at the Division 1B state competition. The top-seven teams will advance to the All-State Meet.
