Warriors Race Strong Against Melrose
David Schurter 10/31/20
Last Saturday, the Warriors took on the Melrose Red Raiders in their second Freedom Division clash of the season. The boys traveled to Greenwood Park while the girls were at home for the first time this season. Both sides showed some fight Saturday with some strong individual races and both meets were down to a close finish.
The boys brought their best to Greenwood Park on Saturday to run the familiar 2.8 mile course. There were several guys who came away with huge personal records on this course leading to a victory. Coming away with the win was senior Jonathan D’Ambrosio with a nice 16:52, almost a whole minute faster than last year’s time. Finishing third was sophomore Ben Stratton just breaking 17 minutes running 16:59. Continuing the pattern in fifth was junior Thomas Dowd who ran a strong 17:06, almost two minutes faster than last year. Following Dowd was junior Ajay Haridasse running a 17:24, also a huge drop, then sophomore Leith Jones at seventh with a time of 17:27. Senior Colin Rudy ran a 17:39, a 20 second improvement from last year. Finishing off the first race was senior Zack Jellison running an 18:20, almost a minute faster than last year.
In the second race, the Warriors dominated with several huge times. Taking his second win was freshman Mike Arria running a fast 18:29. Right behind Arria was junior James Christie running 18:37, a 40 second improvement from a year ago. Senior Alexei Petrov in his first full race of the season started out strong and ran 18:55, followed by seniors Aaron Canestaro at 19:00 and David Schurter at 19:05, a 45 second drop from last year. Following Schurter was senior Alex Skeldon at 19:10 and rounding out the top seven was senior Andrew Roos at 19:43. Finishing off the second race was sophomore Sam Bangston at 19:49 and senior Jack Tomsyck at 19:52, who took well over a minute off.
The third race featured some strong performances as well. Finishing first was junior Brett McLellan running sub 20 at 19:48, followed by sophomore David LoCoco at 20:19 and freshman Ollie Polster at 20:21. Freshman Joe Patt broke 21 minutes running a 20:59, immediately followed by sophomores Ojas Singhvi at 21:00 and Matt McCoy at 21:09. Senior Cory Sample was next at 22:01, then freshman William Mezikofsky at 22:41 and sophomore Vinny Kaddaras at 22:53. Freshman Kam D’Ambrosio followed with a 23:45, then sophomore Marcus Conte at 23:48. Finishing off a great meet for the Warriors were freshmen Cooper Davis at 26:20, then Theo Lyle at 28:52.
“It was a fun meet to have the boys pushed by some good Melrose runners. We proved that we showed up to compete. It was a good test before we face against a good Burlington team in just a few weeks.” said Coach Pappas
The lady Warriors ran the home course for the first time against the Melrose girls, their toughest opponent. Despite losing in a close race, there were many positive takeaways from this meet. The meet was down to one runner from each team as the final score was 25-30 with Melrose coming away with the lower score, as cross country goes with the lowest score winning. There were several strong races as well.
In the first race, junior Sammy Seabury finished a close second running an impressive 18:20, then sophomore Maddie Nett came in fourth at 19:20. Following two Melrose runners were seniors Grace Butler at 19:44, Maggie Ritchie 19:46, and Elina Olmedo 19:47. Next up was freshman Charlotte O’Neil at 20:11, then freshman Alexa Yianacopolus at 20:54, followed by sophomore Devon Jellison at 21:04 and junior Emma Partyka at 21:05. Rounding out the first race was senior Nicole Calandra at 22:40.
The second race also featured some strong performances. Taking the win was freshman Julia Welch running 21:39, followed by juniors Aiva Barnard in fifth at 22:45, Caroline Collins sixth at 22:46, and Stephanie Curran seventh at 22:48. Senior Celia Casale was ninth in 23:26, followed by freshmen Sophia Macaluso at 23:46, Maggie Barnard 23:54 and junior Amber Roehrich at 24:00. Freshmen Magnolia Preston, 24:28 and Grace Mackenzie, 24:59, finished off a close second race for the Warriors.
A strong week for both the boys and girls teams but unfortunately only one side came away with the win. Both teams will be back to league competition next Saturday. The boys will travel to Stoneham on November 7th while the girls will have their senior meet at home.
