BFA Boys XC - The Party Crashers?

Essex with 8, Mt Mansfield with 7, CVU with 5 and South Burlington with 3. Over 23 years four Division 1 boys cross country teams have dominated the landscape. In 2021 could there be a party crasher?? There are 2 teams with a legitimate chance to break up this party, St Johnsbury and BFA St Albans. BFA St Albans has never won a championship in cross country in their schools history and St Johnsbury’s only cross country championship happened back in 1958!

BFA St Albans with a trio of topflight Seniors will be a true threat in 2021. Coach Mashtare going into his 40th year of coaching the Bobwhites is hoping that this trio, Ethan Mashtare, Calvin Storm and Jacob Tremblay, can use their experience that they have gained during their middle school years competing in Junior Olympics and the last 3 high school cross country seasons to propel them into the top 3 and see what happens from there.

Ethan is the 2nd ranked returner in Division 1 and has shown continued improvement throughout his HS career. He followed up a strong 4th place finish at last year's State Championship Meet with a 3rd in the 1500 and a 4th in the 800 at the State Track Meet last year. His training this summer hopefully has him set for a top 3 individual finish this season if all goes well. Calvin finished 10th at last year's cross country State Meet and then followed that up with 7th place in the 1500 and the 800 in the outdoor track State Meet. Jacob had issues with the cold at the cross country State Meet last year and is looking forward to gaining some redemption this year. In outdoor track he finished just behind Calvin in the 1500 in 8th and 9th in the 800.

This strong trio will be looking to pack all three into the top 10. After the top 3 the Bobwhites will be looking to shrink the gap from their 4 and 5 runners to make a run at the top spot on the podium. BFA will be returning 6 runners from last year's 4th place team. They certainly look to have the top end fire power and now just need to control the gaps throughout their top 5+ runners. If they can do this they will put themselves in a position to be true party crashers in the Division 1 boys race! And what a way that would be for Coach Mashtare to celebrate 40 years of coaching!