The Pinkerton boys cross country team will be trying to make history Saturday at the New England meet at Wickham Park in East Hartford, Conn.

And 28-year Pinkerton coach Mike Clark can hardly wait.

"This is going to be one exciting race, and we're going to be ready," said Clark. "This is the one elusive championship for the Long Red Line (Pinkerton) and we think we're right there.

"We've been New England runner-up four times, we've had an individual national champion (Matt Downin) and we've won Class L titles, but not this."

Clark believes that the race for top honors will be a battle of the same three teams that battled in the Elite Race at the Manchester Invitational back in September. Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) came in first with 57 points followed by Bishop Guertin (60) and the Astros (73).

However, at that race, No. 2 man Jake Hawkins was unable to compete for the Astros because of a hamstring injury, an absence that may have prevented Pinkerton from finishing first. And Hawkins is now in peak shape as he showed by placing fifth at last Saturday's Meet of Champions.

"I really believe the New England championship will be the second running of what happened at Class L (where Bishop Guertin edged Pinkerton even with the Astros placing four runners in the top 10 and averaging 16:12 per runner)," said Clark. "That was an epic race and this should be, too."

Following the Class L meet, Pinkerton made the Harrier Magazine top 25 national rankings, coming in 23rd, four places behind Bishop Guertin.

To defeat Guertin, the Astros will need continues superb races by No. 1 Chris Pietrocarlo, Hawkins and star sophomore Anthony Anzivino as well as a strong finish from the pack that follows. Pietrocarlo missed the Meet of Champions with a mild case of the flu.

Guertin, meanwhile, is hoping that superstar senior Francis Hernandez of Windham is recovered from the flu symptoms that slowed him down last week at the Meet of Champions.

Bradford team shines

The Bradford Elementary cross country team in Haverhill, in its second full year under Matt Castonguay, is having an excellent season.

Both the boys and girls teams qualified for the AAU national championships at Walt Disney World's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., in December. They qualified in Wayland last month.

Also, both the boys and girls team came in second place at the Stage Fort Park North Shore Invitational in Gloucester among 16 girls schools and 19 boys schools.

Finally, the boys team came in first place at the Mayor's Cup championships at Franklin Park in Boston. and the girls team came in third place.

Health a key at class meets

The Methuen boys and Haverhill girls will both be prime contenders Saturday at the Division 1 class meet at Franklin Park, but their fate will probably be determined by their health.

The Rangers must hope that junior Cam Kelley is back at full strength following a hip issue at the Merrimack Valley Conference meet. And the Hillies still aren't sure if senior standout Christine McNaughton will be recovered from a more serious hip injury that has kept her out of action for more than a month.

And, like other teams, Methuen and Haverhill are hoping that they're not hit by the flu this week.

The class meets get underway at 9:30 a.m. with the Division 1 boys set for 11:30 a.m. and the Division 1 girls scheduled for 12:25 p.m.