When Matt Murphy joined Greater Lowell’s cross-country coaching staff in 2016, contending for MIAA championships was far from anyone’s radar.
After all, the school had not won an MIAA state title in any sport since 2000. Murphy found a mind-set that contending for state titles wasn’t possible, which he felt was common in vocational school athletic programs.
“The only difference was our kids had accepted the narrative that they were less,” said Murphy.
Over the past five years, the Greater Lowell girls have been at the forefront of changing that perception.
Fueled by the program’s strong depth and key contributions from then-freshmen Lillian Zurkus and Hannah Levesque, the Gryphons ended the drought last season, capturing the Division 3 state title.
With six of its seven runners back from All-States, Greater Lowell is no longer catching opponents by surprise. The No. 9 Gryphons (4-0) are unbeaten against Commonwealth Athletic Conference competition, and they placed second out of 13 teams at last Saturday’s Battle of the Border in Hudson, N.H.
“Sometimes our school is very overlooked for sports, with people thinking that we can’t win anything or that we always lose,” said senior Toula Stavrou. “But I feel like now, people are scared for us to come to these big meets.”
Greater Lowell, which is 80 percent comprised of students from Lowell and pulls the remainder from Dracut, Dunstable, and Tyngsborough, had 2,312 students in the 2025-26 academic year — the 10th-largest high school by enrollment in Massachusetts, and the largest vocational school, according to the Department of Education.
But despite the large enrollment, attracting students to run cross-country was a perpetual challenge.
The boys’ and girls’ teams had a combined 20 runners when Murphy joined as an assistant. In 2017, there were just 16, and the girls’ team failed to score in some meets.
Through grassroots recruiting efforts undertaken by Murphy, assistant coaches, and runners, participation has since risen dramatically. The program now boasts 48 runners, split evenly between boys and girls.
“We had a lot of good athletes in the building. They just didn’t want to do cross-country,” said Murphy, who became head coach in 2019. “We had to find girls that liked distance running. And then once we did that, we were able to build success. And that’s when we started to get other people to try it, because success is an attractive thing.”
The growth of the girls’ program translated into major results in 2024, when the Gryphons placed second at the Division 3A meet and seventh in Division 3.
“That was kind of the eye-opener,” said junior Teagan Galvagni. “We were like, ‘Wow, I think if we really put our best foot forward and do our best work, we can definitely achieve something in D3.’ ”
The 2025 additions of Levesque and Zurkus, both of whom arrived with competitive running experience, helped lift Greater Lowell to its state title; the pair finished 17th and 36th, respectively, at All-States.
Levesque, from Tyngsborough, and Zurkus, from Lowell, both chose to attend Greater Lowell instead of their respective public high schools, in part, because of the running program.
“I knew that it was a good program and it would be somewhere like that I’d have an opportunity to become a good runner,” said Zurkus. “And I liked the team aspect of the whole group, and how they were all really close.”
Added Murphy: “It’s been an unfair assumption that if you go to a [vocational school], you’re not going for sports, because the voc schools aren’t good at sports. That’s something that I would say universally, statewide, is an attitude a lot of people have. And the girls are starting to change that attitude.”
At the Battle of the Border, Levesque and Zurkus were complemented by numerous experienced runners: Juniors Galvagni and Makenzie Plouffe, along with seniors Olivia Stack and Dayanara Lasa.
With a deep and battle-tested lineup, the Gryphons hope to establish the program as a perennial presence.
“We made ourselves known,” said Plouffe. “Keeping that reputation is going to be hard, but I think we can do it. We just all have to keep pulling together.”
Hitting the trails
▪ The Reading boys, runners-up in Division 1C last season, are looking to harness that same postseason power. The Rockets are singing a familiar tune: test the waters during the dual-meet season, get healthy, and compete at their best in the second half.
“I think we’re going to have to continue to be really focused and disciplined with our approach,” said Reading coach Michael Connelly. “Even outside training, the little things add up to the big things in the end.”
Five of Reading’s top seven runners from the state meet are back. Senior captains Finn Johnson-Houlihan, Max King, and Andrew Princic set the pace, along with juniors Colin Carroll, Declan Grant, and Curran Healy.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll have some strong presence up front that can be up there in these championship meets, and then we’ll have the depth,” Connelly said. “We need the depth, too, so I think we have the potential of that.”
Taking a conservative approach, the Rockets (2-2) own wins over Woburn and Burlington, with losses against Belmont and Lexington. The top runners will ramp up in the next few weeks.
“We kind of limped into the state meet [last year]. We want to have the opposite approach this year,” said Connelly.
Reading believes it can be a contender. Sunday’s MSTCA Twilight Invitational in Barnstable will be a good test.
“They care about one another as people. That’s the culture we’ve always tried to create, even more than running,” Connelly said. “They’re a fun group to coach.”
Correspondent Aiden Barker contributed.
Matty Wasserman can be reached at matty.wasserman@globe.com. Follow him @Matty_Wasserman.