After tough luck in recent race Carpenter looks to Georgetown

Lenox’s Scott Carpenter may have been disappointed with his recent fall at the Northeast Regional Cross-Country Championships last Saturday in New York, but when he reflects back he sees nothing but success.

Carpenter, who finished 167th overall in New York with a time of 21:15, found himself less than a mile away from earning a top-10 finish and achieving a season-long goal, qualifying for Nationals in San Diego this weekend.

“I can’t hang my hat on this mishap this past weekend,” Carpenter said. “Obviously I am upset, but we had a great season.”

The Lenox cross-country and track star, who recently accepted a scholarship to run for Georgetown University in the fall, found himself in a pack with the top five runners last Saturday – before the unthinkable occurred.

Carpenter was heading downhill when one of his spikes got caught in a railroad tile, causing him to fall and essentially take him out of the race.

“I knew my chances were gone,” he said on his fall, “but I knew I didn’t want to quit and not finish my last high school cross-country race.”

Carpenter, battered and bruised, did manage to pick himself up and finish the race, six minutes behind the leader.

“I laid there in disbelief,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it happened – I was very disappointed.”

At the beginning of the race course, the first mile was pretty flat, according to Carpenter, yet he ran close to a 4:50 first mile and was in the hunt for a strong finish after the second mile.

“I knew we were going to go out pretty fast – our first mile was 4:50 with a pack of 15-20 guys, and at that point I was about fifth,” Carpenter said. “I just wanted to stay there and not do anything crazy.”

Carpenter, who went undefeated on the year, including winning the Berkshire County title and the Western Massachusetts title, as well as the Brown Invitational and the Division 2 state finals, will now turn his attention to preparing for the spring’s outdoor track season.

“[I] hope to race in a few indoor invitational competitions just to get the experience this winter,” he said.

At Georgetown, Carpenter will run cross-country and indoor track, as well as outdoor track.

“I will be training through the winter,” he said.

For now, Carpenter will take a couple of weeks off from running to “recharge his batteries” and “refocus.”

Despite the fall, the senior star reflects back on his team’s successful cross-country season and a year of undeniable success.

“I am very happy with how the season went,” Carpenter said.

“With how well our team competed, winning Berkshire County and Western Mass., going undefeated and winning states as well as the Brown Invitational.”

Posted by Tim Davis on November 29, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry