This story originally ran in The Standard-Times on Nov. 8, 2002.

By Nick Tavares
Standard-Times correspondent

With the Eastern Massachusetts Cross Country meet set for Saturday at Franklin Park in Boston, coach Steve Gardiner will be looking for his New Bedford squad to pull through with its biggest race of the season, going up against some tough competition as well as some familiar faces.

The New Bedford boys varsity team is made up of Bruce Nicely, Zachary Patten, Craig Letendre, Jake Santos, Steve Schoorens, Josh Jacinto and Travis Wolszon.

"The boys finished up 5-4," Gardiner said, "but our record isn't really indicative of what we're capable of. We lost one meet by one point, and another we lost in a tie-breaker against Brockton.

"We'll have to run really well in order for everything to come together on Saturday."

The girls varsity will be led by Erin Sullivan, Amy Ferguson, Natalia Souza, Valarie Meehan and Sharon Michaud. Nicole Ledger will be out with an injury.

"The girls had a tougher season, but this will be good for them," Gardiner said. "They'll get a lot of experience competing in this meet."

The Whalers are coming out of a tough Division I bracket. Cambridge Roman-Latin, Lowell and St. John's Prep are all expected to do well, while Brockton could also have some success, as could Peabody, which is coached by New Bedford hall-of-famer Jose Rocha.

"Jose ran for me 20 years ago," said Gardiner. "He's in the New Bedford Hall of Fame, the Boston College Hall of Fame and was All Big East as a runner. We'll be rooting for them to do well."

Gardiner also coached Jose's sister and Dartmouth head coach Hilary Souza, who will be leading her boys and girls teams in the Division II section.

"He is one of the best coaches around," said Souza. "He's very knowledgeable and has led many great individual runners. He's a great influence."

The Dartmouth boys will be led by Eric Roshinha, who will be looking to break 17 minutes this week as he clocked in at 17:10 at last week's state coaches meet.

Adam Nunes, Jamison Pereira, John Doherty and Jeff Dumas should also be running well, while the girls will have Leslie Danzell looking to qualify for all-states as she came in 12th at last Saturday's state coaches meet.

"We're hoping the weather is on our side," added Souza "and if everything goes well, we should have a good race."

Apponequet will be running out of Division III, where Steph Guy is expected to have a solid race. Guy came in second in the girls South Coast Conference Championship with a time of 19:36.

Wareham will also be running in the Division III race, who should have a good showing from brothers Jay and Tony White, along with Keith Ferguson, while the girls' Laurie Shepherd should have a good day as well.

Out of Division IV, Old Rochester will be looking for big things from some of its runners as well.

"For the girls, both Emily Havel and Meredith Winn should have very good races," said head coach Bill Tilden. "They've had some pretty good practices, they look strong and they look relaxed. They should do well.

"Pete Hutchings and Kevin Hartely should each have good days," Tilden said of his boys team, while freshman Justin McClurg should "turn some heads on Saturday."

The gun will fire for the first race at 9:30 a.m. for Division II, with Division IV getting under way at 11 and Division I at 11:45.

This story appeared on Page C4 of The Standard-Times on November 8, 2002.