WHS cross country team photo at states — *“Go Wellesley Raiders!”: Added inspiration for the WHS cross country runners competing at All-States came courtesy of teammates (Photo via MC)*

You could see this coming after last weekend’s dominating performance at the Massachusetts Division 2 cross country championship meet, where Wellesley High placed 4 of the top 5 runners to take the crown. On Saturday, Coach Tim Broe’s Raiders won the state championship, edging tough Lowell and Peabody teams.

As was the case at the Divisional meet, the Raiders relied on their team depth to take the states in Gardner, Mass. They were led by Ben Matejka, but Thomas Weiss, Sam Gilman, Matt Cervon and Jamie Mazzola all finished in the top 21 overall, and teammates Tommy Williams and Jameson O’Neil weren’t far behind.

Coach Broe, in his second season leading the team, told Milesplit that he “almost passed out just from nervousness” before the race. Broe, assisted this season by Martha Collins, credited senior leadership for propelling the team to its outstanding results. He also praised the team for working so hard, including many who are relatively new to running long distances.

The team bus was escorted by police back into Wellesley to celebrate the victory on Saturday, and hopefully the runners will be celebrated at Wellesley High’s pep rally this week.