Small numbers, big impact
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Hudson - The Hudson Catholic High School cross country teams are proving this season that in some instances quality is better than quantity.

The Green Wave boys team has just seven members and the girls squad has only two, but both the boys team and the girls performances are the best they've been in recent years.

"We don't have a lot of runners, but we're pretty good," Hudson Catholic coach Jim Rennie said.

Especially the girls, juniors Jessica Jarrard and Maura Vitteritti.

Jarrard, in fact, is among the best female runners in Central Massachusetts. As a sophomore she finished ninth in the Central Mass. Cross Country Championships and followed that up with a top-50 finish at the state meet.

This season Jarrard has continued her fleet-of-foot excellence. She has won every dual meet she's participated in. Over the last two seasons Jarrard has captured the record on every Colonial Athletic League course she's run - Monty Tech, Blackstone Valley Tech, Bay Path, South Lancaster Academy and the Parker Charter School. She also holds the course record at Fitchburg's Coggshall Park, where the league meet is held.

Jarrard also is the proud owner of the Hudson Catholic course record, but that one was the toughest one for her to get. Heading into this season it was held by Hudson High runner Tracey Vinciullo, but Jarrard finally wrestled it away from Vinciullo a few weeks ago, covering the 2.7-mile tract in 16 minutes, 24 seconds.

"Jessica is the most consistent runner I've ever coached," Rennie said. "Her splits are always even, onetwo seconds diff erence. She just wears her competitors down. If a girl jumps out and gets way ahead, Jessica just methodically runs them down and by the time they get to the end, Jessica's in the lead."

Rennie said Jarrard and Vitteritti are working toward peaking for the league meet Thursday Oct. 25, the District meet Saturday Nov. 3 and, hopefully, the state meet Saturday Nov. 17.

The Hudson Catholic boys cross country team entered the week with a 4-1 record. Leading the Green Wave are junior co-captains Nick Walsh and Sean Mucci, a pair of three-year varsity runners.

"They're both great captains," Rennie said. "They're strong runners who have an excellent work ethic."

Sophomore Connor Walsh is HC's No. 3 runner, junior Blake Marques competes out of the four spot, freshman Dominic Dalessio is the No. 5 runner. Rounding out the Green Wave roster is eighth-grader Alex Cassie, who also ran as a seventhgrader when he attended sister school St. Michael's, and senior Charlie Tocci, a first-year runner.

Rennie said the limited number of team members hasn't been a hindrance.

"I'd love to have the problem that some coaches have, figuring out how to juggle 30 runners in practice and in meets, but here at Hudson Catholic that's just not a problem we're ever going to have," Rennie said. "Instead of having five diff erent groups of runners out doing five different types of workouts, we all run the same workout, we all run together."

As for his meet strategy, Rennie said he keeps it simple.

"Run fast, turn left," Rennie said. "Keep going until you reach the finish line."