HHS XC Captures Another Championship

The Hopedale boys cross country team did it again. The Blue Raiders put together another season to be remembered as the squad captured its seventh straight (11 of the last 12) Dual Valley Conference Title and then took home its eighth consecutive (12th since 2005) Division 2 Central Championship. The squad will now look to continue its success in the Division 2 State run; since 2005 Hopedale has four State Titles, including 2 of the last 3 and three runner-up finishes. The Blue Raiders also finished second out of 45 schools at the Bay State Invitational.
“It’s amazing what this small school has been able to accomplish,” boys cross country coach Joe Drugan said. “We have less than 300 boys in the high school and we’re going up against schools with as many as three times that amount, but we still manage to win.”
Drugan was expecting big things from his senior class coming into the season and was hoping that they would go out in style – they didn’t disappoint as Hopedale recorded 62 points, three lower than second place finisher Parker Charter. Brandon Hall led the seniors as well as the team as the first Blue Raider to cross the finish line in the Division 2 Central Mass Tournament. Hall finished third overall with a time of 17:02. The senior quad-captain was followed by quad captains Andrew Doran (13th at 17:40), Josh Weaver (17th at 17:52) and Colin Sugrue (53rd at 18:59).
Rounding out the Hopedale top seven finishers were junior Colin Black who was 10th with a time of 17:28, sophomore Matt Marchioni was 19th finishing at 17:55 and Kyle Murray was 47th at 18:51. Marchioni was the fifth runner for the Blue Raiders to cross the finish line and his coach believes him to be an important part of the squad.
“That fifth position is very key in winning and Matt has won more meets for us by him finishing there. He’s coming into his own and without him we lose a lot,” the coach said. “Although their scores don’t count in the final score, the sixth and seventh finishers are also important as they push the field back.”
Drugan noted that the success the team has been having on the Division 2 level over that last decade plus is all about training, without the Blue Raiders wouldn’t be where they are today.
“Training is the key, it’s what they put into it during the off-season. You can procrastinate all you want, but if you don’t work out then you’ll struggle; what you put forth in the summer comes to you in the fall,” Drugan said. “I tell the kids there are 24 hours in a day and if you can’t take an hour out of that day to workout, then you have a lot of wasted time in your life. It’s important that you spend some time to work out.”
Hopedale’s record over the years has spoken for itself and this year’s runners are looking to continue that tradition.