The Lynnfield boys and girls cross country teams polished off the week Saturday morning at the annual MSTCA Frank Kelley Invitational at the Wrentham Developmental Center. The conditions were daunting with cold, rain and wind challenging the runners.
Shea McCarthy and Abby Lopez were the top Pioneers. McCarthy (10:14.55) finished 12th in the boys senior 3K, while Lopez finished 25th in the girls junior 3K. Both runners earned medals as top-25 performers. Dylan Nguyen (10:29.12) also medaled with a 13th-place finish in the boys junior 3K.
Despite the dismal conditions, both teams’ head coaches were pleased.
“The conditions were tough, but the boys still ran very well,” said boys’ coach Bill Wallace.
“It was cold, windswept and rainy, but the girls ran well,” said girls’ coach Liane Cook.
In the girls junior 3K, Shaelyn Moore finished 44th (14:40) and April Sun finished 70th (16:17).
Maeve Wertz (14:26) finished 47th in the sophomore 3K. In the senior 3K, Gabriella Bottaro (14:46) finished 47th and Lily White (15:12) was close behind in 52nd place.
On the boys’ side, Nick DeGennaro (11:15.61) posted the Pioneers’ next best time and finished 34th in the boys junior 3K. Ashkrit Mahajaan (11:34.90) also cracked the top 50 with a 5oth-place finish in the boys senior 3K. Ritvik Mahajan (11:48.31) also had an impressive race; he finished 54th in the boys sophomore 3K and knocked nearly three minutes off his 2023 time.
The following boys also competed in the meet:
Boys Freshman 3K
Andrei Pena 12:54.27 (77th)
Boys Sophomore 3K
Rowan Beyer 11:54.38 (58th)
Liam Gardner 12:03.13 (63rd)
Brady Trippe 12:24.95 (79th)
Jason Tran 12:45.49 (91st)
Nathan Malenfant 14:14.84 (138th)
Boys Junior 3K
Jacob Book 13:05.15 (94th)
Boys Senior 3K
Shlok Kudrimoti 13:41.66 (100th)
Emil Coumans 14:00.37 (102nd)
Erik Bell 14:15.39 (104th)
Earlier in the week on Sept. 18, the Pioneers traveled to Ravenswood Park in Gloucester to take on Manchester-Essex in a Cape Ann League dual-meet.
For the boys, it just could not be any closer, but the Pioneers (2-0 CAL) found a way to pull out a 28-29 win at Ravenswood Park in Gloucester on Sept. 18.
“There are not many times you win a cross country meet when you score 28 points,” Wallace said.
McCarthy led the way with a first-place finish in 17:05, just one second off the course record. He was followed by Nguyen (17:59, 3rd), DeGennaro (18:58, 7th), Mike Marenghi (19:38, 8th) and Ashkrit Mahajan (19:43, 9th)
The girls team came up just short, losing to the Hornets, 25-30. Manchester-Essex swept the top-three places with Lynnfield taking fourth through eighth. Bottaro (22.29) led the way with a fourth-place finish, while Kaila George (22:55), Caitlin Buoniconti (23:08), Lopez (23:29), White (26:25) and Wertz (23:45) finished fifth through eighth, respectively.
“It just wasn’t enough to close the gap,” Cook said.
Sun (26:21, 12th) lowered her PR by a minute, while Karolena Gomez (29:18, 17th) smashed her PR by a whopping five minutes.
Both teams are back in action against Georgetown at home on Wednesday, Oct. 2 (3:30 p.m.).
