Brookline High School's boys cross country team won the Varsity A race at the MSTCA Bay State Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 3, scoring 51 points to claim the team title. The meet, held at the Wrentham Developmental Center in Wrentham, was the Warriors' first invitational of the 2026 season.

The result matters for a program with a dynasty to defend. Brookline has won four consecutive MIAA Division 1 state championships, capturing titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and again in 2025. The Bay State Invite, which drew Bay State Conference programs for a head-to-head test, according to the Boston Globe's Oct. 3 rankings, gave the Warriors their first multi-team measuring stick of the fall.

Individual results from the Varsity A race were not immediately available. In cross country, lower team scores are better. The winning 51-point total came from a roster that entered the season ranked No. 3 in the state by the Massachusetts Distance Project.

The invite caps a strong opening stretch. Brookline opened the season with a perfect 15-50 dual-meet win over Needham during the week of Sept. 7. Seven Warriors finished within six seconds of one another in that race. Ibrahim Abdel-Dayem crossed first in 16:13. Toby Paradise (16:15) and Liam Hartmann (16:16) followed, with Axel Bonnafoux (16:17), Elias Thomasson (16:18), Noah Karp (16:19) and Matt Ritter (16:19) rounding out the pack, according to the Massachusetts Distance Project.

Bonnafoux earned Athlete of the Meet honors for the varsity race that day. Will Delucia took the award in the JV race.

That kind of depth is what makes Brookline a threat in November.

The MIAA regular season runs through Monday, Nov. 9. No specific next meet date for the Warriors has been announced.