As gorgeous weather and vibrant fall colors prevailed on the grounds of the school, the boys of Middlesex earned a narrow but famous victory over two-time defending NEPSTA DII champions Roxbury Latin to secure their first undefeated regular season since the championship year of 2014.
The showdown between the ISL's two remaining undefeated teams also featured a much-awaited battle between the top two returning finishers from last season's ISL championship: Will Cote of Roxbury Latin and Caleb Gartner of Middlesex. With so much at stake and a new, spectator-friendly start and finish mapped out on the Circle, the top pack went out at breakneck pace which they by and large maintained throughout a tight, competitive race. In the event, Gartner closed the gap against Cote in the final 200 meters, but fell two seconds short of catching the RL frontrunner. Senior co-captain Justin O'Toole and sophomore Cooper Austen came to the line just ahead of RL's Quinn Donovan, a top-five finisher in last year's ISL championship, while juniors Mac Hadden and Andrew Harris closed out RL's Javi Werner to knot the score at 28-28 through five runners. Freshman Matt Wing secured the historic victory for the hosts on tiebreaker criteria by holding off Werner while also outracing his opposite number from RL. Junior David Latham finished just behind in the seventh spot, while senior co-captain Jack Starobin took 15th overall in the final home race of his career. Determined racing from the Zebras also earned unblemished 15-50 victories over Nobles and St. George's, closing the book on a 15-0 regular season.
Juniors Cannon Caspar and Connor Cross cruised to the finish in 18:10 and 18:15 respectively to earn the top two spots in the junior varsity contest. Junior Caleb Krueger and freshman Peter Favero were the next two runners across the line, with junior Zan Danoff taking the sixth overall spot, as the Zebra second seven defeated Roxbury Latin 16-40 and surpassed Nobles and St. George's by identical 15-50 scorelines. Junior Sean McLaughlin and sophomore Stone Shen were sixth and seventh for the Zebras.
Championship season looms for Middlesex, as the Zebras travel to Southborough this Friday for what promises to be a thrilling ISL championship race.
