Senior special for cross-country teams

CROSS COUNTRY seniors were honored on Senior Day prior to their meet against Watertown. From left: Ellis Iurelli-Hough, Peter Story, Tyler Audet, Elaine Albuja, Lily Kavanaugh, Isabel Vogel, Jillian Bakey, Juliet Moore, Caroline Ward and Charlotte Corr. (courtesy photo)

Both boys and girls take wins on Sr. Day 

By JENNIFER GENTILE

STONEHAM—The Melrose High cross-country teams capped off their Senior Day celebration on Thursday, Oct. 6 at Greenwood Park in Melrose with victories. Both teams beat ML Freedom rival Watertown to remain 2-1 on the season.

The Melrose boys’ team had a dominating 16-47 win over Watertown. Senior co-captain Ellis lurulli-Hough finished his career at Greenwood Park with a brilliant time of 16:02 over the hilly 2.9-mile course. The time was remarkably just 4 seconds from the course record. Sophomore Caleb Barnes was second in 16:34. Third place went to freshman standout Adam Caldwell, and sophomore Jonah Tully was 4th in 18:32. Watertown grabbed 5th to avoid the shutout, but sophomore Jad Jamaleddine closed out the scoring with a 6th place finish in 19:05. John Strong, 19:06, and Emerson Blanchard, 19:14 added to Watertown’s score and closed out the varsity 7.

“It was a great final home race for our captain, Ellis,” stated coach Kevin Allison. “He showed in this race that he is among the top runners in Melrose’s cross-country history. He has done it through determination and hard work and it was great that he could show this elite performance on senior night.”

The team will try to improve on their 2-1 record when they travel to Stoneham this week.

The Melrose High girls’ cross-country team simply had a day, sweeping nearly every spot. Senior captain Jillian Bakey was way ahead of the field with a first-place finish and a time of 19:48. Close behind was senior captain Juliet Moore with a time of 20:26. While Watertown captured the third spot, Melrose followed in just about every other spot in descending order of: Naomi Breay (4^th) Lily Kavanaugh (5^th) along with Darby Thompson, Adeline Lawlor, Isabel Vogel, Ella Ugino, Olivia Frakt, Cailian MacDonald, Elaine Albuja, Kensington Ludlum, Violeta Rechea and Jaya Karamcheti.

Melrose has plenty of league meets left and this weekend will compete in an Invitational. They will travel to Wilmington on Tuesday looking to pick up more league wins. Stay tuned.