Warriors Wrap Up League Schedule With Wins,Boys win the title

David Schurter 11/14/20

On Saturday, the Warriors took part in their final league meet on the schedule against the Burlington Red Devils. On a frigid morning, the boys ran the home course exceptionally well for the final time against their toughest opponent, while the girls traveled to Burlington and finished off a strong season. The boys finished 4-0, defeating Burlington to win their fifth consecutive Freedom Divison title while the girls finished up a strong campaign with a win to finish 3-1.

The boys had one goal on their minds entering Saturday’s meet, win and clinch the Freedom Division title for the fifth straight year. The boys have dominated the division the past few years, but Burlington has seen a recent surge in power. The meet saw Burlington senior James Johnson run away with the win in 16:19, but the Warriors took the next three slots. Sophomore Ben Stratton and senior Jonathan D’Ambrosio worked together to finish at 16:36, both personal bests. Following them was junior Mike Roberto running a strong 16:41 coming back from injury and just beating out a Burlington runner. Junior Thomas Dowd was sixth at 16:49, another personal best. Closing out the varsity race and following a Burlington runner was sophomore Leith Jones with a personal best 16:52, and junior Ajay Haridasse and senior Colin Rudy both at 17:08, also improvements.

The second wave featured tons of huge improvements including freshman Mike Arria coming away with yet another win, his fourth on the season running a strong 17:59, almost a 30 second drop. Finishing third was senior Zack Jellison with a personal best of 18:34. Junior James Christie was next taking off over a minute running an 18:39, followed by seniors David Schurter at 18:41, another personal record, and Alex Skeldon at 18:43, also a PR. Seniors Aaron Canestaro (19:20) and Andrew Roos (19:37) finished off an impressive second wave for the Warriors.

In the third and final wave, sophomore Will Riley came away with the win with a PR at 18:50. Senior Jack Tomsyck took off over a minute running an impressive 18:57, followed by sophomore Ojas Singhvi, an even bigger drop of almost two minutes at 18:59. Senior Alexei Petrov was next at 19:16, followed by a pair of freshmen Joe Patt (19:25) a PR, and Ollie Polster (19:26) also a PR. Junior Brett McLellan was next at 19:37, another improvement, followed by sophomore David LoCoco (20:23) a big improvement, and Robert Brown (20:48). Senior Cory Sample continued the trend of huge improvements for the Warriors running a 20:58, well over a minute off of his previous best time. Sophomore Marcus Conte added another improvement running a 23:09, followed by sophomore Brian Casey at 23:20. Freshman William Mezikofsky almost took off a minute running a 23:28. Sophomore Vinny Kaddaras ran 24:00. Finishing off the meet and adding to the impressive amount of improvements was freshman Cooper Davis (24:05) a three minute PR, junior Declan Carney at 24:22 with another improvement, sophomore Ben Burdetsky at 26:18, a 34 second PR, and finally freshman Theo Lyle ran a 27:32, a 28 second PR.

The girls team finished off another strong season with a 3-1 record, the only loss coming to a great Melrose team. This week they ran the tough Burlington course but did not let the meet get away from them as they took the first four spots, led by junior Sammy Seabury at 21:33. Sophomore Maddie Nett (21:48), senior Elina Olmedo (21:51) and senior Maggie Ritchie (21:57) followed with the next three spots. Senior Grace Butler finished the scoring in sixth running 22:16, followed by sophomore Devon Jellison at 22:26. Freshman Charlotte O’Neil was next at 22:29 followed by freshmen Alexa Yianacopolus (22:33), Julia Welch (22:41), and junior Emma Partyka at 22:45. Junior Amber Roehrich led the next pack at 23:30, along with Junior Maggie Leone at 23:35 and senior Nicole Calandra at 24:04. Junior Stephanie Curran was next at 24:28, then junior Caroline Collins at 24:45 and senior Celia Casale at 25:16. Freshman Sophia Macaluso led the final pack of Warriors running 26:17, followed by freshman Magnolia Preston at 26:19, junior Aiva Barnard at 26:21 and freshman Maggie Barnard at 26:34. Finishing off a great day for the Warriors was freshman Grace Mackenzie at 29:04.

The Middlesex League schedule is now in the books as the sun begins to set on the 2020 cross country season. The boys accomplished their main goal winning their fifth consecutive league title at 4-0 while the girls had another strong showing this season finishing 3-1. Although there will be no MIAA held state tournament this year, the MSTCA will be holding the first ever MSTCA Cup next Saturday, November 21st, where all athletes are welcome to race. Some of the boys