Whitman-Hanson runners follow well-trod path
Upperclassmen poised to step up
Whitman-Hanson girls' coach Keith Erwin (left) with seniors Caitlin Ryan, Kelci Sullivan, Emily Regan, and assistant coach Brendon O'Leary. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)
By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / September 14, 2008
Caitlyn Ryan and Pat Taft never ran with wristwatches before. For Ryan and Taft, running cross-country at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School last season simply meant following the leader all the way to the school's first boys' and girls' Eastern Mass. Division 2 team championships.
"We weren't the ones with watches last year. All the seniors wear watches," said Taft, who as a junior finished 42d at the state cross-country meet. "I wasn't really interested in my time that much; I tried to stay with" the seniors.
As a sophomore last fall, Ryan tried to keep up with seniors Jill Alves, Laura Cunningham, Emily Migre, and Katelyn Arouca. Taft hung with seniors Peter and Kevin Gilmore, Travis Wright, Craig Mitchell, and Matt Galewski. Those front runners made up one of the greatest senior classes in school history.
And that's saying a lot considering that heading into last season, boys' coach Kevin Black had led 21 teams to the state meet in 31 years, including two second-place finishes at the Eastern Mass. meet.
"I go by the philosophy that we all stand on the shoulders of the people who went before us," Black said. "My current team all looks at the Gilmores and the Mitchells and the Wrights and Galewskis as beacons. They are people to emulate and people to follow their path."
But this year's team won't entirely follow in their predecessors' footsteps as the school moved from the Atlantic Coast League to the Patriot League, mostly to avoid long road trips to Cape Cod. Black said the new courses won't be entirely unfamiliar to him because Whitman-Hanson participated in the Patriot League in the '70s and '80s.
The shift to the Patriot League is also the least of Black's worries. The outgoing class was led by Peter Gilmore, who finished 16th at the states and is running at Boston University this fall. For the girls, Alves, who placed 13th at the states, is running at Stonehill.
"Sometimes when you're chasing big guns it makes it easy to run at a high level, and when you lose those guys sometimes there's a dropoff in performances," Black said.
While Taft and Patrick Egan battle for the No. 1 spot, sophomore Tyler Sullivan will fill the No. 3 slot. Taft and Egan also hope their success on the track springs over to the trails. Along with the Gilmores, the two Pats won the state title last spring in the 4 x 800-meter relay.
"We're in line to do well this year," Egan said. "The people that were on the team last year, we learned a lot from them. They gave me a lot of base and knowledge in the sport."
The girls' side will once again be coached by Keith Erwin, who ran for Black's league championship team in 1998. Erwin returned to coach at his alma mater in 2004, landing a teaching position last year.
Black talked Erwin into coming out for the team his freshman year at Whitman-Hanson, and Erwin immediately fell in love with the sport. He has looked up to Black ever since but isn't sure he wants to replace his role model when he retires, partially because he doesn't believe Black will leave in two years.
"He was saying that when I was in high school," said Erwin, who played tennis at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. "I don't picture him ever leaving. Right now, my heart is with these girls. I always thought I'd be coaching the boys, but I absolutely love coaching girls."
Erwin also said he wouldn't be disappointed if he never won another Eastern Mass title again; after all, it took Black 30 years to snag one.
"We just cherished that day when we won," he said. "Just seeing the look on their faces, seeing them crying, jumping up and down and screaming. I'll never forget it. That's something, if we never win again, I'll be happy with that."
Four years ago, Erwin told his team they could be the best in school history by their senior season. And when they were on the brink of doing just that, Erwin and his assistant coach, Brendon O'Leary, promised to shave their legs and don mohawks during the state meet.
"There we were, going around in our shorts and no hats, it was ridiculous," Erwin said. "They came through. We had to hold up our end of the bargain."
The following week, Ryan finished 32d at the state meet behind junior Kelci Sullivan, who finished 25th.
This year's squad also features six seniors, including Shauna McCarthy, who was injured after one cross-country race last year but did well on the track. Another junior, Emily Regan, won the team's 2-mile time trial and is expected to compete with Ryan for the top spot this year.
"She'll be up there too," Ryan said of Regan, who was 46th at states with a time of 18:38 and trained with Alves all summer. "We'll pace each other."
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