X-Country: Brams Takes Sixth as Boys', Girls Both Finish 13th in Eastern Mass Championships

Despite competing against some very fast new kids on the block, Belmont High School 10th grader Leah Brams once again proved that she is one of the state's premier young runners finishing sixth in the MIAA Division 3 Eastern Massachusetts Cross Country championships.

Brams time of 18 minutes and 56.3 seconds was nine seconds faster than her time last year over the five kilometer (3.1 mile) course in Wrentham. 

Brams 6th place finish was a few notches lower than the second place she took last year due to some faster company in her division. Due to realignment of schools into different divisions, Division 3 saw the inclusion of last year's Division 4 juggernaut Bishop Feehan High School which included defending Division 2 state champion senior Abbie McNulty. 

And in Saturday's race, she led two of her teammates in the top five places, winning in 17:39.

And like last year's race, Brams, running a 6 minute, 6 second mile pace, was the fastest sophomore (or freshman) on the course, beating out Dracut's Rachel Flores, by four seconds and two places.

Next up for Brams is the state champions this Saturday in Gardner.

In a repeat of their fine finish last year, Belmont Girl's team finished 13th in the team title with 303 points, the same placement as last year. Senior Julia Lenef was the second Marauder across the line in 20:40 in 58th, followed by sophomore Sophia Klimasmith (83rd in 21:19), senior Lia Aftandilian (21:33, 91st), freshman Elisabeth Silletto (21:54, 95th), Alexis Kaihlanen (22:16, 105th) and freshman Carly Tymm (23:54, 142nd). Bishop Feehan won the title with 49 points. 

In the Boys' race, Belmont improved by five places their 2012 performance, finishing in 13th with 303 points. The Marauders were led by senior Tim Siracusa who broke the 17 minute mark by a second for 27th place. Fellow senior Lewis Silletto followed 10 seconds behind in 37th with James Stadler coming in 50th in 17:22. The next three Belmont runners ran as a team as Charles Smith (18:06, 93rd), Peter Staub (18:09, 96th) and Seth Altman (18:10, 98th) finished within four seconds of each other with Ryan Touzjian (19:16, 145th) rounding out the team's scoring. 

King Philip Regional's Owen Gonser literally ran away with an impressive victory in 15:27, winning by nearly 45 seconds, as Concord-Carlisle Regional won the team title.