Rocha Cruises to Another State Title

Make that two All-State titles in two seasons, and track hasn't even started yet for junior Catarina Rocha.

As a sophomore entering the competitive high school running scene, Rocha claimed her during the outdoor track season this past spring in the 2-mile.

Then this past Saturday, the fleet-footed teen picked up her second title, this time for cross-country, at the championship race held in Franklin Park. She took second at the championship race in Gardner last year.

Rocha blew away the competition on Saturday by nearly 30 seconds to finish the 5K course in 18:12.

The Lady Tanners finished ninth as a team, with Lauren Barrett bringing in 44th at 20:05, Sam Allen 71st at 20:32, Sarah May 114th at 21:13, Sydney May at 126th at 21:26, Julia Merchant 168th at 22:31 and Gabby D'Avolio 179th at 25:38.

On the boys' side, which also qualified as a team for the race, senior Nick Christensen turned in a solid performance, but it wasn't enough to do the job. Christensen trailed leaders Jonathan Green of Saint John's, Joel Hubbard of Marshfield and Colin Bennie of Wachusett -- only eight seconds separated Christensen from Green's winning time of 15:41.

The boys' team finished 16th overall with races from T.J. D'Amato (59th, 16:59), Drew Fossa (107th, 17:22), Ben Braz (156th, 17:55), Anthony Tedescucci (159th, 18:00), Richie Fournier (170th, 18:22) and Cody Picardy (185th, 18:57).

Representing on Saturday, Arianna Maida finished 48th in the girls' Division II race in a time of 20:24.